When in school I read about the “Land of the Midnight sun”, I was fascinated by the thought of the Sun glowing at twelve in the night! Little did I know that I will be lucky enough to experience it!
After an exciting tour of Stockholm, it was time to visit Norway and its capital; Oslo. A five hour train ride from Goteburg central station got us to Oslo. We headed straight to our hostel. The hostel room was a small three-bedded enclosure with a television and a refrigerator. This was the first hostel, of
all the hostels I have visited, which had a television and a refrigerator for a room. After a change of clothes, we hit the beautiful streets of Oslo. The Scandinavian cities have almost the same attire. When taking a stroll along the streets, one is unable to strike out any plausible difference. The cobbled streets, shops of all kinds on both sides of the streets, musicians playing, chairs laid out of the restaurants with people sipping coffee and chatting, the smell of delicious food, artists performing, the Red Indian band playing some great music from the Latin Americas, gives one a feeling of Déjà vu. The first place of interest we visited was the Akershus fortress, which is an old castle and was built to protect the city of Oslo. The Akersus fortress is a military Area and houses the Norwegian armed forces museum and the Norwegian resistance museum. The majority of us voted against spending (time and money) on the museums and instead walking around the fortress turned out to be a fun affair. We walked to the barracks on which a couple of old canons stood tall, then climbed one of the towers from were we got an eye catching view of the sea with boats and ships steaming across . In front of us stood a big cruise liner, in all its glitzy form. Looking at it one can only sense the excitement when cruising these gigantic cities on water. After a two hour stroll it was time to head to one of the islands which houses the great Viking ship museum.
Entering the museum, we were greeted by a huge Viking ship, standing in the centre of the museum. The Oseberg ship was built in 820 AD and excavated in 1904-05. From a layman’s point of view, this ship
looked like any other ship, flat bellied with a simple bow and stern. However a closer look at the ship brought many exciting features to the fore. These ships although simple, where one of the strongest ships at sea in their era, and made Vikings the greatest conquerors they are known for today. The Viking ships were made of wood and had fine carvings across the hull. They were scientifically designed which made them weather the most dangerous of storms. The oar holes (15 pairs in Oseberg) were designed as such, so that they could be closed numerically to give stability to the ship. The more interesting part of these ships is they were used as graves once they were old. The bigger and grander the ship, the more prominent the grave it sheltered. The graves were filled with all types of jewelry, clothes and household things the person was attached to during his/her lifetime. A heap of wheat, fruits and the like were left on the grave, credence being the body would need it post death. The Oseberg carried the grave of one of the Viking queens’ whose body was found adorned in layers of fine blue silk, a symbol of great wealth and prominent personality. There were two other ships - the Tune and the Gokstad.
There is also an interesting fact on how the Oseberg ship was carried over from the site of its excavation to the museum. The ship when excavated was very fragile and torn, however extraordinarily heavy. It took hundreds of men to move the ship. Special stretch of rail tracks were laid out (around 100 meters in length) and once the ship had moved to the end of the rail another was brought and the ship dragged on to it. The ship was moved right through Oslo city which attracted large number of crowds. It almost took 90 days to move the ship to the museum. A sequential part by part movement of the ship is portrayed on the walls of the museum. This event is also famous for its ingenuity with which the ship was moved at that time without the modern tools available today. The museum also houses Viking artifacts, Viking clothes and other Viking memorabilia, most important of them being the sledges, which were used to carry the goods into the ships from the land, also know for its mechanics and carvings.
After a hefty Viking dose we went to the Vigeland sculpture park which houses 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. These sculptures stand along an 850 metres stretch and is divided into six sections: The main gate, the bridge, the children’s playground, the fountain,
the monolith plateau and the wheel of life. The naked sculptures resemble humans in various ages, shapes and sizes and are open for an individual’s interpretation. As we walked along the 850 metres stretch, we could see a sculpture of a father and a son, mother feeding her son, grandfather playing with his grandsons, two women looking at each other, young girls flocking at something, two old women, two men fighting and a whole lot of other statues. Our favorite was a young angry bald boy with his arms slightly folded hanging an inch 
above his waist, one foot five inches above ground bent at the joint and the lips making a perfect ‘O’ in anger. And yes eyes wide open with eye balls popping out. The statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands etc. In the centre is the Monolith, which is the most popular sculpture. It is around 15 metres high and comprises of 121 human figures knitted into one sculpture. The official theme of the monolith is ‘man’s desire to become closer with the spiritual and divine’ however I interpreted the monolith as ‘human values accepting child is at the top’. Crazy interpretation but this is what I could come up with. Words may not do justice to the sculptures but it provides a humorous artistic tour.
After this extraordinary sculpture tour we retired to a doze of a Bollywood flick ‘No enrty’.
After an exciting tour of Stockholm, it was time to visit Norway and its capital; Oslo. A five hour train ride from Goteburg central station got us to Oslo. We headed straight to our hostel. The hostel room was a small three-bedded enclosure with a television and a refrigerator. This was the first hostel, of
all the hostels I have visited, which had a television and a refrigerator for a room. After a change of clothes, we hit the beautiful streets of Oslo. The Scandinavian cities have almost the same attire. When taking a stroll along the streets, one is unable to strike out any plausible difference. The cobbled streets, shops of all kinds on both sides of the streets, musicians playing, chairs laid out of the restaurants with people sipping coffee and chatting, the smell of delicious food, artists performing, the Red Indian band playing some great music from the Latin Americas, gives one a feeling of Déjà vu. The first place of interest we visited was the Akershus fortress, which is an old castle and was built to protect the city of Oslo. The Akersus fortress is a military Area and houses the Norwegian armed forces museum and the Norwegian resistance museum. The majority of us voted against spending (time and money) on the museums and instead walking around the fortress turned out to be a fun affair. We walked to the barracks on which a couple of old canons stood tall, then climbed one of the towers from were we got an eye catching view of the sea with boats and ships steaming across . In front of us stood a big cruise liner, in all its glitzy form. Looking at it one can only sense the excitement when cruising these gigantic cities on water. After a two hour stroll it was time to head to one of the islands which houses the great Viking ship museum.Entering the museum, we were greeted by a huge Viking ship, standing in the centre of the museum. The Oseberg ship was built in 820 AD and excavated in 1904-05. From a layman’s point of view, this ship
looked like any other ship, flat bellied with a simple bow and stern. However a closer look at the ship brought many exciting features to the fore. These ships although simple, where one of the strongest ships at sea in their era, and made Vikings the greatest conquerors they are known for today. The Viking ships were made of wood and had fine carvings across the hull. They were scientifically designed which made them weather the most dangerous of storms. The oar holes (15 pairs in Oseberg) were designed as such, so that they could be closed numerically to give stability to the ship. The more interesting part of these ships is they were used as graves once they were old. The bigger and grander the ship, the more prominent the grave it sheltered. The graves were filled with all types of jewelry, clothes and household things the person was attached to during his/her lifetime. A heap of wheat, fruits and the like were left on the grave, credence being the body would need it post death. The Oseberg carried the grave of one of the Viking queens’ whose body was found adorned in layers of fine blue silk, a symbol of great wealth and prominent personality. There were two other ships - the Tune and the Gokstad.
There is also an interesting fact on how the Oseberg ship was carried over from the site of its excavation to the museum. The ship when excavated was very fragile and torn, however extraordinarily heavy. It took hundreds of men to move the ship. Special stretch of rail tracks were laid out (around 100 meters in length) and once the ship had moved to the end of the rail another was brought and the ship dragged on to it. The ship was moved right through Oslo city which attracted large number of crowds. It almost took 90 days to move the ship to the museum. A sequential part by part movement of the ship is portrayed on the walls of the museum. This event is also famous for its ingenuity with which the ship was moved at that time without the modern tools available today. The museum also houses Viking artifacts, Viking clothes and other Viking memorabilia, most important of them being the sledges, which were used to carry the goods into the ships from the land, also know for its mechanics and carvings.
After a hefty Viking dose we went to the Vigeland sculpture park which houses 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. These sculptures stand along an 850 metres stretch and is divided into six sections: The main gate, the bridge, the children’s playground, the fountain,
the monolith plateau and the wheel of life. The naked sculptures resemble humans in various ages, shapes and sizes and are open for an individual’s interpretation. As we walked along the 850 metres stretch, we could see a sculpture of a father and a son, mother feeding her son, grandfather playing with his grandsons, two women looking at each other, young girls flocking at something, two old women, two men fighting and a whole lot of other statues. Our favorite was a young angry bald boy with his arms slightly folded hanging an inch 
above his waist, one foot five inches above ground bent at the joint and the lips making a perfect ‘O’ in anger. And yes eyes wide open with eye balls popping out. The statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands etc. In the centre is the Monolith, which is the most popular sculpture. It is around 15 metres high and comprises of 121 human figures knitted into one sculpture. The official theme of the monolith is ‘man’s desire to become closer with the spiritual and divine’ however I interpreted the monolith as ‘human values accepting child is at the top’. Crazy interpretation but this is what I could come up with. Words may not do justice to the sculptures but it provides a humorous artistic tour.After this extraordinary sculpture tour we retired to a doze of a Bollywood flick ‘No enrty’.
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