Norway Day Seven - Oslo, and farwelling Rebekah

Day 7 was spent in Oslo and was also our last day with Rebekah. Kenneth had classes that day and was able to help us onto public transport with some ideas about what to do.

We began our day at the Vigeland installation in Frogner Park. The sculpture park is the world's largest sculpture park made by a single artist with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and wrought iron. And it turns out it is one of Norway's most popular tourist attractions. This unique sculpture park is Gustav Vigeland's lifework, and was mainly completed between 1939 and 1949. Most of the sculptures are placed in five units along an 850-meter-long axis: The Main Gate, the Bridge with the Children's Playground, the Fountain, the Monolith Plateau, and the Wheel of Life. 

All 212 statues depict people of different ages, sexes, and sizes, all in different and sometimes perplexing poses. Vigeland wanted his statues to capture all the aspects of a person’s life, both in a literal and in a metaphorical sense. And he made them all naked, so that they remain timeless. And they are wonderful.

I particularly loved the sculptures on the bridge. They are at times intimate, sometimes sensual, always real. The most famous is the Sinnataggen or the Angry Boy. We spent a lovely few hours taking it all in. To be honest I know more about the park now than I did when I went. Which is kind of the theme of my time away really. I’d love to go back to enjoy it all again but count myself lucky to have enjoyed it at all.

We then caught a tram into the City Centre. The day was fine a beautiful at this point. We walked around the Oslo Harbour while we worked out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see.

We walked around the area near the Central Train Station, including trying to go to the Nobel peace Prize Centre – which was closed. We had lunch as the clouds started to build, and then went to the Oslo Resistance Museum in the old Akershus Fortress. It tells the story of the fall of Norway to fascist Nazi Germany, and the growing resistance efforts. Some of these were spectacular failures, and other highly effective. What I wonder now is when is resistance to an occupying force considered acceptable and lauded, as in this case, and when is it demonized and labelled terrorism. It is a fine line. Hamas has crossed that line for many, and yet its origins are as a resistance force to the Israeli occupation forces in Gaza and the West Bank. When is it considered permissible to resist armies of occupation, and when is it considered terrorism?

By the time we came out it was raining. We walked back into town, around the wonderful Opera House. In the harbour near the Opera House is a very interesting large, floating installation. I now know that it is called "She Lies" by Monica Bonvicini. It is made of glass and stainless steel is intended to resemble a mound of ice. At the time I didn't recognize this, but it rotates on its axis, reflecting the surrounding water, sky, and city to symbolize change, nature, and the interaction between art and its environment. Wonderful.

We then walked up Karl Johans Gate. It is named after King Charles III John (also known as Karl III Johan), the king of Norway and Sweden who reigned from 1818 to 1844. This is Oslo's main concourse, stretching from the Central Railway Station to the Royal Palace. It is a popular route for tourists visiting landmarks like the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget) the Cathedral and the National Theatre, and is also the city's premier shopping street, lined with numerous shops, restaurants, and cafes.  

Then name reminds me of a little ditty I made up which goes "free houses are bars, bars are gates, and gates are streets" in York when I first visited in 1993. It helped me work out what I was looking for. And here is the root of that strange naming – Norway and the Vikings.

We stopped at the palace, which is kind of like Buckingham Palace, but way less pretentious, The Royals are important, but there is none of the trappings of Empire that surrounds the British version. I like it. I’m pretty sure we saw the king being driven from his office to his residence.

We then walked back down Karl Johans Gate, returned to the Central Railway Station, and bid a sad farewell to Rebekah who was returning to her hard life in London. (if you want to know how hard, you get a sense of it here.) It was such a joy to share these days with her.

I bought a new bright orange suite case. The handle on my trusty  old one was not working. I guessed we would be walking quite a bit with Michael and Amy so needed a bag I could roll more easily. And then we set off by train to find Kenneth who was finishing his classes. Two more nights, one more day in Norway to go.