Our recent trip was actually the 4th time I’ve visited Norway.  The first time I went was way back in the 90’s when my mom and I took a bus tour around Denmark, Sweden and Norway.  Mr. Q and I have since been on a couple of cruises that stopped in Oslo also.

But this time around my sister and niece were with us, and my sister has always wanted to see Norway, so after six days in Amsterdam we boarded a Holland America ‘Viking Sagas’ cruise around Norway.

I knew Debbie would love the open air museum in Oslo, the Norsk Folkemuseum, so that was our plan for our first port of call.

This time around our ship docked just a little bit further away from pier 3 where you can catch a ferry across to the Bygdøy peninsula, but it was still a fairly easy walk.  We chose to detour through the Akershus Fortress on our way.

It’s super easy to buy a ticket for the ferry at the ticket booth on pier 3.  The ferries depart fairly frequently and we were able to get right on one.

The Bygdøy peninsula is home to the Folkemuseum, the Kon-Tiki Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Holocaust Center and the Polar Ship Fram.  You could easily spend an entire day over there.  Unfortunately the Viking Ship Museum is closed until 2025/2026 while they build a new facility.  My sister was a little bummed about that, she really wanted to see the nearly 1,200 year old Viking ships they display there.

It’s another short walk from the ferry stop on Bygdøy to the Folkemuseum through a very lovely residential area (what the museums calls one of Norway’s most prosperous areas).

In case you haven’t already noticed, yes, it was raining.  But it was only a light drizzle, and it wasn’t cold outside so it wasn’t a problem … yet (that’s foreshadowing).

The Norske Folkemuseum is home to 160 buildings from the middle ages through the 20th century and is Norway’s largest museum of cultural history.  The buildings are situated by region.

This sod roofed farmhouse is from 1845 and from western Norway.

There were quite a few buildings from rural areas of Norway.

Including some spectacular examples of the stabbur, a building used to store food.

The Folkemuseum is also home to the Stave Church from Gol.

This church was built in approximately 1200.  It was moved and rebuilt on Bygdøy in 1884.  Stave churches represent an interesting combination of Christian symbols (the crosses) and Viking symbols (the dragons at the top of the building).

In addition to more rural buildings, there is also a section of the museum called the old town that contains buildings from Christiania, which is what Oslo was called in the 1600’s and 1700’s.

There are shops and townhouses.

You can go inside most of the buildings on display including the shops, although Mr. Q opted to hold up the side of the tobacco shop rather than checking out the inside.

In summer or on weekends there are costumed ‘museum hosts’ demonstrating various activities.  However, we were there on a Monday in September, so we nearly had the entire place to ourselves.

We did run into a woman doing some baking in one of the houses in town though.

  Can I just point out that table she is working on?  If I didn’t know better I’d swear the base of that table was painted in Miss Mustard Seed’s French Enamel.

Speaking of fabulously worn painted furniture, I also took a quick snap of this next table inside one of the buildings.

How’s that for a delicious authentic patina?

When we were done checking out the Folkemuseum, we headed back to the ferry and back across the inner Oslofjord to Rådhusbrygge 3 (townhall pier 3).

By the time we got back to the pier the rain was really starting to come down.  We had initially planned to spend some time walking around, maybe check out Karl Johans gate, maybe pop into a couple of shops.  But we were getting soaked.

We ended up in a duty free shop at the port instead where we found a really nice wool sweater for Mr. Q.  Remember when I mentioned that my first trip to Norway was back in the 90’s?  Well, I purchased a Norwegian wool sweater for Mr. Q on that trip and he literally has worn it for about 30 years!  It had only recently begun to fray a bit around the seams, so it was time for a new one.

We also ended up running into an older Dutch woman from our ship who asked us if we would be kind enough to walk her back to the ship.  She was soaked and didn’t seem to have an umbrella or any other rain gear!  And I think she wasn’t entirely sure she knew the way back.

So, we headed back to the ship where it was warm and dry.

We were hoping for a picturesque sail away out of Oslo, but the rain continued.

We were grateful for our somewhat protected connected balconies because we were still able to sit out there and enjoy it.

The ship’s cruise director gave some commentary on the sights as we passed them, including the Dyna Fyr lighthouse.

You can rent it for events including weddings.  How cool would it be to get married there?

However, you may want to save up for it.  According to their website, the price of the rent is 4500 NOK + 12% VAT per hour (or around $500 per hour). Lunch is a minimum of 3 hours and dinner a minimum of 4 hours.  Although that price includes the boat trip back and forth, it does not include the food (as best I can tell, it looks like the food is in the neighborhood of $100/person with a 20 person minimum).

This was my 4th visit to Oslo, and the 4th time it was overcast and rainy.  If you’re looking for a warm and sunny vacation, Norway probably isn’t for you.  But as they say in Norway, “Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlig klær!” which translates to “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes!”  I totally recommend taking a trip to Norway, but be sure to pack your rain gear!