Oslo’s winter parks

Got a good night’s sleep and was up early for the day. One day in Norway had yet to mess with my internal clock. The plan for the day was to spend as much time as I could outside and get a few museums in with the Oslo Pass.

One of my concerns with staying in a dorm-style hostel has always been waking up the dorm mates. Since I am such an early riser, I realize that I might be disturbing some of the folks that stay out really late. But I lucked out that most of them seem to get to bed earlier too.

I set things up at night so that it’s easier to get ready in the morning. That way I don’t have to turn on a lot of lights or something.

The Oslo Pass turns out to be a great deal. I got the three-day one that would get me through the first half of my trip.

My plan was to spend the morning outside in Frogner Park and see the Vigeland Sculpture Gardens. Almost all the other museums in Oslo, in Winter, don’t open until 10 or 11 am. Plus being outside in Oslo in the winter is awesome.

After getting on the tram in the wrong direction, I finally got to Vigeland Park. Even then I still got there around 9 or 9:15. There was light snow starting. The Park is huge and the sculptures are impressive. Now these things are supposed to be part of a fountain and a lot of water features with a river running through the park (Again, there was the thing with locks being locked to the bridges.) I can only imagine what the place looks like in the summer.

In winter with the snow on the bronze looks amazing. And as I was there the snow started falling a bit more and heavier. The park still had people in it, but nowhere near the number of people in summer.

There were runners and skiers galore. And a lot of ladies pushing prams. These folks love their winter running and skiing. I have seen more people just walking around with XC skis and taking them on the trams, busses, and trains. The Central station had so many people packed up with XC skis to head up to the mountains. Very interesting.

I still ended up walking around the park even longer, waiting for the first museum, The Museum of Oslo, to open. It was actually very nice. Plus it ended up being a lot more inside than I thought it was going to be. They used all three floors on one side that gave it an interesting layout. You got to see all three floors of the old Frogner manor. They really used the space well. They used the original stonemason basement walls to really show the history. You started in the basement (a fitting place to start with history.) As you worked your way up they covered things like history, fires, Norway becoming independent. They covered topics like housing, how the kitchen evolved, (Even in the 50s they looked like IKEA.), and social topics like gays and immigration. Altogether it actually was worth it, even given the lack of Norsk that I can read and understand. Plus it was part of the Oslo Pass, so it was free! (Sort of.)

By the time I was done with that, it started snowing even harder. And it was time for the Gustav Vigeland Museum to open. It was right across the street next to Frogner Park. Again, it was free with the Oslo Pass. The museum is in his old workshop, which somehow he got Oslo to pay for on the condition that all his art would become city property when he died, and he got to live in the space until his death, in 1943.

The museum was a good size. And a lot of big pieces. Most of the items are the clay and plaster models that Vigeland used to make the bronze casts. Then upstairs was a collection of smaller works that Vigeland made as ideas or early drafts for bigger or possible projects.

Even after all that, it was still only 1 pm. So I took the tram back, got some food near Central Oslo, and got lost in neighborhoods. I eventually made my way over to the Oslo Opera House. The entire roof was covered in two feet of snow. But you could still walk to the top if you were sure-footed. I did and it was fun to watch other people give it a go.

The sun was setting, which in February in Norway is still really early. So it was back to the hostel to find out what new dorm mates I might get. I got two German guys that seemed to be looking to party. Boy, they picked the wrong hostel. I was worried that they would be up all night and coming in late. I woke up the next morning their stuff wasn’t even there.