Oslo Norway

We take the Hop On-Hop Off bus in Norway. At first as we are in stuck traffic, I regret the decision and remember other times in London, Barcelona and San Francisco when we were stuck in traffic jams and unable to re-board due to packed buses.

Later, at the Fram Museum I watch five tour buses from the ship all arrive at once and queue up in long lines for entry and I congratulate myself for not doing a ship's tour for triple the price and in an unpleasant herd situation.

We stop to see the sculpture park. Somehow Mrs. Phred's new Iphone 6 is booting up with a “no SIM card” message. I fool with that for awhile and determine that it does not effect wireless function, which is all we need since we use that for cheap Skype international phone calls, Facebook and blogging.

 The next Stop is the Fram museum. It is build around the Fram, a polar exploration ship from the age of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Fram means "forward" in Norwegian. That helps explain why the Wifi password there is "forward2015"

It's a fascinating place. The Fram is an exceedingly sturdy wooden ship, built to be trapped in the ice for long winters without being crushed by the ice.

We learn about motorized sledges, dirigible and seaplanes used to explore the polar regions.

They ate their dogs, ponies and possibly each other in the race to be the first to reach the poles.

The Norwegians were very competitive in this quest. It reminds me of a North Dakota t-shirt I once saw and photographed:

The Few

The Proud

The Norwegians

Later we spend an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon walking the city center and find our way back to the ship in time to dress for dinner with three other couples from Norway, Australia and South Carolina.