The Viking museum
Ja was interested in seeing the viking museum and my visit was a perfect excuse to go. We took a ferry from the city docks across the bay and walked up the hill to the museum. As it turned out, entrance was free for university students and each student could bring two guests.
The vikings buried their important people with their ships in giant burial mounds. At the end of the 19th century archaeologists started excavating these mounds and discovered the ships were in amazing shape for their age (1000+ years) due to some peculiar quality of the soil in Norway. In addition to the heavily decorated ships, they found sleds, carts, chests, jewelry, and woven cloth.
I was a bit disappointed. I imagined a viking museum would be filled with the tools and weapons of vikings, the origins of their twisted religion*, and full of stories about their bloody rampages up and down the coasts of Europe. I hoped to see berserker shields with teeth marks round the edges, swords rusted with blood, and skeletons showing signs of violent trauma. Instead the cross shaped building contained three mostly intact ships, and a small collection of other wooden carts, sleds, chests, and cloth.
And these artsy lunchboxes and water bottles for $100.
Still it was cool to see how well the wood had survived their burial. In some cases the leather bindings were still intact and the paint was visible.
The bright colors on this rudder wasn't visible until I took a flash picture from the right angle.
At the back of the museum they had sleds, carts, and other wooden instruments that were buried with the ships. Everything was decorated with a bewildering amount of carving. The carvings had carvings on them, and when you looked closer, these had little carvings on them as well. Some of the sleds and carts were studded with metal and were so notched and elaborate it looked like someone threw several buckets of wood worms and beetles onto a plank and returned a year later to see how they'd come along.
One of the sleds had been so elaborately carved it's structural integrity was compromised and the museum had to use a net of fishing line to hold it together.
Ja lent me his nikon ds90 for my second day of picture taking and I used it the rest of the trip. It was heavy but took wonderful pictures and as an official tourist I didn't have to feel ashamed about using it everywhere.
The oar guides were irregular and the museum notes said the shipbuilders worked without plans and would often just carve the wood until it looked right.
This barrel on the bow of a ship was for ale, of course.
When the gods decided to put a wall around Asgard, they asked a giant stone mason to do the work but he demanded the hand of the love goddess Freya in return. This was too much to ask but Loki convinced the other gods to agree to the deal with the understanding he would find a way to cheat the giant in the end. Loki didn't have any particular plan but was sure no one could build a wall that fast. Of couse, the stone mason and his giant draft horse proceeded to do just that.
The other gods grew increasingly desparate and angry at Loki as the year passed and the giant seemed about to make good on his promise but then, just before he was about to finish, a beautiful mare appeared and lured the giants stallion away from the work site. The giant was unable to finish the wall.
Then, soon after the giant left in rage, his stallion mounted and impregnated Loki. Loki hid himself away for months in embarrassment. Only after he had given birth did he return to Asgard leading his child Sleipnir, an eight legged horse that could run on land, sea, and air. He gave this steed to his half brother Odin as a gift.