Today we woke up as we were entering the fiord that leads
to Oslo. The sky was clear and the sun
was out and the temperature was mild.
After four tries we finally get to see the sun in Norway.
We took advantage of the nice weather and went on a hop
on hop off tour of the city. It was an
interesting ride. The Opera House is
unusual as you will see from the pictures.
The Castle is large and nice.
We got off at the Viking Ship Museum and toured it. This is what Judi and I really wanted to see
in Oslo. The oldest ship is called the
Oseberg ship and was built around 820 AD.
Another Ship called the Gokstad was built about 900 AD. Finally the Tune shit was also built around
900 AD. The Oseberg was built as a ship
for a powerful woman and her maidservant in 834 AD. The Gokstad was a burial ship for a chieftain. The ship is 23 meters long and 5 meters
wide. This is 83 feet long and 16 feet
wide. The tune ship was a fast, ocean
gong vessel.
We reboarded the hop on hop off and rode it back to down
town and got off at the City Hall. There
was a wedding letting out when we arrived and some of the guest were dressed in
native formal dress.
We walked back to the ship and had lunch. Norway did not let us down. It turned cold windy and rained later in the
afternoon. We both had reached that
proverbial wall this afternoon. We both
took naps and just decided we could not face eating a big meal with lots of
people in the evening, so we just stayed in and read and watched TV.
The weather is suppose to become a little rough later in
the night. It is Aarhus, Denmark
tomorrow.
THE MONARCHY:
Norway has a King and Queen. It is a democratic monarchy. The Queen became engaged to then Crown Prince
Harald in March 1968. They had been dating for nine years, although this had
been kept secret because of opposition to her non-royal status. The
Crown Prince made it clear to his father, King Olav V,
that he would remain unmarried for life unless he could marry her. This would
in effect have put an end to the rule of his family and probably to the
monarchy in Norway, as he was the sole heir to the throne. Faced with having to
choose one of his relatives from the Danish Royal Family, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein or
even the Grand Dukes of Oldenburg as his new heir in
place of his son, Olav V consulted the government for advice and the result was
that the couple were wed on 29 August 1968, at Oslo Domkirke in Oslo.
She thus acquired the style of Royal Highness and the title of Crown Princess of Norway.
THE VIKINGS:
The Vikings came from Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Later they settled in Great Britain, Ireland,
France and Russia. The Vikings left
Norway and moved to the south towards the British Isles and Ireland. The Swedish Vikings mainly traveled east into
Russia and down the Volga to the Black Sea and Constantinople.
Vikings from Norway and Denmark colonized the Shetland
Islands, the Isle of Man and conquered three of England’s four kingdoms. They made Ireland a trading base and
controlled many ports along the coast.
They didn’t conquer the Celtic land but instead the Celts and the
Vikings had a relationship that allowed the two cultures to mix and cooperate.
One theory about their movement was that the Kings owned
most of the land and wanting freedom and land of their own they found a way to
get it by raiding and settling the lands they conquered.
Don the pictures are awesome!
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