Fram Museum

It’s been a while since we’ve last posted an update to this blog, almost five months to be exact! We’ve been back in California adjusting to life ‘off the road’ for most of that five months, but it’s high time we shared the remainder of our six month excursion through the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. So, without further adieu!

We last posted from the Norwegian capital of Oslo. While we were in Oslo, we visited the Fram Museum, which is dedicated to Norwegian polar exploration. It houses the restored, original wooden ship, Fram, taken by Roald Amundsen on the 1911 historic first expedition to reach the South Pole. To create the museum, they first docked the Fram on the Eastern shore of the Bygdøy Peninsula, also known as ‘Museum Island,’ due to its numerous museums and cultural attractions. They then built the museum around the ship, making for a very unique viewing experience indeed! In a separate building, the wooden sloop, Gjoa, is also on display. Amundsen completed the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage on the Gjoa in 1906. The museum is absolutely packed with exhibits, artifacts and images from Norwegian polar exploration. It is quite an intriguing, if somewhat overwhelming, place!

View of Akershus Fortress from the ferry in Oslo's harbor

The ferry across the harbor to the Bygdoy peninsula where the Fram Polar Expedition Museum is located

The stern of the Fram with life boats

The Fram's rigging barely fits within the steeply pitched, A-framed roof of the surrounding museum

Chris climbing up to the deck of the Fram

Viewing the rigging from on board

Crewman Chris with Roald Amundsen figure looking on

Known as the "polar chef," Adolf Lindstrom was the primary cook on the Fram's South Pole Expedition. He was famous for his pancakes!

The museum has many interesting exhibits, like depictions of frozen bodies in glacial ice....

....& angry, frozen polar bears

Chris, demonstrating use of the potty on the deck of the Gjoa

The Gjoa with surrounding Northwest Passage exhibits

Rigging of the Gjoa

Sjoblomst Monument, in thanks to Norwegian rescuers of Vietnamese boat refugees, with the Oslo harbor beyond

Bygdoy WWII Navy Memorial dedicated to Norwegian sailors of the Second World War