Museums are one of those things I used to do when I was young and eager to read every description and learn ever bit of info I could learn. I had annual passes for the Vancouver Museum, The Planetarium and the Aquarium. And took quarterly visits to the Vancouver Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, Britannia Mining Museum and West Coast Railway Heritage Park. Yes, I have seen my fair share of museums in my lifetime. So you can forgive me for not jumping for joy at the thought of more museums while away from home. However, whenever I am in a group I am a sucker for peer pressure and always decide go with the flow, and in this case visit not 1, but 3 museums in Oslo, Norway.

Vlog #3: Contiki Scandinavia: Oslo, Norway

httpvh://youtu.be/SLbbrW_xoNo

Holmenkollen Ski Museum

First stop on our museum tour of Oslo is to the top of a ski jump! Even though it is the end of summer with no snow in sight, standing on top of the starting point is very nerve racking. I can only imagine what the skiers must be going through. I serious underestimated how high this jump was and how daunting it must be in competitions to have to: 1. jump off this, and 2. see the little dots of people cheering below.

I have a new found respect for this sport.

Which of course is good considering below the ski jump is a ski museum! Here you can find various generation of skis and winter sport and snowshoe equipment. As well as the history of Nordic sports in Norway. Fascinating to see how much has changed over the years.

View of Oslo from the very top of the ski jump.

Viking Museum

Next up on our tour was the museum I was looking forward to the most, the Viking Museum. Who could pass up a chance to look at some of the most preserved viking ships in the world?

Well I’m not gonna lie and tell you how amazed I was at this museum. It had a total of 3 ships, this one above being the most preserved. That was literally it. About 1/3 of the museum you can see right from the entrance. A slight disappointment and a sad revelation at the same time, since judging from this there really isn’t much in regards to artifacts from this period of time.

National Gallery of Oslo

This museum was a last minute on a whim decision. The only reason I went was because the rest of our group really wanted to go see Scream the famous painting of the guy that looks like an alien with his hand up to his mouth in a warped background. I am sure you have probably heard of it or even seen it before.

I would love to have been able to take a photo of it or video to show you guys more closely but unfortunately as you can see from the sign, there is no photography allowed in that room. Well if you squint you can kinda make it out.

Yes, I guess it was kinda cool to see such a famous painting. And even more fun to try and mimic it. Oh maturity.

And that concludes our museum tour of Norway!