OUR LAST DAYS IN OSLO

 It was the weekend, the sun was out (again), there was a refreshing little breeze in the air & the water was calling us!
We'd read about an 'Island Hopping'  walking tour with a group calling themselves 'The Viking Bikers' & on reading that they were only small tour groups, decided that that was exactly how we'd like to spend our Saturday.
This time we took the public transport ferry for the short trip across the harbour.  It was great to be out on the water in weather like this!

 Our first island was Gressholmen (aka Grass island!).  This is a nature reserve with lots of pine trees and raspberry bushes growing everywhere.  During the war it was also home to a Sea Plane Air force base.  Nothing is left to see of it now except a small stone marina, where on days like this families like to come & swim!

 The second island also had a connection to the last world war.  The Germans occupied Norway for 5 years & understandably, during that time, some of the German officers fell in love & married Norwegian women.  When the Germans left, the men had to go with them, but their wives & children had to stay here.  They then became outcast members of Norwegian society & identified as traitors.  Eventually they were all sent to this island, where they survived in tents for a few years, before the local community realised that they were no better than the Nazis & decided to build the women some houses here instead! Now, those houses are surrounded by holiday huts & the remaining of the original German women's huts have been passed down the generations.  This island is called Lindoya, named after the Linden trees that Cistercian monks grew here in the 1200s.  They liked the linden wood for making carvings to adorn the church. There aren't many Linden trees left now though.

 From the highest point on Lindoya we got this fabulous view out over some of the islands that dot Oslo fjord.... which isn't a fjord... it's a rift valley.... but it's more romantic apparently to call it a fjord!!  There are 11 actual islands & about a hundred rocky crags.  When the big cruise ships come in, a local captain has to go out & steer the ship in as it is such a potentially dangerous harbour.

 We were promised a beach.
We got shale rocks that meandered down to the water.
This is an Oslo beach!!
The rocks were VERY hard to sit on, but the water was rather refreshing on the old tootsies!!

 Our final island was Hovedoya & this is where the Cistercian monks who planted the Linden trees used to live.  We were impressed with the remains of their cloisters & were quite easily able to follow the map of what the rooms had once been.  We were amused at the size of the conversation room.  This was a silent order & to converse, one needed to somehow communicate an agreement to meet in the conversation room.  It was very narrow, so only a few people would have been able to converse at a time.

 This island was VERY popular & as we were leaving at 4.30ish, loads of people were piling off the ferry with their picnic baskets & beach towels.  They were heading for this beach.... and accompanying shale rocks.  Goodness knows how they would have all fitted in.  It made us very very grateful for the beautiful big beach areas New Zealand & Australia enjoy.

 We had had such a good day  yesterday, that we decided to take to the water again for our final day in Oslo today.
This time we were going back to Bigdoy, but would do a slightly different route to what we had enjoyed seeing earlier in the week.
We stated with Oscar's Hall, which was owned by King Oscar back in the 1800's. The location gave us yet another wonderful view & slightly different perspective of Oslo.

This was looking back up at the grand Art Nouveau styled castle/house. The garden was dry & looking like it came from our part of the world.  We were interested to notice at the edge of the fountain, lots of bees congregating to drink the water, so they were clearly struggling with the uncharacteristic heat too.

We strolled through the pleasant streets, admiring what we could see of the houses & gardens &. speculating that this looked like a rather wealthy area. We popped into a couple of the gift shops of museums we had visited last Monday for last minute gifts & then made our way to the Maritime Museum.

After being out in the fresh air, it took us a while to acclimatise ourselves to the intense airlessness & heat of this museum.  There were a lot of boats & boat related exhibits, including a multi screen film that took us around Norway's coast to the main fishing areas.  We were very excited to recognise a few!!!

A significant exhibit was a prehistoric dugout canoe.  What made this exhibit particularly interesting was the accompanying film, showing how they managed to lift it out of the sea bed & preserve it. I was actually holding my breath as the screen showed the slow manoeuvring of the dugout boat.

This museum was a model boat maker's paradise!!  One of the most interesting models was of a car ferry that doesn't exist yet!  It is a ferry of the future, designed for the 2005 world expo in Japan. It is environmentally friendly using only wind, sun & water energy to power it. I hope that it does become a reality, as the beautiful waters we've seen on our trip in Norway are being polluted by the impact of tourism.  It would be great to reverse that impact.

 One room was dedicated to the different functions of boats in different areas of Norway.  The one that I found most interesting was the Kirkebat (Church boat) of Hardanger. Several families would club together to have a boat built, which they would use to take them all to Church!!

Naturally I was drawn to an exhibition looking at different ways artists had expressed life on & with 'the sea'.  This painting is called 'Maiden Voyage' & is by Oscar Wergeland. It shows a boy on his first voyage as a seaman. Perhaps he joined the crew because he wanted to see the world, but here he is, stuck peeling potatoes while everyone else is having a good time ashore!

Before boarding our ferry back to the centre of Oslo, we took a quick look at 'Hope'.  This lighthouse is made from rubbish that has polluted waterways.  It is supposed to make us think about our oceans & what we allow to be put into them!

And so ends our last day in Norway... with the exception of fish & chips down on the waterfront for dinner of course! Each day has been interesting in this 7 week long trip around Iceland & Norway.  We have been incredibly blessed to see and experience as much as we have & the memories of these experiences will buoy us up when the mundane reality of our usual everyday lives gets us a bit down! Thank You Iceland & Norway for having us & giving us such a rich experience.

A PARK FULL OF SCULPTURE

 Today's adventure required us to take a tram ride. Woohoo! This meant that we also got to see a bit more of the city.

Our destination was the Vigeland Sculpture Park, where we expected to get out of the tram & look upon large exquisite wrought iron gates in art deco style. 
Instead we saw large buses spewing swarms of tour parties.... they literally blocked the view of those stunning gates, so much so that it took us a while to work out where to get in!! 

Gustav Vigeland was a sculptor (1868-1943), who lived in a studio built for him by the city of Oslo, on the condition that he would bequeath the rest of his work to the city.  The result is this beautiful city park.

We had seen advertising photos of some of his work, but even when reading that the park housed 214 sculptures, we couldn't really grasp the reality of what we were about to experience.  The sculptures were all about being human & having human relationships in all their variations.

The park was set out in groupings with the first being on either side of a bridge.  This is where we were so glad NOT to be in a tour party, because we got to spend time with each sculpture & walk up & down that bridge twice! 

My particular favourites were the ones showing relationships between parents & children.  Here are just a few;

The next section was an elaborate fountain.

 

In the centre, 6 giant men balanced a large bronze basin on their shoulders.  From it water flowed over the lip and into a square base at a level below.

Around the edge of the base were several trees, (supposedly representing life) & entwined in them were people going through the cycle of life.  Neither of us had seen anything quite like it.

 As if that weren't enough, around the sides of the base, bronze reliefs depicting relationships throughout life were also depicted.

 From the edge of the fountain we could see over the garden hedge, the famous monolith of bodies.  This is carved from a single piece of granite & took 3 carvers, working every day, 15 years to complete. There are apparently 121 figures spiralling up in this enormous piece.

What we couldn't see from that vantage point, was what sat below the column, radiating out from it & descending the steps. And I must admit, these took my breath away so much, that the mighty Monolith didn't get the attention it probably deserved!!

 There were 36 tableaus carved in granite & each explored intimacy in a variety of relationship scenarios.  Vigeland's sculpting style was less focused on showing musculature, than on where the 'weight' or tension was.  The faces & hands were not lined with wrinkles & veins, but had enough information in them to express emotion.  I found these so poignant. Here are just a few;

One of the things that struck me as we walked around these sculptures, were that people were recognising themselves or revisiting memories as they walked around these people frozen in stone.  Everyone was smiling.  They were connecting with what they saw. 
We thought that Vigeland had caught these moments of interpersonal relationships so well & had particularly captured the energy of children, that surely he had had a happy homelife with partner & family?
We've been looking through books & online information & he was not married, did not have a family of his own & no mention is made of relationships except for in his own youth!  It leaves us wondering who his inspirations were. We certainly hope that he can look down from whichever spirit world he inhabits, & can see how much thought provoking pleasure he has given to so many, including us.

DISCOVERING NORWAY'S IDENTITY

 Although the proposal for this magnificent City Hall (aka The Red House) was made in 1915, it wasn't until after WW2 that it was realised.  By then Norway had struggled under Nazi occupation & they wanted to reinforce their identity together.  This place of administration & reception is beautiful because the City respected the value of it's artists.  All types of artisans were employed to produce decorative works that illustrated the new hope of being a peaceful & united Norway.

 

 

 Water features & bronze sculptures decorate the exterior, but in the covered passage of the steps leading to the entrance, are carved wooden panels depicting events from Norse Mythology.  Odin & his family are regularly featured, but this one is of three deer feeding on the world tree (Yggdrasil) & their names mean; peace, caution & timidity. We appreciated plaques in English describing what each panel depicted.

 

 

 The main entrance hall was completely covered in mural art!  Even the non figurative areas were painted with pattern.  The murals told Norway's history, with especial focus on Oslo.  It was quite something to be standing in this grand room & slowly making our way around to try & interpret the images.

The biggest shock was going up the marble staircase & discovering that the main hall was not the only room to be decorated... they all were!

 There was painted decoration on the ceilings.

Wonderful features on the doors.

 The upholstery was woven with images from Norse mythology & symbolism.

 There were different unique light treatments in each room.

Even in the marble tiles, decorative features appeared when least expected.

 In the current meeting room where city council now sits, a large tapestry hangs on the wall illustrating the story of the Patron Saint of Oslo, Saint Halvard.  Once upon a time, Halvard noticed that a young pregnant woman was being attacked by robbers, so he went to her rescue.  The robbers weren't too happy about this, so using three arrows they killed him & tossed his body in Oslo fjord. BUT... his body wouldn't sink & they were worried they'd be found out & condemned, so they threw a heavy weight on his body.  Again the body rose & they were  terrified.  This story spread & Halvard became a Saint!

 It had been a surprising & interesting visit to the Radhuset, but we were very glad to get out into the fresh air again.
This time our feet took us climbing up & along the fortified walls of the Akerhus Festning, where we soon discovered that it gave a magnificent view out over the fjord & city.  It was very pleasant sitting there under the trees & we were reluctant to leave, but another museum awaited.

 This time it was  the Resistance Museum. Norway was occupied by the Nazis in WW2 & not all of them were happy about it!
The first thing we encountered as we started the trail through exhibits showcasing the development of the Resistance Movement here, was a sculpture made out of German guns.  As we entered the space they were all pointed at us & it was NOT a good feeling!  Poignant, but unpleasant!

 There was a lot of information & plenty to look at.  The things that particularly amused me were the ingenious ways that individuals found to defy orders.
For example, households were told to hand in their radios.  One family managed to drill a cavity into their sofa leg, which became a radio hide hole!!

 Several resistance news papers were started & again, clever ways were thought up to hide them in transit from one person to another.  In this case a hollow was made in an innocent looking log of wood, where the paper was then hidden away.  When camera film started to record what the Nazis were up to, rolls of film were hidden in loaves of bread & cans of fish!!!

It was a thorough museum, with lots to feel disturbed by, but with an overwhelming respect for perseverance & a willingness to not give in to oppressors.

We definitely needed a treat after reading about the numbers who were killed & tortured during this period.  It was very sobering.
Under the canopy of large trees, with Edith Pilaf singing away in the background, we sat outside a charming café & indulged in the refreshing tanginess of raspberry sorbet.  It was very relaxing and the perfect way to end the day.

ANOTHER DOSE OF CULTURE (aka JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU'D HAD ENOUGH OF MUSEUMS!)

 The History Museum is housed in a beautiful brick Art Nouveau style building.... or so the guide books say, we wouldn't know because it is currently wrapped up in a layer of scaffolding.  They are renovating the Viking Exhibit... so it is shut.... & it was the main reason we wanted to visit this museum!!  Imagine wailing, hair pulling & gnashing of teeth!

However, when we actually got inside to discover that the Stave Kirk Doorways, which I had expected to be in the VIKING exhibition, were actually in the Middle Age exhibition.... all was forgiven! Imagine much jubilation, big smiles & loud "Wow"s!

Of all the rooms in this poorly ventilated museum, this was the one we spent the most time in.

There were wonderful slabs of rock carved, in what we initially took to be Pictish symbols, but they were in fact Norwegian.  Along the base & sides was script in runes saying who this stone was in memory of.

 There were 4 Stave Kirke doorways  & each was unique & in varying stages of preservation.  We were astounded by the detail & the designs.  Such wonderful features.  We stood for quite a while working out which swirls of wing & claw belonged to which head!

Elsewhere in this room were carved wooden religious figures, again with incredible detail & character.  We saw bronze weights in the shape of animals, carefully engraved drinking horns and a small metal mouth harp.  This was particularly interesting because we had heard one played at the folk museum on Monday.

After a brief visit to see other rooms full of other exhibits, we went upstairs to a very interesting section on Arctic Peoples.  This covered those indigenous communities who live closest to the North Pole.

 Here we learnt how to build an igloo!  A life size model gave an insight to how the interior might have looked.  Let's just say that I have no right to complain about the size of the apartment we are currently inhabiting!!!!!

 There were a variety of beautiful & incredible costumes that the different nationalities wear.  Perhaps the ones that surprised us the most, were those made of fish skins!  These seem to have been worn as a waterproof layer.

A small glass case held a selection of musical instruments & I'm sad to say most of the signage was in Norwegian, so we didn't find out where these wonderful flutes came from.  Nor did we work out what they were carved into.  It could have been whale bone, reindeer bone or maybe walrus tusk.  The detailed scrimshaw was so fine, we would have liked a magnifying glass to see it more closely.  I was very impressed with the quality of photo Jeff managed to get, given that it was through glass & that glass was covered in finger print smudges!!!!

 It was a very humid day & the lack of air circulation in the museum, meant that we were both feeling wiped out after climbing up & down the stairs between exhibits, so we went back to our apartment to relax before heading out again.

We were interested in seeing Aker Brygge.
This was a shipyard that closed in 1982 & the old brick buildings have since been transformed into an attractive shopping & eating area.  It certainly had a vibrant feel to it & we enjoyed wandering & popping into the odd shop or two.  We have been very amused by the number of homeware stores there are here.  Even in the small shipping towns, we've found shops selling modern & trendy homeware.  Jeff has even ventured into a few!!!!!!!

 It was time for a treat & we decided to be brave.  Black Ice cream.  There were two different ice cream trucks selling two different black icecreams.  One looked very lush, but included words like 'liquorice' & 'salt flakes', while the other was described by words like 'vanilla' & raspberry'.  We chose the latter.
YUM!  Our faces did look a mess afterwards, but they were delicious!! (The ice creams not the faces!!!)

 Walking back through Aker Brygge we had just been commenting on how nice it was to see so much sculpture being used to enhance the place, when we looked up & saw this, suspended right above our heads.  It appears to be made of chicken wire & moved in the slight breeze.  It was stunning against the cloudy sky.

Our plan was to follow the ice creams up with coffee at the Grand Café, but when we got there, we soon realised that we were not dressed smartly enough & didn't feel comfortable about sitting amidst so many elegant looking people, so we found a bakery instead.

Nearby the sound of the fountain was rather soothing & Jeff decided to stay there while I went to a shop I knew of that sold cotton & linen clothes. (I didn't come prepared for the heat!!) Alas, the few things that I would wear only had sizes small or extra large & I'm neither!!!  So I went away empty handed! Sigh!  That was as much as we could cope with today!