Tag Archives: Vikings

The Borre Viking Mounds, Mead Hall, & More

June 5, 2017.  For our anniversary this year, we decided to get out of town and into the countryside for a long weekend.  A Norwegian friend of ours had recommended that we travel south towards the mouth of the Oslo Fjord, where Viking burial grounds and art galleries proliferate.  Yeah, a weird combo, I know.  But with all of the area’s postcard-perfect beaches, farmland, and forests, I can totally see its appeal to both conquerors and creative types.

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Viking Ships

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The Viking Ships Museum resembles a cruciform church, with each wing containing a ship.

March 19, 2015.  “What’s the best thing to see in Oslo?,” is the question I’m often asked by friends and family preparing for a visit.  I know I’m a history geek, but I always recommend the Viking Ships Museum.  Seriously, where else in the world can you go to feast your eyes on three incredibly intact Viking vessels?  We all know about these Scandinavian raiders who pillaged most of Europe and were the first Europeans to touch foot on North American soil.  (It’s now pretty much a proven fact — Columbus was late to the party.)  So it’s a real goose-bump experience to see the vehicles that made it all possible. Continue reading Viking Ships