Whimsical Truth: Birthday in Oslo, part two

Our second stop on our second day in Oslo touring Bygdøy was at the Viking Ship museum which displays the world's two best preserved wooden Viking ships built in the 9th century. There's also an exhibit of small boats, sledges, traditional tools and clothing and other great finds from Viking tombs.

Next on our list was the Holocaust museum, which A especially enjoyed. The museum is located in Villa Grande, residence of the Norwegian collaborator and Nazi leader, Vidkun Quisling, during the second world war.

The very interesting Holocaust exhibition includes images, sound, film, items and documents on the genocide of the European Jews.

At the Fram museum we boarded the Fram, of course, the strongest wooden ship ever built. It still holds the record for sailing farthest north and south. There are also photographic and film exhibitions of these polar expeditions. We could only imagine how hard it was for the crew and their dogs to live and survive in the extreme conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic - the coldest and most dangerous places on earth.

Thor Heyerdahl gained worldwide fame when he crossed the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft in 1947. At the Kon-Tiki museum there are replicas and original artifacts from Heyerdahl's expeditions, including the original reed boat Ra II and an exhibition about the Tigris.

Then it was time to catch the ferry and head back to the hotel to get ready for supper.

For dinner we went to Rorbua. It's one of the best restaurants at Aker Brygge on the promenade, where you can experience genuinely north Norwegian food in a pleasant and informal environment. The name Rorbua comes from 'rorbu', which means 'fisherman's house', and it's decorated like one. The classic menu includes dishes like whale meat and reindeer steak. Feeling quite adventurous I dared myself to taste the reindeer steak, knowing it's quite a rare opportunity to find reindeer in Malta, and frankly it's not something I would eat on a regular basis. I'm not a vegetarian, but I try to not eat meat from certain animals...like kangaroos and rabbits. And reindeer. They remind me of Bambi. And who has the guts to eat Bambi?

Well, I live by the saying 'try anything once' so I ordered that reindeer steak, which was good and exciting, but nothing so extraordinary. A played it safe with a salmon steak.