Oslo Pass Day 2!

On Friday we decided to venture out with the whole family.  We had never taken the kids to any of the museums and we thought this would be a great time to show them around Oslo.  We bought a 24 hour Oslo Pass for Jon and Addison, the boys got in for free.  Our first stop was the train station, we headed to downtown Oslo.  We had planned to go to the Akershus Fortress, but we got a late start so we skipped that stop.  We got on the ferry and headed to Bygdøy, a peninsula where a lot of museums are located.

The ferry ride only takes about 15 minutes and it is a nice ride.

We had another beautiful, if chilly, day.  One of my favorite parts of Bygdøy are the houses.  There are so many neat places, it makes the walking a bit more interesting.  This house had quite the staircase headed up to it.

Jon was a trooper pushing the stroller full of kiddos up the hill.

Addie found her ride on the back of the stroller.  I don't know what we are going to do with 4!

"Museum Road"

The Viking Ship Museum

The Viking Ship Museum is not a very big museum, but it is so striking. 

It is amazing how much they have been able to find out, but there is a lot that they still don't know about the Viking culture.

We got there right when they opened so there were not a lot of people.  The kids had a lot of fun exploring.

And they had a lot of fun being silly.

Our next stop was just a quick walk down the road to the Norwegian Folk Museum.  This is fun outdoor museum with buildings from all over Norway and all different time periods.  They have buildings going back as far as the 1600's.  You can go into a lot of the buildings and some of them are decorated according to their era.  

This map is of Christiana, that is Oslo before it was Oslo.

I loved this bench, my Mom took a picture of the same piece of furniture.

Jon and the kids next to a vintage Esso pump!

This cabin would have been a farmer's home in the 1700's.  It was one big room with a dining room table, shelves for storage, a hidden bed that folded down at night and this bed in the corner.  I loved the baby bed, swinging from the rafters.  Addie thought it was pretty neat too.  

These shelves were in the same house and I thought they were so neat.

Here is a shot of Aunt Laura and Addie in front of a particularly cool house. 

From there we walked back to the dock and took some pictures.  I love getting a group shot.

GeeGee, Laura and Nannie.

Always good to have plenty of signs around.

Headed back to downtown Oslo, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and it was so good and our waiter was so fun.

We had a fantastic visit with Aunt Laura and GeeGee and we were so sad to see them go home.  Thankfully we still have Nannie for a bit longer and we are enjoying every minute.

It has been so much fun to show off our new home and all of the fun things that we have learned about Oslo. 

Using the Oslo Pass

If you ever come to Oslo to go sight seeing the best deal by far is the Oslo Pass.   You can buy it in 24, 48 or 96 hour increments.  The pass includes all public transportation in zone 1 (that does NOT include the airport) and admission to 30+ museums around the city.  On Thursday we decided to leave the kiddos at home with Jon and I took my Mom, Dad and Laura to downtown Oslo.  

Here is a shot of them in front of the Palace.  

Our first stop after buying our tickets was Holmenkollen Ski Jump.  To get there you take the line 1 T bane up the mountain.  Then, when you get to the Holmenkollen stop you have to walk up hill.  We had a beautiful day for being out and about, much better than our last trip up to Holmenkollen.  

Here is the official sign for Holmenkollen, when you get to this point you are through about half of your climb.

This is the hotel/restaurant that Jon and I go to enjoy on our first trip to Oslo.  It has been here since the 1800s and was the Nazi headquarters during the WWII occupation.

Laura and the Troll.  From here we went through the ski museum, a very neat place to see how skiing has evolved over the years.  

This is one of the exhibits that I thought was so Norwegian.  This is a picture of a 9 month old baby boy skiing for the first time.

Then we got to take an elevator ride to the top of the ski jump.  The views were just beautiful.

I can't imagine having to be told to leave this platform if it was storming out.

Here is the Holmenkollen Hotel from behind.

I love being able to see all the way to the fjord.

Here is a view from the very top, down to the bottom of the ski jump.

Standing at the top of this jump makes me realize it takes a very special person to be willing to go down this ramp.

Mom did NOT enjoy this part of the trip.  She got off the elevator, but just barely.  

The ski jump cafe has a good selection of sandwiches and salads and desserts.  We stopped for lunch there and then headed down the mountain.  The gift shop here at Holmenkollen is one my favorites in the city too.  They have a beautiful collection of Norwegian sweaters.  They are still expensive, but at least they have a good selection.  I did notice that a stuffed animal I bought was about 30 NOK or $5 less at this store than at other stores I saw in the city.  Our next stop was the Nobel Peace Center, it was interesting, but not someplace I would be anxious to get back to.  

Our last stop for the day was The National Gallery.  It is not a huge gallery, but they do have works by Picasso, Rodin, van Gogh, 

and Munch.  Edward Munch was from Oslo and usually this piece, The Scream, is at the Munch Museum.  Right now they are preparing to celebrate the 150th anniversary so things have been moved around. This is not my favorite type of art, but it is always neat for me to see famous works of art in person.  The National Gallery is free on Sundays so I think we will be heading back here.

Our last day in Paris

Thankfully my sweet girl woke up feeling much better.  All four of us girls had leopard print jammies, but I was only able to get a picture of Addie and I.  I was so happy she was feeling better for the trip home.

Aunt Laura and Nannie were up early so they went and got breakfast and brought it back for us.  Then we all got ready and checked out of our amazing hotel.  We headed out to do a little souvenir shopping.  Laura found some cute things to take out home with her.

Here is Nannie and Addie in front of the Place de la Concorde with the Eiffel tower in the background. I am sad that Addie didn't get to go back to Versailles, she was so excited to see Louis XIV's castle again.  Nannie didn't get to see the Eiffel Tower, and we all missed out on a lot of the big sights.  I will say that we had a great time together and we had fun in spite of Addie's sickness.  We have all decided that we need to go back to Paris.  My Mom wants to go for at least a week.  

Paris is such an amazing city, if you ever have the chance to visit I highly recommend you go.  I hope that I get to go back again someday.

Not According to Plan

I had big plans for our second day in Paris.  We were going to head out to Versailles first thing, we had our tickets all purchased, and I had the train schedule worked out to get there.  Instead I woke up to a little girl burning up with a fever. If any one is keeping track Addie is 2 for 2 going to Paris and getting sick.  I went out to the grocery store and got grapes and apple sauce, the only things that Little Miss wanted to eat, and then I sent my Mom and my sister off on a shopping adventure.  

While they were out shopping my pregnant appetite kicked in and I had to order room service.  This chicken club sandwich was amazing, it had egg salad with the chicken and bacon.  Yum.  I ate every bite that was on this tray.

This was the condiment tray that came with it.

And this is the flower they had on the tray, so fancy.

When Nannie and Aunt Laura got back from shopping Nannie took over nursing duties so Laura and I could hit up Versailles.  I thought since it was later in the day, after 3 PM we might get lucky and not have much of a line.  I was wrong.  The line was very, very long.  At the risk of not seeing anything we decided to head to the train and visit the Grand Trianon and the Petite Trianon.  Here is Laura checking out the map while we ride the train.

Laura in front of the Grand Trianon.

I loved this chair in the Grand Trianon, the lower arm was next to the fire place and the higher arm was to help keep the warmth in.  So smart!

I still love the beds, I would love to be able to do Addie's room like this one day, on a smaller scale of course.  

I love this painting of the grounds of Versailles.

I love this floor, so pretty.

This is in the Petite Trianon, Marie Antoinette'w bedroom. 

And we finally made it back out to the main palace, just 15 minutes too late to go inside.  

A shot of me in front of the palace too.  

On our way back to the train station we passed by Louis XIV.  And at the train station we made a rookie mistake.  We got on the first car of the train heading back into Paris.  When we got on it was already standing room only, unfortunately everyone else that came got on our car too so by the time the train left we were pressed next to our fellow travelers.  It was a long trip back.

We were finally able to get off the stifling train and visit, the Eiffel Tower!  

Laura and I grabbed take out on our way back to the room.  It wasn't the day I had planned for us, but we still had fun.  Except for Addie who was still sick and pitiful after a full day with a fever.  At this point we were just praying that she would be feeling better by the time we had to leave for our flight the next day!  Traveling with kids is always an adventure.