Awesome Oslo

Two Days in the Capitol of Norway

I love Oslo!  Oslo was one of the first cities I visited in Europe and it set the bar high.  Not only did Oslo offer enough history and art to make my head explode, much of the activities we sought out were free or reasonably priced.  Although reasonably priced attractions are kind of necessary in Norway to make up for how obscenely expensive everything else is.  Fortunately for us, we visited Olso on a cruise that docked in this marvelous city for two days.  It was the best of both worlds.  We got to spend a bunch of time exploring the city, but could return to our reasonably priced cruise ship if we got the munchies or needed a rest.  

Enjoying the extensive collection of free to view art at the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Olso, Norway.

One of the first things we did onshore was catch a cab to Vigeland Sculpture Park.  Vigeland Sculpture Park is the largest sculpture park (a free and public park by the way) featuring only creations of a single artist in the world.  Not surprisingly, the sculptor's name is Vigeland.  The park contains not only a standard assortment of humans young and old by themselves, but also piles of humans in all shapes from pillars to arches to plane old hot messes.  Most of the sculptures were just far enough from normal to catch my attention, and close enough to normal to keep it.  The Vigeland Sculture Park was just the beginning of our art tour of Oslo.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park is the largest sculpture park comprised of works created by a single artist.

One of the other main stops on our itinerary was the National Gallery located conveniently in downtown Oslo.  While the multistory National Gallery is home to a impressive collection of paintings, the star of the establishment is the painting Scream by Edvard Munch.  I am not an art fanatic, and there are plenty of acclaimed pieces that are so plain or ugly I cannot comprehend why they get so much attention.  I am not sure why, but I have always liked Scream.  Maybe as a kid I liked the bold colors of blue and green contrasted against the orange-red sky.  Maybe I've just always wondered why the ghost-like person is screaming.  Maybe I just saw it plastered as a magnet too many times on refrigerators or in calendars.  Whatever the reason, I like Scream and the full size version hanging in the National Gallery was worth the admission.

Standing in the courtyard in front of the Royal Palace in Oslo, waiting for the royal guard to change.  The courtyard offers a view of the main thoroughfare of downtown Oslo.

Uphill from the downtown and National Gallery is the Royal Palace and Gardens.  While the palace exterior and gardens did not warrant more than fifteen minutes wandering and gazing, the changing of the guard, that included a full marching band is still years later, the most extravagant and involved changing of the guard I have seen.  The courtyard in front of the palace where the changing of guard occurs also offers an expansive view of downtown, straight down the main thorough fare which descends constantly downhill for several blocks.

The Royal Palace of Oslo.

Posing with a guard near the Royal Palace of Oslo.  They are trained to keep their gun opposite of anyone posing with them.  Some poor guards seem to constantly be switching the gun from side to side to comply with their training.

Aside palaces and art reminiscent of days gone by, Oslo's streets are also filled with buildings that echo culture of the current time.  One of these buildings is the Nobel Peace Prize Center on the Oslo waterfront.  The Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize awarded outside of Sweden; it's presented in Oslo.  At the museum guests wander through interactive multi media displays accounting the lives and deeds of all Peace Prize recipients like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., and my favorite Malala Yousafzai who at eleven years of age fought for the right of girls in the middle east to education, defying the Taliban who then tried to kill her.  The Peace Prize Center was both uplifting and disappointing, because side by side with Malala's story are those of people and groups that in my opinion did not do very much to actually make the world a more peaceful place.  Some of them even made it less peaceful.

Posing in front of the Nobel Peace Prize Museum on the waterfront in Oslo.  The Peace Prize is the only Nobel Prize not handed out in Sweden.

Enjoying the city view from our cruise ship.  The fort across from the dock can be seen in the background.

Probably my favorite place we visited in Oslo, and the one I will remember best in perpetuity was the Oslo Opera House.  The Opera House seems to rise out of the harbor busy with personal watercraft (one in four people in Norway own a boat).  Its stark white blocks contrast against the deep blue water and light blue sky, with terraces jutting out at sharp angles, allowing visitors to climb slanted tiers, taking in a view of the city from the summit.  The opera house was so busy with people strolling about its white surfaces and picnicking on its surface, I have no idea how it can be kept such a clean white.  The opera house is the epitome of Oslo, fresh, clean, and aquatic like so much in Norway.

The Oslo Opera House has a tilted ceiling which visitors can explore on foot. We clamored all over the roof during our visit.

We visited Oslo in summer, and it was so alive with life.  The people seemed to walk on air.  Maybe the long long hours of sun light put everyone in an uplifting mood.  Whatever the reason, the light spirit of people of Oslo makes me smile whenever I think of our time there.