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Norway 2002 |
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Following the red line on the previous page
we take a ferry across to Bygdøy. There are three large museums
here but we only have time to go to the History Museum (Norsk
Folkemuseum). This is an outdoor collection of buildings from all
over Norway. Some of the buildings are several hundred years
old. They have been moved here and reset as they would have been
in the original location. In some locations there are guides to
answer questions about the area, uses and construction.  The
furniture displayed in this little house reminded me of that found in my
Mom's home when the "Boys" lived there. The guide told
us that a family of nine lived in the two small rooms inside. My
are we spoiled! Continuing with the pictures below we walked
though a small town with stores, bars, government buildings, etc.-----» |
Some of the interiors of the homes from one area were totally decorated with painting on almost every surface. They must have had plenty of time on their hands during the long dark winter. The storage buildings were all built up on a pillar structure with timbers or rock supports designed to keep rodents out. Many buildings had the sod roofs. These are made up of several layers of birch bark covered with two layers of sod, one facing down, the other facing up. These roofs provided insulation and growing space for additional hay. The average life of such a roof was between 20 and 30 years before it needed to be removed and rebuilt. Much like today's roofs. This type of roof is still in use throughout Norway. The two other common materials are slabs of slate and baked tiles. Both require a much stronger sub-structure. | |
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| One structure that I found very interesting was a water powered reciprocating sawmill. The water wheel below the floor turned a crank that moved the saw up and down while other rotating devices pulled the rack holding the log to be sawn through the blade. Wheels in the slots of the rack made the whole thing move with little effort. -----» | Here we also got to see the first of many churches of various constructions. This one is a stave church. The altar is in the east end, men came in through the south door and women through the north. The men stood in the south half of the building since "evil came from the north". | |
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| After supper we went back out to the park across from the hotel to sit for about an hour watching people. Many people came to the park, some to watch some to be watched. | ||
