Friday, May 3, 2013

Awesome Oslo and the end of the 2013 trip


Who knew that Oslo was awesome?  With daylight from 7 AM to 10 PM, gorgeous blue skies and “almost” warm weather... we had a great day here.  (I say "almost" because we were still wearing every layer of clothes we had but at least we were OK instead of frozen). The city is filled with interesting statues and artwork... everywhere. 




We started with a boat trip across the bay to visit the Viking museum.  At the turn of the century, Norwegians found two remarkably intact Viking ships buried in thick blue mud. The mud helped preserve the ships and everything stored inside.  The ships had been used as burial tombs for two wealthy people so they provided great insight into the Viking life and death rituals.



The mud even preserved much of the skeletons


We hit a few other museums and then the Nobel peace center (where the Nobel peace prize is awarded each year). Our scavenge there was to figure out who was awarded the prize in 1991. The answer: Ang San Suu Ki (the Lady of Burma and a personal hero of mine).



The weather was so good that we rented bikes and rode all around town seeing stuff and almost clearing away entire sidewalks. 


A personal favorite was the Oslo opera house: a new building with exceptionally cool architecture.  The building was designed so you can actually walk up the structure to stand on the roof (with an amazing view of the entire city). And all without ever going inside!!





We spent the afternoon riding our bikes around the Vigeland park seeing his monolith of bodies and crazy statues.




Our day ended at the pointy hand statue



Sadly for us... it is pointing home.  Goodbye Europe. We head out today to Iceland and on to Toronto. We’ll be back in  North America by 7:30 PM this evening. Can’t believe another year is over….I’m sulking already. GOODBYE UNTIL NEXT YEAR. 
And - as a quick ode to the wonders of this trip - here's some of my favorite moments:

The children of Nepal: Namaste


Memories of how exhausting this trip can be (Jordan past out in a moving Tuk-Tuk in the dust and grime of Cambodia):


The magic and wonder of the big, wide world out there...






1 comment:

Heidi said...

Next year?????I thought this was the last year for Grea REscapes and that Bill was "retiring".
So glad everyone has made it to the end in one piece. Sounds like u guys had a wonderful time.

 

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