Olso is a pleasant town, though not particularly special. It is the capital
of Norway, and its largest city, but still with only 500,000 people, or
a bit smaller than Boston. We hung around a bit downtown, went to some
of the museums on the Bygdøy peninsula, and to the Frogner Park
to see the Vigeland statues.
Click on the small pictures to see larger ones.
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We arrive in Oslo; on the waterfront. |
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An attractive older wooden sailing vessel. In the background is the
main tourist information office, an old train station. |
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The doors of the town hall. The Rådhus was completed in 1950,
though started in 1931. This is where the Nobel Peace prize is awarded
each year. |
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Carved and painted wooden reliefs in the town hall courtyard. |
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A view down the Karl Johans Gata, the main avenue, with the Royal Palace
in the background. |
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Olso's castle, Akershus, as seen from the ferry to Bygdøy. Bygdøy
is a peninsula that holds some of Oslo's main attractions, as we'll see
below. |
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Benjamin on the ferry, with the Norwegian flag flying. |
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Chantal and Isabel on the ferry. |
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At the Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskiphuset), a closeup of the clinker
construction and carving on the prow. This is the
Oseberg ship,
made around 820 AD. These ships were used as burial vessels, and were excavated
around 1900 extremely well preserved in mud. More. |
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The almost organic lines of a Viking ship as seen from the front. This
is the Gokstad ship made around 890 AD, 24m long, 5m wide. It could
hold 32 oarsmen, and apparently a copy sailed across the Atlantic from
Bergen to Chicago for the 1893 World Fair! |
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In the Folk Museum, which is a fun outdoor collection of various regional
architectual styles. More information,
though little in English. |
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Door of an old barn. |
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Facade of an old barn, or elevated store-house (stabbur). |
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Isabel in the old farm buildings. |
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The stave church (stavkirke), originally built 1200 AD in Gol,
and moved to Bygdøy in 1885. It was raining, as you can tell if
you look carefully. Actually, it rained a lot, but usually just in short,
light sprinkles. |
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Carving at the stave church. |
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In the harbor at Bygdøy, with "painter's clouds". |
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The courtyard of the Akershus castle. Construction started in 1300,
and as usual there were various additions and modifications up to the 18th
century. It's still an active military installation. |
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Benjamin on a cannon at Akershus fortress. |
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Chantal, Isabel, Lorraine, and Benjamin at Frogner Park with the Vigeland
statues. Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) created almost 200 statues for this
park, allocated to him by the city in 1921. The statues are great fun,
and appear to capture a wide range of human emotions and states. |
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A Vigeland fountain at Frogner Park. |
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Chantal and Lorraine at Frogner Park. |
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Isabel giving Benjamin a piggy-back ride, with more Vigeland in the
background. |
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The Vigeland monolith. It's 14m high, and it took three stonecarvers
working daily from 1929 to 1943 to complete it! |
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All of us at the monolith, thanks to Tor's second cousin Rolf Skår.
Rolf is Managing Director of the Norwegian
Space Center, and was a founder of Norsk Data. An interesting guy! |
