We caught the 9 AM subway towards Holmenkollen, to get to the Holmenkollen ski arena/jump/museum when it opened at 10.
After getting off the train, we still had a 15-ish minute hike uphill, encouraged along the way by signs and glimpses of the ski jump structure in the distance.
We arrived about 10 minutes before anything opened, so we had time to explore the top of the arena.
In the distance, there were people roller-skiing around the track, and one or two people practicing target shooting.
The museum offered an in-depth look at the history of Nordic skiing, with a collection of skis ranging from over a thousand years old to modern equipment, and a look into the integration of skiing into Norwegian culture.
There's also content about the history of Holmenkollen itself, and how it has evolved over the decades.
There's a slanted elevator that takes its sweet time climbing to the top of the jump tower, where we went out on the roof to see the view.
A few of our more intrepid co-tourists opted for the zip line experience.
After exhausting the roof-top entertainment options, we rode the slow elevator back to earth.
On the way out, we observed the "ski jump simulator", which resembled a VR ride from an amusement park, only shorter and probably less fun.
Having spent about an hour at Holmenkollen, we hoofed it back down the hill to catch a train back to the city center.
Once back downtown, we found an Indian place with a lunch buffet, near the National Theater. It was almost 7 AM back on the east coast, when Martin Tower was demolished.
After lunch, we found the bus out to Bygdøy, hoping to get a glimpse of the Gol Stave Church, but it's contained within the sprawling Norwegian Museum of Cultural History that we were not especially interested in seeing, so we continued down the road to the next attraction.
The real reason, in my view, to go all the way out there was to see the Viking Ship Museum.
Inside, the main attractions are two 1000-year-old(ish) ships that have been restored (the Oseberg and the Gokstad)...
... and one that hasn't (the Tune).
There is also a collection of Viking-age artifacts.
One more bus stop down the line from the Vikingskipshuset, there's a group of other museums by the water. Our next visit was to the Fram Museum, home to the (restored) polar exploration ships Gjøa and Fram.
Each ship gets its own building, linked by a tunnel under the parking lot.
We watched a short, informational movie about the prominent Norwegian polar explorers, principally Roald Amundsen, and then wandered around the Gjøa exhibit.
In case there was any doubt, we learned that Sabrina would not be useful to haul sleds on a polar expedition.
The Fram is much larger, and it's possible to walk inside almost every part of the ship.
The Fram, being much larger, had a much larger engine than the Gjøa; Wikipedia says this one was 220 hp, I think the sign in the Gjøa said "13 hp".
The Fram even had an electrical system, and electric lights.
After about 90 minutes at the Fram museum, we rode the bus back to the city center, getting off at the end of Karl Johans gate, at the Royal Palace park.
We took a quick stroll up to the palace, and then started considering dinner options as it was already after 5 PM.
Not far from the palace/park, we sat down for a hearty meal at Den Glade Gris ("the happy pig").
There's nothing quite like an after-dinner stroll, so next up was a walk over to the Grünerløkka area, along the Aker river, vaguely in the direction of the apartment.
We stopped at Old Aker Church, apparently the oldest existing building in Oslo, which is also the start of the Pilgrim's Route.
Next, we headed downhill towards the area we explored on the first night, near Mathallen, and then headed upstream along the river.
We crossed the river several times as we followed it up towards the top of Grünerløkka.
At the top, we turned and headed back down towards the Airbnb location.
Along the way, we stopped for ice cream and crepes, before heading back to the apartment for an early night of packing.
Tomorrow, we're heading to Sweden on the 6 AM train to Stockholm.
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