Oslo day 3

Once again we chose to stay in bed rather than have breakfast, but after a restless night of falling between two mattresses you tend to value your sleep. We walked first thing down the main street through the city center and saw the very large outdoor skating rink in the center of town. It was very impressive and we thought briefly about going until we noticed how good everyone out there was, including the 6 year olds. We figured we could embarrass ourselves at home so there was no need to do it while on vacation. We passed on the skating, but hung around long enough to watch and enjoy the music playing.

The first place we went today was Vigeland Park, which Mary had been excited to see for weeks. Vigeland was a Norwegian sculptor who had been gifted a park by the Norwegian government and then spent the rest of his life filing it with art. The park is located in one of the most exclusive areas of town filled with posh shops, fantastic restaurants and thirty-something women walking their babies. We felt at home already. As we had been most of the trip, we were the only people in the park. We got the distinct feeling that we were the only tourists in Oslo at that moment. When you enter the park you have a long walk way in front of you at the end of which is a large monolith and a fountain. But all along the walkway are 6 foot tall statues on the wall which depict men, women and children in various states of being. Some are fighting, some loving, some just are. In all there were probably 50 statues along the walkway up to the monolith. Among these statues were two that we bothered to name. The first was "Angry Baby", which was a 3 year old child in a very angry state. He is stamping his foot and has contorted his face into that ghastly pre-tantrum scream that children get. He is very lifelike.

The second statue which we named was "Man Shaking Off Babies". This statue depicts an adult man who is in the act of throwing off four babies. He has a horrible grimace on his face and is flexing every muscle in his body with the effort of ridding himself of the insipid babies. One gets the impression that he was at one point completely buried in babies and has been fighting his way out for some time. The statue is depicting the triumphant end to his long battle with the babies as he frees himself of the final four. "Man Shaking Off Babies" may be the finest piece of art ever created. Well, certainly the most entertaining. After taking many pictures of "Man Shaking Off Babies" and several with us next to him, we moved up the steps to the monolith which was actually made out of the bodies of the same men, women and children depicted in the statues. Apparently it took 3 sculptors the better part of two years to chisel out the forms after Vigeland had designed them. Very impressive. There were also several other stature depicting the same demonic babies in various impish scenes. Sometimes the babies were being mischievous and in others they were being eaten by various animals. In either case, Vigeland certainly seemed to have some issues with the idea of parenthood. We wandered through the park a bit more, enjoying the snowy scenery and the locals out walking their dogs.

After seeing our fill of naked men fighting with naked babies we stopped for lunch and a coffee in a very posh coffee shop near the park. We were happy to see that the coffee shop culture had made it to Europe somewhere if not in England. Mary constantly laments the lack of nice coffee shops in England and bemoans the proliferation of pubs and bars. So for her, this was a very nice change of pace and something more like what she was used to in the Northwest of the US. We were very comfortable and enjoyed our lunch immensely, although it wasn't a patch on the first sandwich we had the day before.

Next we took the metro to the Edvard Munch museum to see the famous Scream painting. Although, we learned after arriving that Munch had painted several versions of this painting and the most famous version had been stolen from the museum earlier that year. They did find it eventually but it was badly damaged and in need of restoration. So the version we saw was similar but not nearly as bight and vibrant as the version you are used to seeing on posters and such. It was still very cool. The museum was, as you would expect by now, entirely empty. So we once again had our own private viewing of the museum. As it turned out Munch was a very interesting man and painted all sorts of art. He did many depressing, but interesting drawings of people in his early years, followed (after a nervous breakdown and some electric shock treatment) by very beautiful and Van Gogh like landscapes when he was older. We had never seen most of his paintings but were very taken by his use of color and light. Unlike most modern art, he painted the kind of thing you could imagine hanging in your house. It managed to be both interesting and aesthetically pleasing which is quite the feat. After taking many pictures in the museum we headed back out.

On the way home we intended to walk through the old part of town which is supposed to be very interesting. However, something went a bit awry and we ended up lost. If only Martin had his fabulous new compass that Mom and Tam got him for Christmas, but alas it was still wrapped under the tree. So after walking about 15 minutes in the wrong direction, twice, we decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel. After a short rest in the hotel we ventured back out for a delicious Thai dinner. The restaurant was a little posh, but their food was more than worth the price. After a very impressive fried banana desert we headed back to the hotel for our final night sleep in the twin beds. As much as we loved Oslo we were not sorry to see the terrible beds go.


To view the full set of photos from this trip see our site on Flickr
Flickr

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