More sunshine and history in Oslo

20/4 – last day in Norway
We’re off to Poland tomorrow so the blog will be a bit sparse for a week or so, please keep an eye on it for any updates. Thanks for following so far. We’re heading for Copenhagen on 30 April with the family.

Had a slow start today, I hadn’t slept well because my cold has freshened up and I’ve felt miserable, but mostly because I’d had an email last night that our accommodation in Copenhagen has been cancelled by the provider, ‘maintenance issues’ apparently, so I’ve been in a panic. Have managed to rebook at a higher price, very little available at two weeks notice, but I’m feeling relieved.

https://norskfolkemuseum.no/en/timescape-1600-1914 Today’s adventure was taking a local bus to this amazing history museum with old buildings from around Norway set up in the grounds so you can see what life was like many centuries ago, and there are other exhibits about what people had in their houses with actual rooms having been moved into the exhibit space. So much to see, we had well over three hours there plus a quick lunch.

The Timescape exhibit was very well set out but it was COLD, obviously to keep everything safe but having had my cold freshen up in the last couple of days it was tough, I borrowed Pete’s jacket in the end.

There was everything from stockings to silver, ceramics to dolls houses, clothes and shoes to paintings. There were good storyboards in English as well as interactive boxes that you pressed on a picture of the item you were interested in and you got the explanation. We both marvel at how old things are – the buildings, clothing, household goods.

We had a walk through the grounds to the Stave Church, can’t go inside but I got a photo, it must have been beautiful when new with all the colours, which are very muted now. They were re-tarring the roof today, up in a cherry picker, but we could still see it. There was a man sketching it, very delicate work and it looked so real.

There were tiny purple flowers all around the old houses, not sure what they are. Also a couple of the houses had grass roofs, I keep looking for them now. We noticed plenty of fire hydrants and hoses in the grounds, really necessary with all the old wooden buildings, though the main two exhibitions are in old stone or concrete buildings.

There was another section on folk art through the centuries and why people developed their skills, in part during winter they kept busy with painting and carving. Another section was about Norwegian knitting, examples including very delicate silk stockings with embroidery, kids were taught to knit in school until late 20th century. And there was church art and carvings, old paintings as well as examples of the national concert and different styles.

It was a lovely day out. When we got to the hotel I got to work rebooking our accommodation and finally had some luck with that, whew! Pete went for a walk to have a look at the Opera House, a very futuristic-looking building down by the waterfront which we’d seen with Jen in 2015 so I’m not too worried about missing it.

Packing up shortly and off to dinner. Hope you can have a look at the website for the museum, it’s a real asset to the city. Next report in a few days from Poland.Read more