Oslo day 2

We had arranged the night before to meet our friends the Scouselets at the pickup point for our city tour so after breakfast we made our way to the pick up point with plenty of time to spare. Rather than sit and wait outside we headed for a cafe we noticed yesterday which just turned out to be a vegetarian cafe, well we know where we are going for our tea. We were met by our tour guide and told to give the driver our booking form and take a seat. We were going to the Holmenkolbakken ski jump first but we would go there via the city centre and see all the sights to be seen. Oslo is quite a big place and has so very interesting historical architecture as well as some very new and up to date  designer buildings.. The ski jump park is very well laid out and gives impressive views of the city centre and Oslo Fjord. Our next stop would be at the Vigeland sculpture park where we would have to walk to the other end and the bus would be waiting. Our guide gave us a very comprehensive history of the park and the sculptor Gustav Vigeland who cast all the original models life size and then had artisans craft the granite figures and bronze statues to his exacting specifications. He also did the layout of the park and all the trees were planted according to his wishes. The Norwegians especially the ones in Oslo seem to have a thing for naked sculptures, they are literally in every open space controlled by the city council. This park seems to have a naked form of all age and gender in all differing proportions which chart life's journey from conception through to death and whatever is beyond! Next a museum we had been hoping to visit, the Viking Ship museum on the Bygdoy headland which has on display artifacts and ships dug up from the Oseberg site which have been dated at over a 1000 years old and are the best preserved wooden viking objects found anywhere in the world. Very interesting and loads of pictures taken we are now heading for the Fram and Kon-tiki  museums on the same headland. They both contain the afor mentioned ships and are housed in purpose built buildings which are well laid out with a pictorial and video history of their journeys successful or not. Our time on the tour was soon over and we were now heading back into the city centre where the guide said if we had the time the town hall was well worth a visit to see the public spaces where the Nobel peace prize is awarded every year. We entered the building through massive oak doors and walked into the main auditorium, it was so big and picturesque I started taking pano shots on my phone. Not realising that the phone makes horrendous noises as it composes said panos, I was asked politely by a film crew from the national broadcaster to stop forthwith as they were recording an interview with the Mayor of Oslo, oops! Me bad tempered, never. The fresco's and artwork within the rooms are very good so to is the display room with all the gifts from foreign governments. So after a visit to the Vegetarian cafe for a fantastic tea we headed to the Akershus fort which has protected the citizens of  present day Oslo since 1624. Because of the time we went in we seemed to have the place to ourselves for most of the time. It really is a commanding position with views over the harbour and all water approaches. Soon we found ourselves exiting the fort and heading towards the opera house which is on the way back to the station anyway. When we visited yesterday the light wasn't that good but today its much better. We walked up and round the outside of the building taking in the views and vistas of the early evening. Unfortunately the staff were preparing the building for an evening performance so there was no public access to the interior so we used the facilities and headed for the station. As we are off on our travels again tomorrow the plan is to take out the heavy boots and coats and repack the bags so they can be weighed again. This being accomplished quite successfully we headed for the land of nod.