Peace Begins With Me

This morning we went to the Nobel Peace Center in downtown Oslo. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded here in Oslo, the winners selected by a panel chosen by the Norwegian Parliament.

The building is an old train station, but inside was so modern, sleek, and high tech!

Inside were exhibits about former Peace Prize winners. One was about German winner Carl von Ossietzky, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for publishing about the remilitarization of Nazi Germany. The amazing thing about this award was that he won the prize in 1935, before World War II began. It was a very controversial award at the time, because Ossietzky had been convicted of treason in Germany for his publishing. The world was not yet ready to believe what Germany was preparing to do, but the Nobel Peace committee understood and were willing to speak out in their own way.

The Carl von Ossietzky exhibit. The kids are typing on a typewriter and letter are going up the screen.

An old radio

The museum was great for the kids in that it was very interactive, encouraged touching things, and it had a great packet for Levi J to do throughout the center. The kid's packet kept things at a great level for them; for example, the Ossietzky exhibit talked about speaking out when something is not right.

This area talked about freedom of expression as an inalienable right. The children were encouraged to write their thoughts.

There was also an exhibit about the 2015 winners, who were a quartet of organizations in Tunisia who helped negotiate a new government after the government was brought down by the Arab Spring. I did not know that story and really enjoyed hearing about it.

I also particularly enjoyed the exhibit featuring all the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. They each had a little screen with their picture, and as you stood in front it would tell a short synopsis of their work. Everyone was hushed in that room, like it was a place of honor.

It was such a wonderful way to spend a morning, contemplating peace and learning about so many people who made a real difference in the world to bring about peace.

One of my favorite winners

Children of Syria

Quintana was not very peaceful in the Peace Center

After the Peace Center we sat in the plaza and Quintana chased the birds. Reminded me of when we went to the Rodin sculpture garden in Paris and Levi J chased a duck around for ages, haha.

There were some delicious food trucks out! I had a crepe with brie and honey, yumyumyumyum, but the Mexican food did sound tempting too.

As we drove home, we passed the Norwegian Parliament building, which was kind of neat.

Thank goodness Levi was driving, because it was nuts driving downtown. It is especially tricky since we could not read any of the signs in Norwegian. At one point a bus driver stopped to yell at us because we were driving on a buses only street!

Every day is a new adventure! More fun times ahead!