Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 9:43 AM
I was born and brought up in Norway, but after having lived abroad for several years, last summer gave me the opportunity to see my home country through fresh eyes. After years of talking about visiting Norway, several of my closest friends decided it was time they came with me on my travels to visit family and friends back home. I’ll retrace our journey, making sure to provide you with helpful books on Google Book Search so that you can follow along.
Our first stop on the journey was Torp, where we started our trip by meeting my parents on our beloved family sailing boat, Fulvia! Torp is but a short trip to Lyngør, on the western shores of the Oslo Fjord. This beautiful waterfront location is also the site of an ancient Viking settlement, where many Viking artifacts have been uncovered. We spent that first evening catching up over a Norwegian summer favourite: a bucket-full of freshly-caught prawns and langoustines in their shells, served with nothing more than a good mayonnaise, dill and rye bread, all washed down with copious amounts of white wine, beer and aquavit.
The next night we moored up in Dronningen marina, at Bygdøy, which is an island just next to Oslo. If you're not familiar with where Oslo is located, I'd suggest taking a look at the "Places mentioned in this book" feature for this title. You'll find an interactive Google map that will show you just where Oslo is, and with one click, you'll be taken to the specific page that mentions my home city. That night, we again enjoyed some traditional Norwegian food and drink. I slept well, knowing I'd arrived home.
The next day, we set out to explore Bygdøy, the location of some of Oslo's best museums. First stop was the Fram Museum, which houses a research vessel used by both Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen in their legendary polar explorations. Just a few steps away, we entered the Kon-Tiki Museum, built in honour of Thor Heyerdal's expedition in which he sailed by raft 4,300 miles (7,000 km) from South America to the Tuamotu Islands.
After starting our journey in the footsteps of the Vikings, it was only appropriate that our next stop was to visit the Viking Museum to see excavated Viking warships and associated artifacts in all their glory. Our last visit of the day was to Oslo's Folk Museum, which was a perfect setting to explore Norway's architecture, history and folklore all in one place.
After a tiring day, we headed back to the Marina and took a dingy over to Aker Brygge harbour where we visited one of the many restaurants in this area and enjoyed a well-deserved beer. All of my friends agreed that their experience of Norway had been a memorable one, and that they would surely return again. I hope this has given you a taste of just some of the things you can experience in Norway, and that you might soon enjoy a trip there as well.
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