It's a later start this morning as we didn't arrive into Oslo until 10:00 am. It's very overcast and rainy, so our touring may just be from the bus. Wouldn't you know, the rest of the week has a sunny forecast. :(( oh well--we are all prepared with umbrellas and rain gear, so off we go!

Our first stop was at the site of the 1952 Olympic Ski jumping competition in Holmenkollen. As you would imagine, it's located up on a mountain and the view of the city from there was quite amazing, even on a rainy day. Our guide was telling us that you have to be just a little bit crazy to jump and after seeing it in person, I can understand why she said that. OMG, the pictures and television do not do it justice. I think it would really be something to witness in person. We took our first selfie there. :)) The Go Pro team from the ship was filming another tour group but both Rich and Mike made the cut for the video! They will be famous! :)) They both posed for shots as if they were ski jumping...I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Next up was the Vigeland Sculpture Park, absolutely amazing the amount of work done and how realistic the faces of the stone sculptures are. I wish I had taken more pictures of individual ones--my favorites were an older woman consoling a man--not sure if it was her son or husband, but the emotions of both individuals were very apparent. Another was of a man, woman and baby--made me think of Traci, Matt & Everette. There was also one of a small boy throwing a tantrum, complete with hands balled into fists which really reminded me of a meltdown Miss Emma had when she was around 18 mos. old at the beach...anyone remember that?? :)) I bought the magnet of that one, mainly because it was all I could find. Another favorite was of a group of young girls in a huddle and one younger one holding on to her sister and scowling at a little boy trying to be a part of it--and his pitiful expression! So great! Could just kick myself for not taking pictures but the guide was moving on quickly and I didn't want to miss what she was saying. I thought I would get a chance to go back and take the pictures but never did.

There are 200 of the statues in the park, and we got to see them all. If you're ever in Oslo, put this place at the top of your to do list.

Finally was a trip to visit the Viking Ship Museum--3 different Viking ships are on display that were recovered from royal burial mounds in the Oslo fjord. Our guide told us that a replica was made of one of them and they sailed from Oslo to Chicago to prove that it could be done. That means they crossed the Baltic Sea, Atlantic Ocean and some rivers in the USA and supposedly it is housed in a museum in Chicago! I'm going to have to do some research on this once I get back to free internet. :))

We were all very hungry once back on our ship since it was almost 3:00 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. A visit to the International Cafe took care of that. We were going to go to the buffet but we all agreed we would eat too much and didn't want to spoil our dinner since we have reservations for the Crown Grill tonight...melt in your mouth steak, YUM!!

And sorry I haven't been able to update since we left the apt in Copenhagen--the Internet has been down on the ship so no posting. Boo Hiss! I'm checking every so often to see if it will take my blog but no luck so far today.

**Update since we got home--I've gone online and added some of the Vigeland Sculptures that I liked from pictures I found on the internet. The photos don't do the sculptures justice but at least I can remember what they looked like.