After breakfast at the hotel, Ivan and I re-packed our bags, checked out and stored our bags at the hotel. Oddvar and Solveig picked us up at 10AM and we had a mighty day within the city limits of Oslo. The first thing we did was visit the Munch Museum, something Ivan and I had wanted to do when we first arrived in Oslo, but didn't. This small museum houses some of the thousands of pieces of artwork, from paintings to wood carvings to photographs, done by Edvard Munch. Yes, it houses The Scream and yes, we saw it. Many other famous paintings, most of which evoke feelings of depression and anxiety, are on exhibit. Another small museum well worth a visit.
After a snack at the museum, we went shopping! Ivan wanted to buy a Norwegian sweater and Oddvar had 2 places for him to look. He found one at the first shop, but decided, wisely as it turned out, to see what the second shop had. He found the perfect sweater at the second shop and, bonus for me, Solveig found one for me too! I'm a little concerned that we'll be coming home with way more than we had when left home!
So, shopping done, we drove around while Oddvar pointed out the American Embassy, the Nobel Peace Prize Institute, the National Library, the building where Oddvar works (past tense in one month - same as Ivan - YAY!), etc. We ended up at Vigeland Park, which is sort of a park within a park. Vigeland Park contains 212 bronze and stone sculptures done by Gustav Vigeland. The centerpiece of the park is a stone monolith on which are carved many intertwining nude human figures - all ages depicted from infancy to extreme old age. The monolith was carved, according to the Lonely Planet's Norway, by "three stone carvers working daily from 1929 to 1943 and was carved from a single stone pillar quarried from Iddefjorden in southeastern Norway." It's an amazing piece of artistic work. The entire park is pretty amazing.
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| Monolith is at the right side of the photo. |
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| Solveig and me near one of the Vigeland sculptures. Check out the weather!! |
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