Hello Everyone! This Christmas (2015) my wonderful Mother and Grandmother took me and my little brother Jake to Norway! Mum is a lecturer and likes to spend her holidays time visiting new places, and we thought Norway would be perfect for the festive period. Also most of their museums are open every day but Christmas day.
Now I'll be honest, quite often when I go away somewhere, particularly abroad, I feel very out of my comfort zone and can never quite relax. However I really didn't feel like that in Norway at all, in fact I felt rather at home. I loved it, the people were so nice, Oslo is beautiful, the food was great, the heritage was fantastic! If I ever get fed up of like in England I might just up sticks and head to Norway.
As soon as we got off the train, that we had got on after the plane landed, but shortly before the taxi on the way to the hotel, we were greeted with a brass band in the Train Station. Suddenly I was feeling very Christmassey, despite the fact that Norway was experiencing unseasonably warn weather. It may not have been covered in snow like we had been expecting, but Oslo was beautiful anyway.
The hotel was a little strange, one room, four beds and a kitchenette, but it was just what we needed for the week and we managed not to get into too much trouble.
Our first heritage excursion was to the Folk Museum. Here were examples of buildings from all over Oslo, collected and moved to the museum to preserve the traditions and architectural styles of all different parts of Norway.
My favorite building was Gol Stave Church, dating from around 1200 it is a really impressive building with lots of beautifully intricate carvings.
In another tiny red timber building was a rather unexpected surprise, the whole interior was painted with these beautiful swirly, leafy designs, and images from stories.
As well as the open air museum the Folk Museum had several indoor exhibition spaces, including one filled with examples of traditional Norwegian craft and art. This included very awesome looking sleighs and more beautifully carved stave church door frames.
The next day we slipped and slid our way across a rather icy port to catch a ferry around the islands, and while we were waiting we went in to visit the Nobel Peace Center, named after Alfred Nobel. This museum had some really through provoking and interesting exhibitions, as a museum talking about such a serious and weighty subject should do. My favorite element was the Nobel Field, a darkened room with screens giving information about everyone who had even won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Each screen in the room is about one year's winners, and when you step up to the screens, they come alive. As you stand in front of them the information about who the recipient is and why they won appears on the screen. The room looks almost enchanting and the relatively simple design reacts to those around it, creating visitor engagement on another level. It really is interactive, intelligent exhibition design done brilliantly!
The boat trip around the islands was very picturesque, although we did decide that the islands might be a lovely places to live but I wouldn't quite sacrifice the convenience of having amenities close by in order to live somewhere so beautiful. Imagine having to get on a boat to pop to the shops when you run out of milk. And what if you had a late night chocolate craving!
Speaking of boats, there will be a lot more boat related activity in my next post, talking about the second part of our Oslo adventures. Stay tuned!
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