So, as I said, I left for Oslo last Thursday with 6 other people from my program (and then Maria and Leah joined us on Friday). We traveled together but since six is just too many people to coordinate we ended up splitting into smaller groups, which worked out really well. It was an amazing trip. For the most part it was also a very wet trip, and gray, but I still would have called it a success even if the sun hadn't come out in all its bright shining glory on Sunday.
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| Looking down the main street, Karl Johans Gate, to the palace on Sunday |
After arriving in Oslo, taking the bus from the airport to the city ,and checking into our hostel, Emma, Chris and Michael went to go meet up with a Norwegian friend they'd met at the language course they'd taken before coming to Berlin. Hilary and I picked up some snacks from the grocery store and then started following a guide we'd found online for a walking tour of the city. For most of our tour the rain was very very faint, but after we finished the tour it started coming down harder. We saw a free mason lodge, an executioner's house, a memorial park remembering what the Norwegians suffered as a result of the German occupation in WWII, a fortress/castle that was built around 1300, and an Irish pub with the Notre Dame leprechaun emblazoned on their window and sign! Felt like home.We came back to the hostel around 11 because we were ready to get out of the rain. Also almost every bar we saw and pretty much all the clubs in Oslo are not only expensive but are 24+, even though the drinking age is lower than that. Thankfully we didn't come to Oslo to party so it didn't really affect us at all.
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| Akerhus Festning |
On Friday Emma, Hilary and I went to the Cultural History Museum at the University of Oslo. I thought it was a really cool introduction to Norwegian history, even though we did the museum backwards, which we seem to do at almost every museum. We learned about Norwegian currency through the years, the Vikings, Norway after the spread of Christianity, and we saw displays about Eskimos and other cold climate cultures. At 2 we met Anne, the Norwegian friend from Emma, Chris and Michael's language course, and she took the three of them as well as Hilary and myself on a tour of the City Hall, where they give out the Nobel Peace Prize (the other Nobel Prizes are given out in Sweden).
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| Imagine a stage in the middle of this room. That's where the Peace Prize is given! |
After learning about the meanings behind all the murals we took a ferry out to Bygdøy peninsula to see the Vikingskipshuset (Viking Ship Museum) and the Fram museum. The Viking Ship Museum displays three ships that are over a thousand years old (the Viking Age was from about the 8th century to the mid 11th century). These three ships were used as burial ships, which means after someone (of importance, such as the owner) died they were placed on the ship, a burial hut was built on the ship, and the ship was buried with the body, valuables, and items deemed necessary for the final voyage. Two ships were found in clay, which is why they are so well preserved. The third is not as complete but still pretty darn cool. They also found a few pieces of the skeletons and those are displayed in a separate part of the museum. It was interesting to see the size of the people buried there, because they really were a lot smaller than people today. Scientists can tell that one man had some sort of disorder that made him a "giant," but he really doesn't look any taller than the average person today. I think this was my favorite museum of the whole trip.
The Fram museum was also fascinating. The Fram is a ship that went on three polar expeditions and holds the record of sailing farther north and south than any other wooden ship. It was used between 1893 and1912. Its first expedition was an attempt to reach the North Pole, but they learned ships can't make it to the pole. The second expedition was an exploration of northern Canada, and the ship was stuck in ice for three and a half years. The third voyage was supposed to be another trip to the north pole, but the captain of the time (Roald Amundson) heard the north pole had just been reached by Robert Peary so he decided to go for the south pole, since he thought he'd no longer be able to raise funds for a trip north. You can go inside the ship, which I thought was the coolest part of the whole museum. I love walking around ships and seeing how they're set up because not an inch of space is wasted.
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| In charge of the Fram |
After we came back Hilary and I, after briefly researching a day trip for Saturday to get out of the rain before deciding to stick it out in the city, decided to go out to eat. Sure, food in Oslo is expensive, but we had a Thai place we wanted to try because we'd heard it was a good deal, and we were in desperate need of a big, warm meal. And that is exactly what we got. Emma joined as and we had one of the best and biggest meals out that I've ever had. Part of it was probably that we were starving, but it was a great evening. Then we decided to see a movie, because we wanted something to do that was dry and museums were all closed. We found a movie in English (with Norwegian subtitles) just down the street and it was exactly what we wanted. We were the only English speakers in the theater and we could not stop laughing. Plus Hilary won a t-shirt!
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| Thrilled that during the movie, the rain paused long enough for the sidewalk to begin to dry |
On Saturday we welcomed Maria and Leah to Oslo (they'd gotten in late the night before) by taking them to the grocery store and checking out the Domkirke, or cathedral. Hilary and I went off to visit the inside of the Akershus Fortress, which was very interesting. The castle had such a different feel that the other castles I've seen. It was exquisite at times, sure, but I'd also describe it as thicky, hearty, earthy and solid. There's a stained glass window in the castle that was made by Emanuel Vigeland, brother of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (read on for more about Gustav!).
Then we went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park! We met Hilary, Leah and Emma there so that we could all take some fun pictures with the sculptures together. The park was designed by Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) and is full of his work. There are 212 pieces in the park, the most famous of which is the Monolith in the middle of the park. It was, of course, still raining, but I was thrilled to finally see the park. My dad isn't sure of the connection, but he thinks we are probably related to Gustav Vigeland because our name was Vigeland until someone dropped the e coming into the States, and because he is from Mandal, a tiny town in southern Norway. His parents were born in Mandal around the same time as my great-great-great grandfather was born in Mandal. We all visited the Oslo History Museum, which is free, very informative and located in the park. Afterwards Hilary and I tried to go in the Vigeland Museum, which was supposed to be open, but they had closed early that day without giving any explanation.
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| Hey look! |
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| Hilary, Emma, Leah and Maria at the front of the park |
Saturday night was a fairly relaxed night. Emma, Hilary and I found a nearby Catholic church with a Saturday evening service, so I experienced my first Polish Mass! (The Catholic communities in Oslo are mostly Polish or Vietnamese immigrants, so since Hilary speaks a little Polish we thought that would be fun). Afterwards all the girls and I cooked up a ton of pasta for another huge, warm meal, and we made friends with one of the new girls in our hostel room, who was from Germany, which gave us a reason to speak German!
Once I woke up on Sunday I couldn't wait to get out the door. Why? Because the sun had finally decided to show her face, and the sky was blue and clear. It was such a gorgeous site. Hilary, Emma and I were so thrilled the weather had changed that we completely changed our Sunday schedule so that we could revisit the sculpture park in the nice weather. It was very different--so many more people out and about, and a much prettier backdrop to the Monolith.
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| Now it feels like summer in the sculpture park |
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| Such a beautiful sky! |
We also visited the National Galerie, where we saw, among other cool paintings, "The Scream" by Edward Munch. We decided our favorite of Munch's paintings wasn't "The Scream" but the one next to it entitled "The Day After." Next Hilary and I made a stop at the Norwegian Resistance Museum, in the Akershus Fortress, to read about Norway during WWII. I wish we had more time there because there was so much to read, but we were watching the clock so that we had time to spend on the roof of the Opera House.
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| Hilary, her backpack, and the Opera House |
The Opera House was finished in 2007, and I think it's a miracle building because not only was it completed ahead of schedule but it was also under budget. A picture is the best way to describe it. You can just walk right on up to the roof! I was so glad we'd held off on the Opera House because basking in the sun with an almost aerial view of Oslo was the best way to enjoy the Opera House.
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| Looking out from the roof of the Opera House |
And that's it! After an hour at the Opera House we caught our bus back to the airport and flew to Berlin. As great as the trip was, traveling is tiring and when we landed I was very happy to be "home."
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| Sailboats in the harbor |
Just a little reflection before I say goodbye (verabschiede mich): I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to visit Oslo, even though it isn't one of the typical must-see European cities. This was the first time I've visited a country where I felt I had a connection by blood to the culture. I consider myself a true American in that I'm a true mutt: Irish, German, English, Norwegian and Danish. I could show you the pie charts my dad helped us make once but I'm sure you can do without the visual aid. Despite the fact that I'm twice as German as I am Norwegian (25% vs. 12.5%), I don't really feel an ancestral connection to German. Yet I did feel something in Oslo. Maybe it's just because I happen to love the water and the woods, and Norway has lots of both of those. Maybe it was the hype of hearing about this sculpture park and the thrill of seeing my [almost] last name everywhere. But as I learned more about the Norwegian culture I couldn't help but notice that it didn't feel so foreign.
Per usual, a few random comments:
ReplyDelete- Didn't come to Oslo to party? Lies!
- Ah! Peace prize! Yay! (I like peace :-D)
- The Vigeland Museum was closed? You should have called ahead! You would have been an MVP.
- Hilary speaks Polish? Props to her. That's awesome.
I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip to Norway! You're right, it's not the usual destination (sadly enough, I had to Google Oslo to remind myself where it was...) I'm glad you're studying abroad in Germany, though, because it sounds like if you'd been studying in Norway this whole time you'd never come back to us! And that would be no good (Rebecca and I would have to come kidnap you)