Day 5 – Oslo, Norway (part 2)
Our next stop after the Viking Ship Museum is the Kon-Tiki Museum. In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific, from South America to Polynesia in 101 days, attempting to prove that the Polynesian Islands were settled from explorers coming from South America. While it has since been established that the islands were settled from the west, not the east, Heyerdahl,and his crew of 5, did establish that the ocean could be crossed by a wooden raft.
Kon-Tiki went ashore in Polynesia on a reef, and was towed to Papeete, Tahiti. The film of the adventure earned an Oscar.
Heyerdahl’s next adventure involved building a boat from reeds to sail from North Africa to North America. The boat, which he named “Ra”, began to take on water and sank 600 miles short of its goal. He improved construction methods and built Ra II. He successfully sailed it from North Africa to Barbados.
Ra II
Heyerdahl’s next voyage was, aboard Tigris, a boat built in Egypt with reeds.
After sailing around the middle east in the Arabian Sea, and being refused permission to land anywhere, Heyerdahl sailed to Djibouti, the only country that would allow him to dock, and burned the ship in protest to the governments of the middle east.
Returning to the ship, we decided to explore the Akershus Castle, an ancient fortress. The castle grounds are filled with an abundance of sculpture, as is most of Oslo.
I am not sure I understand all of the sculpture.
Inside the grounds of Akershus, is a small museum depicting the Nazi occupation of Norway and honoring the Norwegian resistance fighters.
One dot for each concentration camp in Europe.
And on that somber note, we head back to the ship.
