January 14th blog

Many of us agreed that Tuesday may have been the best day of the trip thus far! The group woke up early and excited for our last day in Oslo. We began with a 2-hour bus tour of the city with our guide, Jon. On the tour, we learned that Oslo was "running very smoothly" with an unemployment rate of only 1.7%  (3% total unemployment in Norway). It is also the most rapidly growing city in northern Europe. The most noteworthy sites on our tour included the Parliament, the Grand Hotel, the Stave Church, the Royal Farm, the opera house, the Lutheran cathedral Domkirke, the Royal Palace, and much more. We were also informed that there was no snow in Oslo until last Friday, which is very unusual. The cold weather tends to follow us wherever we go- Typical Minnesotans! At the end of the bus tour, we enjoyed a 1 km walk through the Vigeland sculpture park and learned a lot about the symbolism of the different stages of life and death within the park. Also located here is Norway's most famous sculpture: the crying baby on the bridge. It was  the perfect winter day for a walk in this beautiful park.

After parting ways with Jon, we headed to Vikingskipshuset (Viking ship museum). The group perused the museum for nearly an hour. We were fascinated by the ships and the burial traditions in the Viking culture. The dead were buried in these ships with food and drink, luxurious items, tools, horses and dogs in preparation for the Afterlife. Many of these artifacts were preserved in the museum - but only those that were missed by grave robbers hundreds of years ago.

The group enjoyed Norwegian Subway sandwiches for lunch en route to our next adventure: the famous Holmenkollen Ski Jump. A guide led us around the museum explaining the history, evolution, and importance of skiing in Norway, along with information about the enormous ski jump towering above us. The tour concluded with a trip to the top of the ski jump! This caused some to panic because of the overwhelming height above ground, but the view from the top was absolutely worth the 2-minute lift in the glass elevator. The trip to Holmenkollen ended with lots of laughs, as the whole group was able to take part in a ski simulator that mimicked downhill skiing at 130 km/h.

Sledding was originally on the schedule for the evening, but the sledding hill was closed because there was not enough snow yet. Instead, the group had the option of being dropped off at the city center of Oslo for free time. Most of the group visited the Oslo Sweater Shop and some bought traditional Norwegian sweaters. A few even laced up ice skates and went skating at an outdoor rink in the middle of the city! After exploring the shops and restaurants in the city center, most headed back to the hotel at a reasonable time because we were scheduled to depart for Lillehammer early in the morning. Until next time... :)

Kat & Eli