Norway, Part IV – Oslo
On the way to Oslo, we wanted to stop in the town of Drammen and view the bridge – a 3-directional one. It was very interesting, an obvious achievement of engineering. We only stopped for a coffee and a cake – we needed to get to Oslo by the evening!
The tree-way bridge
Oslo has a convenient location – on the Oslofjorden – one can benefit from the sea, but also near enough to the mountains, so in winter, it offers unsurpassed skiing opportunities. It had changed its name several times. It was the Norwegian King Harald Hardrada, who made it his capital in the 11th century. Legend says that he named it after a Bulgarian princess, he was in love with, during the time he spent in Byzantium. (For more details – read Radoslava and the Viking Prince by Christopher Buxton, published in Bulgarian translation by Милениум and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radoslava-Viking-Prince-Christopher-Buxton-ebook/dp/B006NWQUJ4/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424690733&sr=1-7&keywords=Christopher+Buxton ) Later, the city name changed its name to Christiania, then to Кristiania and in 1925 – back to Oslo.
Oslo
My husband, who had worked in Norway during 1975-76, had always told me that he disliked Oslo – according to him, it had no heart – everybody left it during the weekends. Therefore, I was not expecting a lot, when we arrived there in a sunny afternoon. In the next few days, we strolled through the Norwegian capital and I was totally smitten – large streets, with many coffee shops, bars and restaurants under the shady trees. Lovely well-preserved old buildings were flanking the streets – apparently built at the same time as the Royal Palace was – in the 19th century, which made the Western part the new centre of Oslo.
The Royal Palace is extremely simple in its classical style, with just two soldiers to guard it in a booth, to the side of it. It is positioned in a large park, with no fences and grandiose gates. It somehow fitted the Norwegian monarchy, known with its practical simple life – they often ride bicycles on the streets.
Statues on the side of the Norwegian National Theatre
The main street – Karl Johans Gate also takes you to the Norwegian Parliament, to the National Theatre, with its lovely statue of Ibsen and a refreshingly boisterous fountain. At the time, they were celebrating an anniversary of Chekhov in the theatre. Not far away are also the Historical Museum, the National Art Gallery and the Oslo University.
The National Gallery was completed in 1882 and since then consistently has acquired art works – not only of Norwegian artist, it also has a large collection of 19-20th century French art, a collection of icons from Novgorod from the 15-16th century, a whole room, which is dedicated to Edvard Munch, and an outstanding collection of sculptures.
View of Oslo from the sea
The National Museum has a large antiquities collection, one for coins and medals, but also follows the history of the country, displaying medieval clothing, tools, arms and religious artefacts. For us, just having seen The Vikings series, it was particularly interesting.
But, what I really liked was the Kunstindusti-Museum – the Museum of Applied Art. It was somewhat difficult to find, but we were persistent! It turned out to be one of the oldest museums in Europe – it is in effect not only a museum of Scandinavian design for household objects, but so much more. It had hangings (it possesses the largest collection of tapestries from the 16-17th centuries), chairs, clothes, jewelry, furniture, porcelain, glass, – you name it – everything was so beautifully designed! Going through it gave us so much joy – I was very excited!
The old part of Oslo
We walked through the Old Town Hall and the Akershus Fortress in the warm afternoon, looking at the sea. The whole area is called Kvadraturen and has been built after a large fire completely demolished the whole of Oslo and the king – Christian IVth decided to build a new city and name it after himself – Christiania. Many of the buildings are well preserved in their original format. In the early evening, we decided to have a drink in a bar, where our waiter turned out to be a Bulgarian – from my home town of Burgas.
On the next day, we took a trip to the Vigeland Park, where Chris had been and wanted to show it to me. Apparently, the sculptor Gustav Vigeland asked the
The Vigeland park
Town Hall to provide him with a space of an atelier,
The monolith in the Vigeland Park
where to keep and create his sculptures. They offered him …. a park. He started working of the plans of the park and the sculptures in 1924 and by 1950 most of the statues were in place. The statues, numbering 212, are everywhere – they line alleys, fountains, steps; there is a grandiose central monolith on top of a hill, bodies everywhere – they are all naked. They are shown in relaxed positions, sporting and fighting positions. Many of them are children. There are several exquisite gates outlining human forms.
The gates in the park
We did not miss the Edvard Munch Museum, which also showed a large collection of his butterflies, natural materials, precious and semi-precious stones, etc. In the afternoon, we did a bit of shopping and I parted with a mad amount of money in order to acquire a Scandinavian style woollen cardigan, which I cherish. Prices are very high here – much higher that nose in the UK.
Me in the Park
On the next day, we took a boat to go to Bygdoy, which is a part of Oslo on a peninsula, where several museums we wanted to see were situated. Those were The Vikingskiphuset and The Kon-Tiki Museum.
The fountain in the park
The first is a museum about the old medieval Nordic vessels, discovered and lovingly preserved. Those include the Gokstad ship, which contained the remains of a 60 years old man, a sledge, three small boats, a gangplank and 64 shields. It had rowing positions for 16 people. It was beautifully shaped! The second boat, which was found and lovingly restored, was the Oseberg ship. The remains of two women – one 40/50 years old and an older woman of 60/70 were found in it. It appeared that
The Oseberg ship
the younger woman was a Queen or a noble lady– an important person, judging by the remains of jewellery and clothes on her body. This supposition was confirmed by the fact that a large horde of medieval artifact was discovered with the two women. Those included the Norway, Part IV – Oslo Wagon – a richly carved medieval wooden wagon, used for ceremonial occasions by queens or princesses. This is the only one found in Norway. It is assumed now, that both boats were funeral boats – the deceased were accompanied by beautiful, favourite objects. The museum, with its light design, allowed space and height for a comfortable viewing of the exhibits. It was a great experience.
The Oseberg Ship again
After this, we move to the Kon-Titi Museum, dedicated to Thor Heyerdahl (1914 -2002) and his travels. The raft, Kon-Tiki, on which he and his crew of five travelled in 1947 across the Pacific for 101 days, was exhibited there. There was much information about the man himself – I had now idea that he could not swim, when he undertook his first trip and was sick, when travelling on water!?! They covered 8000 miles from Peru to Polynesia and proved beyond any doubt, that South Americans could have travelled to Polynesia. His second ship Ra II was also exhibited 
there. It was made by papyrus and in 1970, proved that West Africans could have travelled from Morocco to Barbados. Seven year later, Thor Heyerdahl proved something else – with his reed boat Tirgis, he sailed across the Indian Ocean from Egypt to the Indus Valley and established that the contact between the two nations was possible. Apart from his vessels and related exhibits, the museum offers many of the archaeological finds they brought back from places like the Eater Islands, Peru, Polynesia, etc. This was a very much worthwhile and educational visit.
Thor Heyerdahl’s reed boat
The Oseberg Cart
The boat brought us back to the east part of central Oslo and after walking for about 20 minutes, we were facing the Opera building – the jewel-in-the–crown! We noticed its white sloping wall from a far and marveled at the extraordinary architecture of the home of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Opened in 2008, it was built on the waterfront and most of it is either in the water, or under it! Obviously, it was designed by boat builders! Its sloping white marble and granite roof, reminds you of an ice glacier or a ski slope and indeed – it
The glass/mirror installation/statue “She Lies”
is full of roller-skaters coming at you with great speed. Saw a very sweet notice, which warns you, that as the Norwegians do not subscribe to the EU Health and Safety Act, they are allowing you to do this at your own risk! Phenomenal views of Oslo can be seen from the top of the roof. We bought an ice-cream and wandered around the outside of the building.
The Opera from far away
Inside, it is equally beautiful. It consists of three major halls, the main auditorium seats 1369 people. The foyer interior is startling – parts of it are 15 meters high! It uses well the contrast between white, glass and mirrors and the warmth of wood – the floors are all made of pine, like a wave, while tall, white columns bare the weight of the roof and sparkle in the light. The walls – in combination with mirrors are white and sparkling, supported by cleverly situated lights.
The view form the Opera
Opposite the opera building was an exciting sculpture – called- She Lies – a ship, made entirely from steel and glass panels, positioned on a permanent concrete platform. We were mesmerised by it, as from every direction we looked at it, the reflection of the sun changed its appearance. In winter, when the fjord freezes, people can walk up to it on the ice and explore it from close-by. I should admit that that would be my most favourite building in Oslo!
I was glad to discover how beautiful and exciting Oslo was – even Chris agreed that time had improved it greatly!
“She Lies” Again!
The three levels of the auditoriums