Back On The Road Again: Oslo so fab

The flight from Faroe was an hour delayed...so the connection from Copenhagen to Oslo gave us only 8 minutes to run through the terminal and we caught the plane! No way our luggage will be there when we get to Oslo, but, no way, it was there!

Waiting for flight to Oslo from Faroe

In Oslo we walked to the information desk by the train which is connected to the airport, just to be certain we catch the right train, and in minutes we are on the rails, walk out of the National Theater terminal and just pulling up is tram 13 to take us within a 5 minute walk to our hotel, the Clarion at Gables Gate which at 20:30 is still serving our complimentary dinner and that's the magic of our arrival to Oslo. The room is luxurious and I take a bath in a deep warm tub. Tomorrow we will catch the "hop on hop off" bus to see what's up in Oslo. We walk to the first stop, encounter a protest happening at the university, oh yes we are traveling, and these scenes are familiar and welcoming!

Clarion Collection Hotel, Oslo...perfect

Getting our tickets for the bus we decide on this beautiful day to go straight to the Vigeland Park to see 200+ sculptures. Awe inspiring, really!, especially as we get to the end of the long wide boulevard lined with bronze works to where the granite column of human bodies in various states of strife are surrounded by individual depictions (also massive granite works) of two or more figures all expressing the human condition, simple and yet so accurate anatomically....light catching a shoulder blade, a spinal column, a collar bone, ... breathtaking and yes you have to see this place!

Vigland Sculpture Park

Lunch at Pier 31

Time to get back to the bus and so we go to the entry gate and wait. The hop on hop off bus is a double decker so lots of seats. But people have to get off to let you on, and well there are just not enough getting off for those desperate to get on. It was a bit of mayhem, and why we avoid the touristy offerings. Hey people, you need to see this park! Never mind, lets just walk on this stunning bright day. So we walk, and walk, and walk we think we are getting close to the Viking Museum, and we are definitely getting hungry. Finally, look out on that pier, there is surely a restaurant. Hooray we are seated near the water in a most comfortable outdoor cafe. Curt has been avoiding carbs, but this northern Italian menu has lasagna for lunch, and surely he deserves this treat especially when we find out that we have overshot our destination by a couple of miles. Oooops, the map is confusing and there are no signs pointing our way. Never mind, let's take a taxi, I'm pretty sure we have walked 5+ miles already today!

Real Viking ship made for a funeral ship to honor woman rulers

Vigeland Park

We are barely in the doors of the museum when I am hit with a deep sadness. Not sure what/why but I got the strong feeling that these Vikings were trying to stop something big, (i.e. the patriarchal take over of the Church?) and somehow that resonates with ancient feminist genetic material deep in my soul. Perhaps I was born to a family of men in this incarnation for lessons I needed to revisit. Like empathizing and forgiving the male species who at another time in history were my cohorts, at the very least it explains why I have always plaited my hair into unusual braids. I am realizing that this nordic culture is oddly familiar. The whole reason for our decision to go to the Faroe Islands was because I watched a video of Eivor Palsdottir singing traditional folk music, I am at home in her other worldly vocals. Enough of this woo woo posting. We are in Oslo, it's getting late, and we catch the last hop on hop off bus to get back to the center of the city and make it back to our beautiful hotel. And again, there's soup and salad for dinner, perfect!

Nobel Peace Center Award Recipients

Nobel Peace Institute...Bosch electric powered bicycle

We spent a rainy Sunday at the National Museum housing an amazing collection art possessing a Norwegian connection, had a delicious lunch of French onion soup* in a lovely salon of the museum, then strolling through the old fort, ducking into a coffee shop to get out of the sudden torrential downpour. We sat at a table joining a gentleman there with his Indian female colleague, he is speaking mid-west U.S. English. You begin to realize that the world speaks English, but not everyone has that Nebraska twang. The little coffee shop has a framed letter on the wall from Barrack Obama, and so the conversation of how much he is missed ensues. We leave when the rain lets up and make our way to the Nobel Peace Center, whose current exhibition is a disturbing reflection of the "Wealth Generation" as it is called. Yikes this aspect of America is a full on embarrassment, the U.S.A. has exported the worst of ourselves, and the world imitates it. Then upstairs to the room which houses the recipients of the award, a very moving and beautiful installation. We leave the center with heavy hearts, and a sense of hope.