Our Norwegian Adventure - The Where, Part 1 - Oslo

 Once we were in Oslo, once we were with our group, once I resigned myself to the fact that I might be living in two outfits for the next 12 days, once I knew I could buy yarn and needles just about anywhere in Norway (even at the grocery store) everything was good.  Great.  Fantastic.

Us, after a wonderful lunch at the Frognerseteren Restaurant, high above Oslo -
I was fairly certain we had stepped off the bus and into Arendelle (for you Frozen fans)

 - 
Oslo is an amazingly beautiful city, and two short days here really weren't enough.  But we loved every bit of what we saw.  We jumped on the tour bus with Lise and all our new friends; we started at the harbor to see the Opera House and Munch Museum.

Oslo Opera House, designed to look like an iceberg

We saw the Royal Palace, the Akershus Fortress, and where Sonja Henie practiced skating.  

We saw statues of Grieg and Ibsen, kings on horseback, kings looking kingly, which were all very nice, but then we toured the largest sculpture park in the world - amazing and a bit odd -  where all the 200+ naked sculptures are by one artist - Gustav Vigeland 1869-1943 (who, in all my art history classes, I had never heard of).  The sculptures are meant to represent the "cycle of human life and all its emotions".  

Entrance to the park

The Monolith - I got some spooky Holocaust vibes from this
and the sculptures surrounding it, although they were created many years before.

Angry Boy, one of the "most beloved sculptures" in the park.
Um, ok.   

Clay's favorite

I'm choosing to believe that there was a pool of water or a trampoline
under this man, and it was all fun and games.  Right?

Anita, our wonderful tour guide

After the sculpture park, it was time for lunch in what I can only describe as a magical restaurant on top of a mountain, just past the Oslo Ski Jump (Holmenkollen.)  

Our first salmon meal - delicious!

Some art on the walls of the restaurant -
our friend, Hi, told us the story of this painting -
The Rescue of Prince Haakon by the Birkenbeiner Vikings in 1206;
I want to read more about this

More restaurant art - Trolls!

The view of Oslo from the restaurant.  

The ski jump

Our next stop was the Kon Tiki Museum.  Clay and I didn't realize we both were fans and fascinated by Thor Heyerdal, as I guess any kid whose family subscribed to National Geographic in the 1970's was (although he probably wanted to BE Thor Heyerdal - I just liked to read about the adventures.)

This photo of Thor Heyerdal reminded us of our friend, Alex Rust. 

Our final stop for the day was at the Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.  Beautiful murals told the stories of Norway's working history and also of the occupation era during World War II.

Back to the hotel, a little shopping, supper.

It was a great day. 

Peace.