Oslo

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Arriving in Oslo airport around 7pm on a 23 hour stopover, we were unsure of how much could be seen in such a short time. Our first time saver was the fast train from the airport. How easy, you only had to swipe your credit card through the entry turnstile before boarding the train, no need to purchase a ticket. The train only took 20 minutes at high speed to reach Oslo City, we were also pleased our hotel was only a two minute walk from the station. Checking into the Hotel Grand Central we found the rooms to be very minimalist and modern but with everything we needed for our short stay, especially unusual was the wall mural behind our bed.

The next day as we were flying out early evening we decided to make an early start and walk to Frogner Park after breakfast. The park is famous for the Vigeland (sculpture park) installation, a permanent sculpture installation created by Gustav Vigeland. We had read that when the City of Oslo was forced to demolish the house of the celebrated artist, Vigeland was granted a new building from the city where he could work and live. In exchange, he promised to donate to the city all his subsequent works, including sculptures, drawings, engravings and models. Vigeland moved to his new studio in 1924 and over the following twenty years, was devoted to the project of an open exhibition of his works, which later turned into what is known as Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement in Frogner Park. It took us about 45 minutes to walk the park which contains the sculptures as well as bridges and fountains, the park holds the record for being the largest sculpture park created by a single artist with 212 bronze and granite sculptures all designed by Gustav Vigeland. Vigeland modelled all his hundreds of sculptures of men, women and children using clay in full size without any assistance of pupils or other artists. The carving in stone and the casting in bronze were left to a number of talented craftsmen. The park’s most popular sculpture is ‘The Monolith,' a 14 meter tall structure of granite that features 121 figures struggling to reach the top, it took 3 stone carvers 14 years to transfer the figures from clay to the rock.

Our afternoon was spent walking, we visited the nearby Oslo Opera House which has an angled exterior covered in Italian marble and white granite. The building is very beautiful appearing to rise out of the water, you could walk all over the roof surfaces to gain different views of Oslo. We walked along the harbour to Akershus Castle and Fortress before returning to our hotel to grab our bags and take the fast train back to the airport for our next flight to Manchester.

Even though we had only had a 23 hour stopover we both agreed it felt much longer, not surprising when we worked out we had walked at least 25kms during our 23 hour stay. We had been able to see lots of Oslo attractions as well as still having time to relax at lovely outdoor restaurants for supper and lunch. Oslo seemed to be an expensive city after the Baltic States but at the same time a great place to visit.

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