July 20, 2025: Oslo

The patron saint of Norway is St. Olaf.

Queen Margrethe I, called Lady King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, ruled during the late 14th and early 15th centuries. While not born into royalty, she rose to power and became the effective ruler of all three Scandinavian kingdoms, a feat rarely achieved by women of her time. 

According to legend, Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV pointed to a specific spot after a devastating fire in 1624 and declared that the city should be rebuilt here and reborn as Christiania. Christiania was the name of Oslo for three hundred years. Finally in 1925 it became Oslo.

What does the name Oslo mean and where did it come from? They just don’t know. When was Oslo founded? They just don’t know, but it was first written in a document in 1048. Oslo was named the European Green capital in 2019.

There were lots of fires. Norwegians only knew how to build with wood so they asked the Dutch builders to come to Norway and build with stones and bricks.

May 17th in Norway is Constitution Day, a national holiday celebrating the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814. The Royal Family is seen by the public for parades, etc. A documentary available on Youtube.com was recommended about King Harald and Queen Sonya.

The spirit drink, Linie Aquavit, undergoes a unique maturation process involving aging the drink in sherry oak casks on a ship on a four-month journey that crosses the equator twice. The movement of the ship, changes in temperature, and humidity during the voyage are believed to contribute to the unique flavor of Linie Aquavit.

At a Norwegian traditional restaurant one can order whale, moose, or reindeer. Norway, Iceland and Japan are the only countries that continue to hunt whales commercially. However, whales are very high in mercury. Our walking-tour guide joked that most of the whale meat is consumed by tourists. Salmon is a big industry. Cod, shrimp, and potatoes are important foods in Norway.

Library

This library has it all! It starts with a revolving door with only one panel. It has 5 floors accessed by escalators.

The bottom floor has a bookstore and play space for young children and their parents … mostly Latte Dad’s. This was a new term for me.

Latte dads are dads on paternity leave and not quite sure what to do so they meet other dads at coffee shops. It’s like a support group for dads. Norway has a very generous paternity leave allowance.

Back to the library which is more like a cultural center. Norwegians love to read. But you can also learn to play musical instruments here as well.

Oslo Opera House

The Oslo Opera House was built in 2007 and is meant to look like an iceberg. It was very expensive to build with a price tag of $441,000,000. The Opera House is made of white granite and white marble from Italy, glass, and oak.

Sauna rescues Tesla driver

We rode out to a nearby island where the ships, Kon Tiki and Fram, are housed.

Kon Tiki

Fram

The Fram was a special built boat that could withstand the icing that occurs in the cold waters in the poles. The hull is rounded so when the ice started to form, it pushed upward instead of crushing the ship.

The Fram was built to explore the theory that an ocean current flowed beneath the Arctic ice sheet from east to west. The ship was intentionally embedded in the ice for three years from 1893 to 1896 in an effort to reach the North Pole by the shifting ice. They came close, but eventually had to abandon their quest and return to Norway.

In Antarctica there was a race among explorers, especially between the Brit, Robert Falcon Scott, and the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen. Amundsen was the first to arrive at the South Pole in December, 1911. He sailed on the Fram to reach the edge of the Antarctic ice sheet. Amundsen was well equipped with lots of sled dogs. Early in the trek, the dogs were companions and used for transportation. In the end, they were used for food.

Robert Scott unfortunately brought a lot of ponies that sank into the snow and were little suited to the harsh environment. Scott did reach the South Pole a month after Amundsen, but he and all of his team died on the way back.