To narrow down all the sightseeing options in Oslo, Frank and I each made our #1 choices.  His was the Viking Museum (yesterday’s blog).

My first choice was the Fram Museum, which holds the actual ship (named “Fram”) that Roald Amundsen sailed to the Arctic and Antarctic.

I had learned all about Amundsen on my Antarctica trip so couldn’t believe I could see the actual ship.

In 1910, Amundsen sailed the Fram north in an effort to become the first explorer to reach the North Pole.  En route, he learned that someone had beaten him to it, so he just turned the ship around and headed for the South Pole instead.

Admiral Scott from England also was headed that way, so the race was on!

Norway got there first, proudly planted the Norwegian flag, and began their return home.

Thirty-three days later, Scott’s party arrived, only to see the Norwegian flag already there.  Disappointed, they headed back to their base camp but experienced extreme arctic conditions and died in their tents after writing messages to the world encouraging future exploration.  (These were found by a search party that was assembled when Scott’s party failed to return.)

Not only could we see the ship, we could board it-

And even go below – here’s the dining room and Captain’s cabin –

Way cool – no pun intended!!  : )