Oslo

Our final day in port was at Oslo, the Norwegian capital.  This was only our second seriously wet day of the cruise.  We decided to take the open top tourist bus that connects many of Oslo’s sights.  In retrospect with the weather, an open topped bus may have been a tactical error!

We first visited the Vigeland Sculpture Park – an amazing open-air park that is populated with 212 statues by the Norweigan sculpture Gustav Vigeland, depicting the whole cycle of human life from birth to death.  Well worth a drenching.

After that we went to the Viking ship museum, which contains the well-preserved remains of three Viking burial ships, dating back to the 10^th century.

Finally, we caught the bus back to town and spent some time in the warm and dry National Gallery, which contains a collection of mainly Norwegian art (including the ubiquitous Edvard Munch, along with one of his screams).  We also took a walk around the city center.  As a final farewell to Norway, Dave ate a reindeer and cheese sausage bought from a street vendor, and watched two racing trimaran collide in the harbour.

Once again, due to the exchange rates and general pricing, Oslo is not a cheap city to spend some time in – for example, a coffee, a hot tea and one smallish (but goodish) open sandwich to share for lunch cost around £8.