Since August, our travel adventures have pretty much been on hold, not knowing how things were going to go with my dad. It was also exhausting traveling back and forth to the United States, so we just didn't have anything planned. I don't even think it was 48 hours after my dad passed away that I looked into booking something for Thanksgiving weekend because I just wanted some HAPPY in my life! I realize it seems a bit absurd to go to Oslo in late November (what with each day having under 7 hours of daylight) but the price was right, so it was time to scratch Norway off of our maps!
Obligatory ready for take off photo, check!
We flew Scandanavian (SAS) Air to Oslo, and they were pretty decent. The cloud views on the way were really pretty!
As much as I'm terrified of flying, it can really be so peaceful above the clouds. It's corny, but it's a good time for quiet reflection.
We landed around 3:30 pm, which is right at sunset in Oslo this time of year. Oslo sits at the top of a fjord, and has an urban population of about a million people, which is about a fifth of the population of all of Norway. After we landed, we decided to take a cab from the airport to the city because we had read that it was about 80 Euros. Expensive, but doable. We had plans to hit up the National Museum in the evening and wanted to get there before it closed, so the expeditious cab was needed. Todd and I were texting each other as we watched the meter continue to tick higher and higher. When we finally got to our apartment, the total cab tab was $187. Yes. One hundred and eighty seven dollars. Gulp.
After the shock of the cab fare wore off and we dropped our stuff off in our apartment, we went to the National Museum. It's the largest public collection of art in Norway, and it's pretty decent! Don't forget to sign the sign-in book on the way upstairs!
When you first go upstairs, and after you sign the guest book... you are greeted with Rolf Nesch's materialbilde (or material image) "On the Beach" from 1940.
There is a little drawing room in the National Gallery where you can pick up a pencil and attempt to draw a sculpture. Todd is a (in my eyes at least) good artist!
Clark Griswold wuz here.
Natalie wanted to give it a shot, too.
When Clark and Audrey were done, they posted their masterpieces on the wall.
Impressionism is my favorite time period for art. The National Gallery has works by Manet, Degas, Renoir and Claude Monet's "Spring by the Seine."
Wait, I thought Rodin's "The Thinker" was in Paris! It turns out there are multiple copies of it.
One of my favorite pictures of the trip. They believe this Van Gogh self portrait may be a fake! One thing is for sure... this kid does a mean impersonation of Van Gogh--- only he still has both of his ears!
More of impressionism... this time, Paul Cezanne's "Trees and Houses in Provence."
No kidding, this one was called, "The Day After" by Edvard Munch. Interestingly, I read that Munch didn't often do portraits of prostitutes - and when he did, he often made them look pretty terrible. That's not the case here. This work wasn't well received when it was purchased for the Oslo National Gallery.
The most well known piece of art at the National Museum is Edvard Munch's "The Scream."
And of course, we all had to do this. Come on, everyone was doing it! It was a real scream!
After visiting the museum, we headed down to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We didn't have reservations anywhere else and the Hard Rock used the (rarely used in Europe) beeper system so we just went with it. And of course... once again...
Besides... we sat down in the bar area under one of my all time favorite albums... U2's War album!
OK, this is a little better!
Todd went to the bathroom at the Hard Rock and saw this, ha ha. A bit of a male ego boost in the men's water closet!
Just outside of the Hard Rock was the newly opened Oslo Christmas market. The Norwegian word for Christmas is "Jul" - hence the Jul i Vinterland, or Christmas in Winterland.
They have a fantastic (but really high) Ferris wheel! It's even taller than Todd!
The lights were so pretty on the trees and all along the buildings on Karl Johans Gate.
When we first arrived, the ice skating rink hadn't been opened yet.
Todd was super excited to sit on Santa's lap and tell her what he wanted for Christmas.
On the opposite end of Karl Johan's Gate from the Royal Palace, the Norwegian Parliament was all lit up at night.
The Grand Hotel Oslo was also lit up, and even had Christmas trees on the roof. This hotel has a cafe on the ground floor where the play write Henrik Ibsen would eat lunch everyday as a part of a VERY meticulous routine. Edvard Munch also offered to trade his painting, "Sick Girl" for 100 steak dinners!
After we walked through the Christmas market once, we walked through it again because it was so pretty.
And of course, we made new friends drinking gløgg, which is the Norwegian version of Glühwein.
It was very disappointing that the gløgg didn't come with a reusable mug! We found Norway to be a lot more similar to the United States than any other country we have been to so far. Alcohol can't be taken outside of a cordoned off area and they used very un-environmentally friendly toss away cups! It was very different from Germany, in small, interesting ways.
One of our favorite things to do in any city is to do the Free (Insert City Name Here) Tour. In Oslo, you "meet at the Tiger," which is a popular spot among the locals when meeting up with friends.
Our guide was Matthew, who was actually from Minneapolis (ha!) but we were certain he was actually Canadian. He pointed out this sculpture dedicated to the Osvald Group (and all who were with the resistance in World War II.) It depicts a hammer smashing the Nazi swastika.
Our first stop on the Free Oslo Tour was to see the Oslo Opera House. It was designed to look like an iceberg and now that's all I can see!
The sculpture "She Lies" by Monica Bonvicini was her interpretation of Caspar David Freidrich's painting, "The Sea of Ice." It is also meant to look like an iceberg and it floats on concrete which allows it to move all around with the waves and tide.
Oslo is currently on its third city hall. Did you know Oslo used to be called Christiania between 1624 and 1925? It was named so after a massive fire destroyed much of the city in 1624.
The spot we are standing is in front of the second city hall (not pictured here). It's also the spot where public executions would occur. The executioner lived across the street in that little yellow home, so when he had to go to work, he could pretty much stumble right on out of bed and walk to work across the street. Interestingly, the paint color of the homes were of importance in showing the social status of the occupant. Red was of the lower class, since it used the prevalent clay earth color ocher (containing iron oxide) in the mixture. Yellow was of the middle class, and white was for the upper classes, since zinc was used to for the coloring and that mineral was difficult to come by.
The second city hall (which is really what many consider to be the first city hall) is presently the Gamle Raadhus restaurant. This city hall was built in 1641 out of brick. Before the great fire, most of the buildings in Oslo were made of wood (hence why it all burned down.) King Christian IV said that the wealthy had to build in brick in order to prevent future fires. Meanwhile, the lower classes still built with wood, but mainly built similar to our half timbers (as we know them here in Germany.)
When the city burned to the ground in 1624, King Christian IV stood on this spot, pointed to the ground and said, "The new town will lie here!" Hence the finger pointing downward. The old city had previously been situated in another part of what we would consider the city today.
Our next stop was up to the outer wall of Akershus Fortress. It was completed in the 1300s and has served as a line of defense for the city, a royal residence, and currently serves as a royal mausoleum as well as the home of the Norwegian Ministry of Defense. This fortress has never actually been taken by any enemy, with the exception of the Germans in World War II, and then it was peacefully (although I'm sure reluctantly) handed over.
Sunrise on this date was 9:18 am. Sunset was at 3:13 pm. That's a grand total of 5 hours and 54 minutes of sunlight. This tour was from about 10-Noon. At the summer solstice, they see 18 hours and 49 minutes from sunrise to sunset. Whew!
The Norwegian Naval officer Peter Tordenskjold keeps watch over the boats in the marina.
The new city hall of Oslo isn't particularly overwhelming architecturally, but it is one of the most interesting buildings in Oslo. Construction started in 1931, was interrupted by World War II, and finally was finished in 1950.
We walked around to the other side of the Oslo City Hall and Matthew told us we were going to spend a few minutes inside (the kids were overjoyed since they were both frozen.)
The coolest thing about the Oslo City Hall is that each year, on December 10, they award the Nobel Peace Prize in this room!
St. Hallvard, the patron saint of Oslo defended and saved a pregnant woman who had been accused of stealing. Hallvard believed she was innocent, so he tried to escape with her on his boat. The men caught up with them and killed both of them with arrows (hence he is holding arrows). When they found out who he was, they knew they had to hide his body (the evidence!) so they put a millstone around his neck and tried to sink him in the harbor. His body just wouldn't sink, so the men were busted and arrested.
The views of the fjord from the Oslo city hall.
The Norwegians really know how to party! I particularly like the guy doing a hand stand.
Another shot of the main room at the Oslo City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held every December. The murals on the walls depict Norway throughout history.
One of Norway's most famous sons is Henrik Ibsen (always one of my favorite playwrights!) Another side note: Why is it written "playwright?" Why isn't it "playwrite?" Anyway... Ibsen spent much of his life abroad, but spent the last 15 years of his life in Oslo.
Matthew: "We are going to walk through the Christmas market. Please don't stop to browse."
Everyday, Ibsen walked from his home to the Grand Cafe for lunch where he would order a sandwich, a beer and a schnapps. Edvard Munch often joined him for these lunches.
Our Free Olso Tour group was very large! Good times!
After we finished our Free Oslo Tour (as usual, totally worth it!), Todd went back to the apartment to move us to another room. There had been a mix up with AirBnB and they gave us a studio rather than a one bedroom! In the meantime, the kids and I went to grab some pizza. Who needs a boyfriend when there's pizza and wifi!?!
While eating lunch (in which Todd eventually joined us), Grant drew another fantastically weird picture of me!
After lunch, we took the bus out to Bygdoy island (ok it's not really an island) to the Viking Ship Museum. It's a museum with three fairly well preserved Viking ships that had been buried (and therefore preserved) in burial mounds on the land.
The kids at one of the best preserved Viking ships, the Oseberg. Not much is known about it, except that it was used as a burial ship for two wealthy women around 834. Most of what you see in the museum in terms of "things found on these ships" comes from this ship and was a part of the burial chamber.
We found the holes for the oars to be very interesting. They had to be inserted from the inside of the ship, so a slit had to be put in for the wide, flat part of the paddle.
The Oseberg ship was discovered in 1903 on the Lille Oseberg farm (hence the name). It took five months for the excavation and another 21 years to clean it and put it all together. Over 90% of what you see is the original wood from the ship.
At the museum, they have little balconies you can climb up to get a view of the inside of the Viking ships.
The Tune ship was discovered in 1867 in a large mound at the Haugen farm in Rolvsoy. It had been built around 910 and was also a burial ship for a local Chieftain. It isn't as well preserved as the other two ships.
The Gokstad burial chamber is in the same room as the Tune ship (not sure why!) It looks somewhat like a tent, but this wood was, by design, laid this way to withstand the pressure of the soil as it was buried in the mound.
A really cool movie about the Vikings and the ships plays every 10 minutes or so in the Tune ship room.
Another (and also well preserved) Viking ship at the Viking museum is the Gokstad ship. It was built around 900 but when it was discovered, there was no weapons or jewelry on board, indicating it had already been discovered, raided and plundered. They did find some cool stuff though, like a game board, beds, a tent, a sleigh and even the graves of two peacocks!
The bones of two women were found in the Oseberg ship. It was determined that one died of cancer and was in her 70s. The other woman's cause of death is unknown, but she was in her 50s.
After we checked out the bones, we went up to the loft to see the Gokstad.
Five carved animal heads were found in the Oseberg burial chamber. It's remarkable that four of the five were in such incredible condition.
What?? They found preserved leather shoes! This kind of blew my mind!
There's a nice view of the building just above the ticket counter. It definitely feels like an upside down Viking ship!
When we first got there, I couldn't help but feel that this place looked and felt like a church! We snapped a quick pic on our way out.
We didn't visit, but on our way back from the Viking Ship Museum, the train lets you off at Radhuset (the Rathaus, or City Hall). Across the street is the Nobel Peace Center, where you can learn all about Alfred Noble and all of the Nobel Laureates.
Eeek! My quest for awesome manhole covers continues!
I'm kind of obsessed with royal families of the world. Norway has one of my favorite royal families. The crown prince, Haakon married a commoner who had a son. Kind of a cool story!
The first king of Norway was Harald Fairhair in the late 800s and early 900s after having unified the petty kingdoms into one.
Todd and I got a big kick out of these random stackable buildings in the middle of the city! Portable housing!
We needed to thaw out a bit before dinner, so we went back to the NEW apartment, which was much more spacious. The kids got a HUGE kick out of Scarlett Johannson being on the wall seemingly saying to us, "What are you DOING?" (Interestingly, ScarJo isn't Norwegian... but her father was from Denmark!)
After happy hour/de-thaw hour, we went back out and past the Christmas market which was in full swing.
Dinner was at Elias Mat and Sant (sorry... my keyboard doesn't have Nordic alphabet symbols!) and it was excellent! Natalie tried (and loved) elk carpaccio, Grant had (and loved) the salmon and Todd and I both got the reindeer stew!
After the kids were in bed, we continued our very strange tradition of enjoying cocktails and watching MTV on the ipad. Every time Todd would look at this picture, he would say, "You grew a really weird hand!"
In the morning (what felt like 7 am but was really about 10 am), we took the tram over to Vigeland Park, home of the crazy statues. On the way, we passed some guys doing a little ice skating.
There's very little sunlight in Oslo this time of year. But the gates to Vigeland Sculpture Park are really cool!
I spy some blue sky at Vigeland Park.
It turns out Vigeland Sculpture Park is the LARGEST sculpture park (by a single artist) in the world! It was built between 1939 and 1949, but Vigeland didn't live to see it's completion, as he died in 1943.
Twinsies.
Hilariously, this man was walking around, carrying a Frisbee that his dog simply would not let go of. So he just kept walking, and the dog was hanging off of the Frisbee by its teeth!
I feel like this is gymnastics routine gone wrong, but I liked the lighting.
Man and woman in bronze from the early 1930s.
Dancing Young Woman is a carefree spirit.
I imagine the flowers are very pretty in the summer. In November, kind of meh.
We were kind of perplexed by this one, which surrounded the fountain in the center of the park. This horse is drop kicking babies!
Heading up to the main attraction, the Monolith, you can look back out over the park.
In case you were wondering, yes... it really is very pretty in the summertime.
The monolith stands 46 feet tall at the center of the statues, with 121 human figures
Woman stooping toward numerous children was originally sculpted in 1918.
It looks like 8 pm on a summer night. But it's really just before lunch on a winter day.
OH YES. My kids nailed it. These are their actual expressions sometimes, especially Natalie.
The wrought iron work at Vigeland Park is really cool. The guy second from the right is giving the peace sign.
One of our favorite pieces was the Man Chasing Four Geniuses, where he is seemingly being attacked by babies (which Natalie is attempting to catch.)
The Angry Boy is one of the most famous sculptures at Vigeland Park. And anyone who has ever had a toddler can attest that it's pretty spot on. It looks like people have rubbed his hand for good luck!
It hadn't snowed in Oslo... everything was just covered in frost (hold on... I love that Vertical Horizon song!)
Naturally, we felt the need to mimic some of the statues. I called this one, "Gronkowski and Edelman both going for a pass from Brady."
Another statue that completely reminded me of Natalie... especially 3-year-old Natalie.
Mamas and their babies are the very best.
Tree lined streets are DEEELIGHTFUL.
After the park, for lunch we went to Den Glade Gris for some fish and chips. Grant was VERY excited to order cod because his favorite pup in the world, Miss Maggie of Chicago, Illinois was also having cod for her dinner!
After we ate, we didn't have too many plans for the rest of the day, with the exception of the Christmas market since it was the official opening day. We decided to go get ONE of the three items on my scratch off food map, and on the way they just happened to be performing the changing of the guard ceremony at the royal palace!
I've now seen the changing of the guard in England, Greece and Norway! Natalie was particularly excited to see women participating in the ceremony.
You know the royal family is home when the Royal Standard is flying.
Our next stop was to Mocca Oslo for some cappuccino to warm us up. But the main event was eating bread with brunost cheese on top. Brunost is a caramelized cheese with a very distinct taste. It's cheese! No, it's sweet! No, it's cheese! Wait, wait... no it's sweet! My adventurous eater tried it and liked it.
We ran across Gunnar Sonsteby, the World War II resistance hero, on his bicycle on Karl Johans Gate. It shows him waiting on his bike, watching the Germans march into Oslo.
The Christmas market was small, but really fun! There were three rides for the kids, plus ice skating that didn't open until Saturday evening.
Since the ice skating rink didn't open until later, we decided to head back to the apartment to warm up (and for happy hour, of course!) We passed this super cool building along the way!
Grant also LOVES small cars. He goes crazy every time he sees a Smart Car. But in Oslo, we found the BUDDY! It's a Norwegian electric car and it's just his size... for now!
They FINALLY opened up the ice skating rink and the kids were super excited to skate!
The ice skating rink quickly got packed, but at least it was very festive and everyone was having a fun time!
The tree was lit and the Ferris wheel lit up the entire rink.
Grant only fell a couple of times! He skates severely on the inside of his feet!
It was a little blurry, but it was all I got when I tried to take family selfies on the ice skating rink!
Somehow my family convinced me to go on the Ferris wheel. I really thought I could handle it but as we started going up, I had to put my head down. Unfortunately, all of the fireworks for the Christmas market opening day celebration happened behind me, and I couldn't bring myself to turn around since it made me so dizzy.
You can probably guess that I did not take any pictures of the Christmas market from the top of the Ferris wheel. But I'm glad Todd did because otherwise I would have missed this since I had my head down.
Back down in the market, they had two creepy reindeer that were speaking to each other above our heads in deep Norwegian voices.
We grabbed the kids some sausage sandwiches for dinner and then they took one more ride on the Carousel.
We made it an early night because we had an early bus to the airport (you know... because it was SO much cheaper!) In the middle of the night, I was having trouble sleeping (as I always do before I have an early morning flight) and somewhere between 4:05-4:10 am, I heard a large crash/thud, with the sound of crumbling sidewalk tiles. I looked out the window, and saw a woman walking. She suddenly started walking very fast (borderline running.) It wasn't until we left for the bus stop later that we saw someone had thrown their microwave out of the window! It landed on the sidewalk, RIGHT next to a nice Porsche. Also seen: someone's long sleeve shirt on the top of the Porsche!
We got to the airport and the sun was rising and it was one of the most spectacular sunrises I've ever seen, and I didn't even filter it! I think it was Norway's way of saying, "Please come back and visit soon!"
We pulled out to the end of the runway, and this guy pulls up and starts de-icing us. Ummmm... say WHAT? I had to keep reminded myself that it would be bad if he DIDN'T do this!
Norway was really interesting, and not a lot like the rest of Europe. It definitely reminded us more of America. I would love to go back in the warmer months, although one of my dream trips is to go up above the Arctic circle and see the northern lights. It's also one of the most expensive places we have ever been, so bring yo cash! (Although not Euros because they're on the Norwegian Krone!)
Until next time, Oslo!
