Scandinavia in the Fall: Oslo in the Morning

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We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Quality 33. After being lost the day before, we asked the receptionist for directions to the Munch Museum. She said it was very easy and, from her description, it sounded as though we would find it fairly easily. Alas, perhaps she did not take into consideration the construction? Because, in no time at all, we were lost again. But I had taken several maps from the hotel lobby, so this time I was able to navigate us to where we needed to be.

The Scream is one of those works of art that is so well-recognized that it is almost cliche. It is very much worth a visit to see it in the flesh, as well as to develop an understanding of Edvard Munch as a painter. The museum is not large and can be absorbed in less than two hours. Our children were provided with a scavenger hunt that kept them engaged and sent their parents bouncing back and forth between galleries, which is not a bad way to see the place. A very sweet security guard finally tipped us off that the answers did not have to be correct for the children to receive their prize, which was a nice art postcard. One of our favorite souvenirs are pictures of each of us posing in front of a Scream-esque backdrop. The gift shop is small but adequate (I love museum gift shops!) and there is a cafe that looked appealing but we were not hungry for. Visitors are required to lock away their coats and bags and walk through a metal detector; the museum was victim to a daytime robbery not too many years ago.

We had decided, in planning this trip with our new car, that we would not visit European cities, since we understood that doing so with a car is impractical. We had been unable, however, to resist Oslo, and we had already proven this hypothesis thoroughly correct, but my husband had one more must-see on his list for Oslo: the Oslo Opera House. I had good maps for the short drive and, not only did we get there successfully, we found free parking! The cool thing about the opera house is that the roof slopes to the ground so that you can walk up it. There are stairs so you know it's legal, but the kids took off across the flat surface. It's a fun place to explore and there are nice views of the fjord and city from the top. Even though there were no performances taking place, a cafe and the gift store were open inside. The restrooms were accessible and worth accessing just to appreciate their aesthetics.

By now we were hungry and so we wandered back across the bridge to the train station. First, I tried to take out money at an ATM, but the machine did not agree with my card. Dreading what this portended for the future of our trip, I changed the American cash I had and hoped for the best. We were surprised to find a train station version of Deli de Luca, since my husband had heard that the restaurant is a good, inexpensive option. We picked up some good sandwiches and ate them in the car before heading out of town. We needed to get moving since we wanted to be in Laerdal before nightfall.

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Photos

Walking Up the Roof
at the Oslo Opera House

Sky Scene
at the Oslo Opera House