Oslo - Norway - page 119

Polarship Fram Museum MUSEUM
( 23 28 29 50; www.frammuseum.no ; adult/child Nkr80/30, with Oslo Pass free; 9am-6pm Jun-

Aug, 10am-5pm May & Sep, 10am-4pm rest of year)
Nature is often the best architect. Which is why, when well-known shipbuilder Colin Arch-
er was asked to design a ship whose hull could withstand the crush of polar ice, he looked
no further than an egg for inspiration - the oval design ensures that when ice is contracting
against it, the boat is pushed up and onto the ice rather than being merely crushed by it.
This museum is the final resting place of his creation, the Polarship Fram .
Launched in 1892, the Polarship Fram, at the time the strongest ship ever built, spent
much of its life trapped in the polar ice. From 1893 to 1896 Fridtjof Nansen's North Pole
expedition took the 39m schooner to Russia's New Siberian Islands, passing within a few
degrees of the North Pole on their return trip to Norway.
In 1910 Roald Amundsen set sail in the Fram (meaning 'forward'), intending to be the
first explorer to reach the North Pole, only to discover en route that Robert Peary had
beaten him to it. Not to be outdone, Amundsen turned the Fram around and, racing Robert
Falcon Scott all the way, became the first man to reach the South Pole. Otto Sverdrup also
sailed the schooner around southern Greenland to Canada's Ellesmere Island between 1898
and 1902, travelling over 18,000km.
In addition to the Fram, the museum also houses the Gjøa, the first ship to successfully
navigate the Northwest Passage.
You're allowed to thoroughly explore the ship, peek inside the cramped bunk rooms and
imagine life at sea. In addition, there are detailed exhibits, complete with maps, pictures
and artefacts, that bring the various expeditions to life, from Nansen's attempt to ski across
the North Pole to Amundsen's discovery of the Northwest Passage and the fateful rescue
attempt that ended in his disappearance. Other exhibitions look at life in the polar regions
and the wildlife of the area; there's even a polar simulator.

Kon-Tiki Museum MUSEUM
( GOOGLE MAP ; 23 08 67 67; www.kon-tiki.no ; Bygdøynesveien 36; adult/child Nkr90/40, with
Oslo Pass free; 9.30am-6pm Jun-Aug, 10am-5pm Mar-May & Sep-Oct, 10am-4pm Nov-Feb)
A favourite among children, this worthwhile museum is dedicated to the balsa raft Kon-
Tiki, which Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl sailed from Peru to Polynesia in 1947.