Oslo...

This past weekend, I visited another town in what is becoming one of my favorite parts of Europe: Scandinavia. This time, I went to Oslo, the capital of Norway. It's so funny... I'm in love with Scandinavia and I'm in love with Italy, and the two places couldn't be any more different. For as dirty as Italy is (which really only adds to the charm), Scandinavia is pristine; for as artistically beautiful Italy is, Scandinavia is naturally beautiful (and made me super homesick for my naturally beautiful Portland), for as boisterously expressive Italians are, Scandinavians are quietly poingnant. And the list goes on... I think I'm bi-polar (oh yes, I see you out there, agreeing with me!). Anyways, bottom line, I LOVE SCANDINAVIA!! :)

The reason I picked Oslo was simple - I found a really cheap ticket on Norwegian Air! :) But, that was about the only thing that was cheap about the weekend! I was shocked to see how expensive things are there - the 20 minute trainride from the airport to downtown was the equivalent of 40 USD, while a bottle of water was about $5. Let's not even talk about beer (I did indulge in just one!). My hotel was called "Oslo Budget Hotel", and at $110/night for pretty non-luxourious settings (had to put my own sheets on my bed), it ended up being okay. But, who cares about all this - the thing that is important is that the experience was priceless! I went alone, but totally re-charged my battery and returned with a new passion for life (see my last post).

I arrived to my hotel after midnight, and pretty much just crashed into bed (okay, folks, it's no secret that I'm not much of a partier!). I woke up pretty early, and decided to hit the road after enjoying the Scandinavian breakfast at the hotel (which was probably my best meal of the day!). I bought a city pass, because it covered all of my public transit for 24 hours plus covered a lot of the things I wanted to see. My first stop was to the neighborhood of Bygdøynes, where they have all kinds of ship museums to celebrate Norway's Viking heritage. My first stop was the Maritime Museum, where they had 3 Viking ships that had been buried with important people hundreds of years ago. One of them was almost in perfect condition - so cool to see how these vessels were put together:

Viking Burial Ship

Next was a stop to the Kon-Tiki Museum, which houses the famous Kon-Tiki boat that was used in the 1950's to try to prove that people from South America very well could have made a raft and floated to Polynesia... the man who had this hypothesis had seen similar art/architecture in both places and wanted to prove this theory... and he did!

Kon-Tiki Boat - 101 days at sea!

My last boat stop was the Fram Museum - this one holds the boat that made it both to the furthest North and furthest South points on the globe, the Fram. Pretty interesting to read about these voyages as well.

The Fram

That evening, I went to the Nobel Peace Center, which had a great exhibit called "From King to Obama"... it was super inspiring.

Digital exhibit showing all of the Nobel Peace Prize winners

I took a nice long walk along the Alna River on my way to find a spot for dinner... there was beautiful scenery all along the way, including a few small waterfalls! My pictures didn't come out great, but just so you get an idea...

I made it to bed by 10:30pm after a less-than-interesting meal (well, it was interesting in that the menu was a mix of Japanese and Italian... but I'm not sure it was planned that way!), and rested up for my next big day and the part I had been looking forward to the most - the Vigeland Sculpture Garden!

I got up early again on Sunday and made my way out the Museum. Thrifty KP realized that her 24-hour city pass hadn't expired yet, so transportation was once again free (instead of the hefty $5/ride charge that it takes to ride the trams! OUCH!). Being at the sculpture garden made my whole trip worth it for me. Vigeland was an artist that the city of Oslo built a home for on the grounds of the park, and in return for the house, he dedicated his whole life to making the park beautiful. And, beautiful it was. I spent three hours walking around, and I took pictures of most of the many sculptures. The theme is "the circle of life", and I couldn't help but feeling the emotions that the sculptures emitted come from within me as well... You'll see what I mean - check this out:

Beautiful fall weather along one of the paths in Vigeland Park

Haven't we all had a day where doing just this is the only thing that can make it all better?

I can't wait to feel this amount of joy...

Or to be with a man who feels this amount of protection over our wee one...

The monolith - which took 14 years to carve!

I also stopped at the museum, which shows how the bronze sculptures were cast and contains the clay originals.


On my way back to visit the National Gallery, I passed the Grand Hotel, which is where the Nobel Peace Prize winner stays in December when he or she accepts the award:

And then I had a traditional Norwegian meal... nothing to write home about - meatballs, boiled potatoes, and mushy peas. Hearty, but boring.

My last stop before the airport was the city hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented each December 10th. This will be Obama's view when he accepts the award:

It was a quick trip, but I've definitely added Norway to my list of "must come back again someday" countries. :)