2014 Travelling Alone in Norway: Last Day, Oslo－旅行は私の人生なのだ

My journey almost is coming to its end soon, but I think it's worth to visit Norway again.

Norway is indeed a long-territory country so that it's hard to watch all the scenes in just 25 days.

While I arranged the schedule, it's not easy to make decisions.

The budget and holidays are all limited, and thus I give up to go to Nordkapp, Norway in a nutshell, Begen, Stavanger and other cities.

After all, I don't like to travel with the similar schedule as others.

Such as the Arctic Expedition, it's expensive for sure, but the scenery and wildlife are what you never forget in your life.

Anyway, I'm satisfied with my schedule and the final destination is Oslo.

Alesund is covered by the heavy fog in the morning and the flight delay for about 30 minutes.

Arriving at the Oslo airport, I'm already very familar with this place for many flights from here.

Returning to the Oslo city, I store my luggage in the luggage room of Oslo central hostel.

This hostel should be the best of all with the 24-hour opening hours, a luggage room for the guest before check-in and after check-out, and the best location for going to attractions in the city.

Because I will visit some museums and take the local transportation, I buy the 24-hour Oslo Pass (290 NOK) from the reception.

With this pass, you could visit most of the museums in Oslo and take any transportation of Oslo city for free,

The brochure or the official website could tell you more about the discount for the attractions, shops and restaurants.

Walking toward the Oslo City Hall, I plan to visit the museums in Bygdøy.

The pier for the ferry 91 is near the city hall and the ferry would stops at two locations: Dronningen and Bygdøynes.

Dronningen is close to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum) and Viking Ship Museum, while Bygdøynes is suitable for visiting the FRAM Museum, the Norwegian Maritime Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum.

No matter which location you get off the ferry, you still could visit all these museums by walking.

The first stop is the Norsk Folkemuseum that is about 10-minute walking from Dronningen .

Actually, I have no idea of all the museums in Oslo, for the museum is not my favorite spot.

Although the collections in the remote past are really treasurable, I'm just not interested in realizing their background.

However, this museum is out of my expectation and is interesting for its open-air museum zone.

There are about 160 buildings showing the Norwegian life in different regions and different time periods.

By the way, this museum is the first open-air museum in the world established in 1881.

Among these buildings, the stave church should be the most special.

The Gol Stave Church dating from 1200 is one of five medieval buildings at the museum.

The name 'Stave' is derived from its structure of post and lintel construction called in Norwegian.

The architecture style is different from the church we see in Europe.

It was once common in north-western Europe.

The outer looking is complex but delicate, and looks a little like the Japanese castle.

Except for the buildings, the performers are another interesting point of this museum.

They reveal the life in the past according to the building they stay in.

I meet a group of girls and a teacher both wearing the ancient-style clothes coming to the building.

No doubt, it's the school in the past.

Suddenly, you feel like coming back to the ancient period of Europe, and I was the parent watching my child in the class.

I don't understand the Norwegian so I'm not sure whether it's possible to interact with them.

Sometimes, I think it's very boring to take photos of buildings. They are not so vital as the Nature and its wonder.

I'm not an architect and my job is totally not related to this subject.

Though I also study the informtion in the internet to introduce the buildings I saw aboard.

It seems not to be very meaningful to do so.

At this moment, I have a different idea of photographing in the mono mode during the days in Oslo.

Maybe I would have different feelings for these boring subjects.

Of course, the mono mode seems to be fit for the old buildings.

After the Norsk Folkemuseum, the next is the Viking ship museum.

Lots of tourists are crowded inside the building.

The main exhibition is quite simple: four viking ships located at four positions of the cross-shape hall.

These ships were found in the regions of Gokstad, Oseberg and Tune.

The Oseberg Viking ship is much intact for its structure and also the famous one in the postcards.

According to the information, the ships could be dated from 890 A.D, so it's amazing that they could be preserved so well.

Furthermore, it's a great technique for the Vikings to build such ships in that period of time.

If you look carefully, the bow was carved with patterns.

There are also some decorations in the shape of animals, dragon heads, stored in the glass cabinets.

Additionally, I find the fake soldier helmet in the souvenir shop. It's interesting but too big to place in my luggage case.

Finishing the short visit in the Viking ship museum, I continue forward to the next stop.

The weather in Oslo is pretty hot and seems to be as hot as Taiwan.

In such a weather, I really want to visit these museums as soon as possible and I could come back to the hostel for a rest.

Walking for about 10 to 15 minutes, you will see another three museums in the same zone near the ferry terminal.

I skip the Maritime Museum and head for The Fram Musem.

This musem exhibits the huge polar ship, Fram, and the related documentations, photos, tools and other stuffs in three floors.

The ship FRAM is the strongest wooden ship ever built and still holds the records for sailing farthest north and farthest south.

Although it's fun to board the ship, I would prefer the air-conditoning could be colder to make this place as cold as the polar region.

Well, we both know it's important to save the energy and save the Earth...but the weather is really hot.

My last museum today is the Kon-tiki Musem.

You may wonder why there is a Moai statue outside the museum and what Kon-tiki means.

In fact, Kon-tiki is the name of the raft built by Thor Heyerdahl.

He gained the worldwide fame for crossing the Pacific Ocean on Kon-Tiki in 1947.

The journey departed from Peru and ended in Polynesia. It's a long voyage about 4,300 nautical miles.

The only purpose he did so is just to improve that it's possible for the people to do such a voyage 1500 years ago.

Because the people in Peru and Polynesia should have relationship with each other and this kind of raft is the evidence.

Their adventure was even written down as a novel, and then the film "Kon-Tiki" was published in 2012 which was nominated for an Academy Award.

So, you may realize why there are Moai statues outside and inside the museum.

Yes, they also explored the Easter Island.

Except for Kon-tiki, there are also two reed boats, Ra II and Tigris, for the exhibition.

Anyway, it seems that this ethnographer is enthusiastic in the aboriginal culture and likes to improve his thoughts by the actual actions.

By the way, the name 'Kon-tiki' is derived from the Inca sun god and 'RA' is also the ancient Egyptian solar deity.

Returning to the city hall by ferry, the time is still early for checking in the room and thus I have to find another attraction to spend the time.

Except for numerous museums in Oslo, Vigeland Sculpture Park is the must-see and also the most popular attraction in Norway.

According to the information from the traffic website, the tram no.12 near the city hall goes to the park directly.

Unfortunately, this tram line stooped the service for the road construction somewhere on its route.

"What! How do I go there?" I wonder for a while.

In order to find the alternative transportation to the park, I come back to the hostel and get the solution from "Ruter".

Though I have to transfer the bus once, it's already a good way.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist, Gustav Vigeland.

There are more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron.

Maybe these installations are too famous that everyone almost forget the real name of this park: Frogner Park.

Even so, it doesn't matter at all. No matter which name you search in the internet, you would get the same park.

Besides, there is a swimming pool inside the park.

It would be good for a good swimming in such a hot day.

Taking photos of these unique statues is interesting.

From different angles, different positions and different focal lengths, you would get different feelings for the statues in different backgrounds such as the tree, the sky and etc.

However, numerous tourists taking photos in the same place is indeed a problem.

It's not easy to avoid photographing of others tourists.

Sometimes, the pictures are composed of the fake people (statues) and real people (tourists).

In addition, you could also realize the different attitudes of the tourists from different countries for the Sex and Naked Body by observing their ways to take photos of or with the statues.

For the conservative people, they may be curious, excited or shy... while others feel nothing or common for it.

The sex is not wrong if you hold a positive attitude and appreciate in a polite way.

Finally, the statue at the end is called the Wheel of Life.

After taking photos in the Vigeland Sculpture Park, I finally could check in the room and take a rest for a while.

Because it's my last day in Norway, I don't want to buy the ingredients and cook by myself.

Sometimes, the portion is always too big for preparing just one meal.

Therefore, I decide to find a Japanese restaurant for my last dinner.

Someone may say that they will miss the food of his country while they travel aboard for a long period.

If so, I think I should be a Japanese, not Taiwanese. Though my Japanese is still poor now.

While I travel aboard, especially in the last days of my journey, I really love to have a dinner at the Japanese restaurant.

Of course, it seems to be impossible to find Taiwan food in Norway.

In the evening, I walk toward a popular bustling street along the harbor where you could find many restaurants and ice cream vendors.

Well, it's very reasonable to eat an ice cream in the Hot Oslo.

Besides, you could see the whole view of Akershus Castle that I might visit tomorrow.

I searched some information about the Japanese restaurants in Oslo.

There are not many nearby the hostel and city hall and I choose Alex Sushi on the harbor street.

I hope that their cusine could satisfy me with traditional Japanes cusines.

As for the Japanese cuinse, especially Sushi, I had very wonderful experience in the restaurants of Japan and Taiwan.

Maybe Sushi is the worldwide famous Japanese cusine, but I've never found any restaurant in other countries that are really qualified to me.

Sushi is actually the Art. That is not just a slice of fish on the rice.

Seating at the bar, I choose the cusine set in the meduim price.

It's nice to seat at bar so that I could watch the sushi masters preparing the dishes.

The first dish is the Sashimi (刺身) with seasoning. The taste is nice but seems not to be the traditional way Japanese eat the Sashimi.

The second is the roasted lobster with spciy seasoning (similar to 伊勢海老焼き物). Though the taste might not be traditional but really tasty.

So, you may find that the food here is not purely the traditional Japanese cusines.

The style looks a little like the mixture of Japanese and France cooking.

So, how about the main dish, the Nigiri sushi (握り寿司) ?

Hmm... Well, it's not so perfect as the Sushi restaurant in Japan. I don't have the great cheerful feeling while taste the Nigiri in the mouth.

I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Howver, the perfect Nigiri will give you an amzaing experience that the rice and the fish (or seafood) are merged together.

Anyway, I'm a little depressed with the Nigiri sushi.

The forth dish of pickle octopus (タコの漬物) and the fifth dish of Maki sushi (巻き寿司) are just fine for me.

Suddently, I really want to have a nice Sushi dinner in Kaohsiung or Japan.