Day in Oslo

Oslo certainly has much to offer … cobbled streets, expansive blue waters, a thriving dock, gorgeous, tall old buildings, an amazing fortress, a Royal Palace, bustling streets and sculptures, sculptures, sculptures.
We walked our little legs off today, strolling through the city and around the waterfront to the City Hall. First stop, museum island which we reach by ferry (once we figured out how to buy a ticket!!). Destination, the Fram Museum.
Fram was a ship designed specifically for polar exploration and is considered the strongest ship ever designed. It was built in such a way the it could withstand the pressure of the frozen arctic waters (freezing ice could crush a ship), not by pure strength alone but because it's shape caused the ice to push the ship upwards so it would "float" on top of the ice. The idea was that they would sail the ship into the Arctic waters and wait for it to freeze and float over the north pole. A bit of a cheaty but clever idea to get there. After 3 years, though, they still didn't make it to the pole. They did discover loads of things about the geology, marine biology, oceanography, cartography and geography of the area so their time wasn't wasted. The museum itself is a good one in that you can actually board the ship and explore it yourself. There's a great 360° video that plays around the ship which depicts the seas and the weather as well as the Aurora Borealis. The Fram managed to make explorations in both the Arctic and the Antarctic Oceans. It was impressive.
We ferried back to the town square over warm and sunny waters and decided to walk the distance to the Vigeland Sculpture Park, taking in the sights along the way. I say "decided to walk" because we had no luck buying bus or tram tickets (the machines were down) so we were forced to leg it!
We detour past the Royal Palace and manage to see the changing of the guard. It's a grand and imposing building but not ornately decorated or distinctive in any way other than by its size, its gardens and the fact that its set out on a hill on its own. The gardens are lovely and people hang about sunbaking and playing bocce. It's quite peaceful.
We walk through backstreets filled with old and impressive buildings. We think this must be the consulate district. We have come to see the Vigeland Sculpture Park but are blown away by the unexpected size and extremity of the place. We buy ice cream and start to walk.
Gustav Vigeland was a Norwegian sculpture who had a penchant for sculpting nudes of all ages, sizes and descriptions. The Vigelandsparken is his life's work and features the famous and iconic Sinnataggen - we think he looks like a grumpy baby. There are more than 200 sculptures here in granite, bronze and wrought-iron, all of them nudes, and dominated by a huge fountain, a bridge and a very phallic monolith. You'll see what I mean when you look at the photos. It was extraordinary, impressive and, frankly, a bit weird. I don't pretend to know anything much about art so feel free to form your own opinions….. it was certainly worth the walk though.
We finished our afternoon with a walk through the Akershus Fortress, a medieval stronghold, on the Aker peninsula on the Oslo Fjord. The Castle within (Akershus Castle) was first built around 1300. The newer fortress walls were built in the early 1600's. It can be seen from much of Oslo and was very impressive, as were the views from the fortress walls.
I'll head out to look at the city under lights soon (if it ever gets dark) ... Samara is done! It's been a big, big day!Read more