Drunk Finn's, Gustav Vigeland and Holmenkollen

---

What I thought was going to be a quiet night last night, was in fact anything BUT quiet. I returned back to my room to find two travellers from Finland. Kristian and Antti had completely unpacked everything they brought with them all over the room. Both of them are musicians, Kristian is apianist for the Helsinki National Theatre, so conversation was quite interesting. They both have exactly two weeks off and decided in the wee small hours of last saturday that they would take a last minute, anything goes trip through central and northern norway. Antti hadn't realized the plan was serious until Kristian parked in front of his place. This led to the hastily packed bags. They brought with them a 40 oz. of some Finnish whiskey...and a 24 pack of Carlsburg beer and were ready to go hunting for, as Antti put it in VERY broken and bad english, "Some hot Norvegian bitches...", this sentence was enough to crack me up completely. Naughty language aside, both guys were an absolute blast to sit around the room and talk with. We started playing a cardgame that eerily was similar to "bullshit", however Antti was QUITE sure that Canadians don't have this game and don't know how to play it. As he sat trying to explain the rules to me he kept drinking from his whiskey, kept feeling mine and kristians AND devising a way to drink the rest of their beer before they went out.

They asked me if I had passed any clubs in my travels, to which I had really only seen ONE club, which sadly was a gay bar that was right on the main drag (no pun intended...really!) of Karl Johans Gate. Couldnt really miss the club since it was called, "In & Ut". I'm not quite sure WHERE the boys ended up going on their night out, but they looked quite haggered in the AM when I got up bright and early for some breakfast and my day of touring. Antti did have one line that completely cracked me up when he was explaing the Finnish animosity towards Swedes..."If you drop your hat in Sweden, you better kick it all the way to the Finnish border!". Don't think I really have to explain THAT joke now do I.

Gustav Vigeland was a famous sculptor and lived here in Oslo. He was so treasured, that the municipality made a contract with him in which every piece of artwork he created was the property of the city of Oslo...in return the city would build him a MASSIVE studio in which he could work and live and also create a large park for his sculptors and that they would turn his studio into a museum of his work after his death. All this when he was maybe in his 40's. I wasn't prepared for the massive dose of nude sculptures, especially of aged people, however...the Vigeland Park was beautiful. I was even struck by ONE sculpture in general inside of his museum.

Holmenkollen is the famous ski area in the city of Oslo. From its tower you have a perfect view of the city of Oslo. The problem occurs when you get off the T-Bane (subway) and have to hike 1.5 km up a steep hill just to get to the damn park. THEN you have to climb endless, steep slippery steps to get to the top of the tower. There was a LOT of weezing going on...and not all from me either! Of all the places I've been in terms of high vantage points (Empire states building, Sydney Harbour Bridge, West Edmonton Malls Escalators...) this was the worst feeling i've ever had. My knees were mush up there...and I stuck to the rails as best as I could.

Tomorrow a person I met down in Kristiansand has graciously offered her services as a tour guide. However, before we meet up in central Oslo...I will be checking out the Kon-Tiki Museum (voyage a crazy Norwegian made from south america to a polynesian island in a RAFT), then to the wonderful viking ship museum and so on in that fashion. I don't know what to expect for roommates when I venture back today...but its always an adventure to be sure!

Ha det for now,

Don

---