The Great Escape

  May 30 - Oslo Our first trip this morning was to an art gallery, the’Munch’, and, not unsurprisingly, dedicated to the life and works of Edward Munch! 😊   Apparently it’s one of the largest single-artist museum's in the world, with 13 floors, 11 gallery spaces, and home to over 26,000 pieces of his work alone!   The standout for me was ‘The Scream’, although we did miss out on the painted (coloured) version which was a bit of a shame. There are three versions, the painting, a drawing, and a lithograph, and the museum swaps them around daily for conservation reasons. Today’s was the lithograph. Although a lot of Munch’s work doesn’t really do a lot for me the gallery visit was really interesting as we could see the various pieces of work leading up to ‘The Scream’.  The next cab off the rank was to the Norwegian Resistance Museum. Focussing on the Norwegian resistance during the German occupation of Norway during WWII, this is a very sobering museum. While I knew...

  May 29 - Oslo Although quite a modern city Oslo still has some ‘Olde Worlde’, and eclectic, architecture, and not all to one’s taste either! 😊   As an example, the Town Hall here has to be the ugliest of its type I’ve ever seen, and yet I normally like brick buildings, yuk! Top L: What must be the ugliest Town Hall ever! Off to Bygdøy, the island, again today, and the first stop is to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, otherwise known as the ‘Folks’ museum.  Containing an extensive collection of artefacts from social and regional groups, it also incorporates a large open-air museum housing more than 150 buildings, all relocated from towns and rural districts across Norway. One particular area of the site has been used to reproduce a facsimile of an old town, using genuine house and business buildings, and little a bit like ‘Sovereign Hill’ in Ballarat.  It’s all very well done as well. Most of the rest of the museum has been dedicated to rural scenarios w...

  May 28 - Oslo First job this morning was off to the clinic to get PCR tests prior to the cruise. We were a little bit nervous as a negative test would result in us getting bumped, and we’d been waiting best part of 3 years for this trip!  Anyway all good (apart from the cost, GBP420, AUD 740!) and so that’s one more barrier less to cross.   As we’re here for a while before the cruise we decided to get Oslo passes (‘free’ travel and entry into all sorts of things) so we’ll be seeing our fair share of museums over the next few days.  A ferry ride away is an island called ‘Bygdøy’, which is home to a number of Oslo’s main museums, and so it was to there we went. Our first cab off the rank was to the Fram Museum. Built to honour Norwegian polar exploration in general, but three Norwegian polar explorers in particular – Nansen, Sverdrup, and Amundsen, it’s main exhibit is the ship the ‘Fram’.  This was one special vessel as, amongst other things, it was b...

  May 27 - Worthing to Oslo To quote Robin Williams in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’, “What does the ‘0’ stand for in ‘0500 hrs’? - “Oh my god it’s early!” and that was us this morning! 😊 .  Up at sparrows for a taxi to Gatwick and then a flight on to Norway.  On arrival it was an easy train ride into Oslo from the airport (are you listening Melbourne?!!) and we were met by our Airbnb host for the short walk to our accommodation.  He told us that we were easy to identify as nobody else getting off the train was wearing a mask, obviously the ‘dreaded lurgy’ doesn’t exist over here any more!! After settling in, and then a visit to the tourist information office, we went for a wander through town until eventually we came across the Royal Palace.  Built in the early part of the 19th century, in neo-classical style, and still the residence of King V of Norway, it must be one of the most uninspiring looking royal palaces I’ve ever seen, it’s just so uninteresting!...

 May 17 - 26 Worthing  Not a lot happening sightseeing-wise this week, we’ve caught up with family, some old friends (and had a few drinks!) and then some more planning for upcoming trips.  One of our visits was to Guildford catching up with an old friend of JEM’s. We also paid a visit to our old house and neighbourhood, which was great, as well as meeting up with our old next door neighbour who greeted us like we’d only seen him the previous day!  The gardens still look lovely even though the old eucalyptus tree that we planted 20 or so years ago has long since gone 🙁 A nightly visitor at Worthing  Another task this week has been getting prepared for our trip to Svalbard, Norway.  We’re off to Oslo tomorrow (Friday) and then hopefully flying to Longyearbyen next week (as long as we manage to stay Covid-free🤞). Let’s hope all goes well  

  May 16 - St Albans to Worthing Before heading home to Worthing we took in some Roman-period history at the Verulamium Theatre and Museum (named after what was the local Roman city).  The theatre, built in about 140AD and pretty unique in the UK, was the only one with a stage rather than an amphitheatre. However, as there are only ruins remaining, it’s not that easy to picture.  The museum was pretty cool though with some nice mosaics, figurines, and other ancient treasures discovered locally. We’ll worth a visit. 

  May 15 - Norwich to St Albans A travel day today with a couple of diversions on the way.  Our first stop was to the Suffolk village of Lavenham, one of the best preserved Medieval villages in the UK. Boasting some 320 English Heritage listed timber framed buildings, this place is amazing!  Somehow many of these buildings have managed to escape the ravages of time and fashion to remain how they were in the 15th and 16th centuries, and they look fantastic (even though they might be ‘slightly’ crooked! 😊) Sticking with the architectural theme our next detour was to a country mansion, this time Melford Hall in Suffolk.  A lovely looking building on the outside, the interior’s a little bit ‘tired’.  A shame really as the estate certainly has the potential to be a bit special as the grounds and location are great, and the staff were all very welcoming. 

  May 14 - Norwich A busy last full day in Norwich today, out visiting a real mixed bag of themes, religion, nature, and history (plus cuisine if you include eating mussels in a Belgian beer barn! 😂🍻 ) First off a trip to Norwich’s other cathedral, ‘St John the Baptist’ (RC).  Smaller and newer than the city’s Anglican one,  it’s impressive exterior and the magnificent interior make it well worth a visit for anyone interested in architecture (or religion come to that! 😇 ) Our second port of call was to a local ‘Plantation Garden’, a restored English Heritage Victorian town garden, located in a former 3-acre chalk quarry.  With a gothic fountain, flower beds, lawns, Italianate terrace, and woodland, walking in felt like an oasis, it was beautiful.  Although a few were a little past their best, there’s also some very lovely flower displays adding a lot of colour throughout.  Our last visit of the day was to Blickling Estate, a beautiful National Trus...

  May 13 - Norwich You can’t stay in this part of the world and NOT visit the Norfolk Broads so that’s we went today.  The Broads, consisting of shallow lakes and waterways, were mainly formed by Medieval man who dug out peat for fuel,  over some 300 years.  This industry, however, came to an end during the 14th century when the sea level began to rise and flooded the areas that had been dug out.  Over the centuries though these areas have evolved into what they are today, an impressive wetland habitat for many species of birds and water animals.  Our trip today was to Hickling Broad, a 600 hectare site and one of the largest expanses of water in England.  We spent the day in this lovely nature reserve walking, boating, and ‘twitching’, it was great, and it’s a definite recommendation for this part of the country from us. 

  May 12 - Ely to Norwich Off to Norwich this morning and via another nature reserve, this time Lakenheath Fen.  Owned by the RSPB (the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) this 400 hectare site comprises of a mixture of wetlands and woodlands and has some really lovely walking trails in and amongst the reedbeds and marshes.  We spent a couple of hours there just meandering along the walking tracks before finishing off hiking alongside the River Ouse. It was great! After settling into our accommodation this afternoon, a nice apartment a short distance from the middle of town, we went for a walk to the city’s main cathedral (C of E).  The cathedral, founded in 1096, is a magnificent example of Romanesque architecture, with the highest Norman tower in England and pretty impressive monastic cloisters as well.  However, although it’s a pretty special building, it’s not quite up there with some we’ve seen earlier this week, such as Ely, or Kings College, for ...