Rick and Marie's Travels: Scandinavia—Oslo

Oslo, Norway

Today we unintentionally walked 7 miles as we visited the Oslo Cathedral, Deichman Library, the Opera House, walked the new Sorengkaia neighborhood on the east side of Oslo, and then back to the west side up to the new town center called Christiania. We made our way up to the Grunerlokka neighborhood where we were told Vulkan was a cool area with great street food at Mathallen food hall. Turned out to be too crowded, so we made our way back to our neighborhood where we had linner (lunch/dinner combo) at a pub we discovered a block from our hotel last night.

So, here are some pictures from the route I just described.

The Oslo Cathedral. The ceiling
is worth seeing, but isn't nearly as
fresh as shown on this website.

We hadn't planned on visiting the Cathedral during a service,
but that's what happened.

Part of the minister's sermon.

Our city center walking guide said the baroque interior was worth
seeing, but let's just say that Lutheran baroque is like eating oatmeal
without brown sugar. If you want to see baroque interiors stick with
Catholic churches.

The Oslo Cathedral was consecrated in 1697 and is one of the
most famous churches in Norway. The Devil of Oslo, however,
is much older. The devil is about 900-years-old and was found in
the ruins of St. Hallvard’s Cathedral. The statue was removed from
the ruins and mortared onto the walls of the Oslo Cathedral. The
figure depicts a man being attacked on both sides by a dragon
and a lion.

The Knus nazismen sculpture in the square
in front of the train station looks a bit like
Thor's hammer, but is in fact a tribute
to the resistance movement in Norway
during World War II.

The Deichman Library is stunning. It was
inaugurated in 2019. 1000 children carried
books from the old library to the new one as
a sign of their commitment to reading.

Upon entering the library...

...you are greeted with this!

We took the escalator up and visited all six floors.
Natural light floods each floor and the floor to
ceiling windows provide views of the harbor,
Opera House, and city.

The fifth floor is an open-air atrium where folks can relax, sit at
tables to work or chat or hang out in what feels like a park.

At the top of the atrium, people are sitting at round tables eating,
holding discussions, and occasionally looking out at the views.

A view from the 5th floor atrium.

More views from the atrium.

This sculpture, represents a wave near the library entrance.
The pond in front of the library freezes over in winter and
is open to all for ice skating.

Be sure to read the placards about the Future Library.

The children's section is a place to play and
meet new friends. Reading comes later.

Even the lamps are whimsical in this section.

This is a quiet section of the Children's section.

You can read about the Opera House here.

The new Munch Museum opened in 2021.

You get a feel for the enormity of Opera House roof.

Local resident chilling on the roof.

The ramps to theatre seats are encased with
oak imported from Germany.

Standing outside the cloak room. A mirrored
hallway captures the coat racks behind me.

We crossed the narrow Akerselva River separating
east Oslo, where the Vikings originally settled in
1040, from west Oslo which was settled in 1624.

These new buildings are nicknamed the Barcode by locals,
because it resembles one. This was taken from the pedestrian
bridge that crosses the river to Bjorvika, the newest planned
community where Vikings once lived.

Click to enlarge for points of interest.

Taking a dip after sweating it out in one of the hot
boxes along the harbor.

These shipping containers were repurposed to
mark the points of interests lining the harbor. I
pictured the information on #12.

Click on the picture to enlarge the text. It's worth reading about Bjorvika.

Panorama taken from #12

This is a salt water beach and swimming pool.

Nothing like a shower to wash off the saltwater.

These are the coolest apartments/condos. The first floor of
each building contains restaurants and shops. This is
ultra-modern living with views out to the harbor and islands
that dot it.

Each of the numbered shipping containers

includes artwork that highlights the place.

The Mother is a giant sculpture next to the Munch
Museum. Click on the link to meet the artist as
she talks about what inspired this sculpture.

This shipping container (#10) is on the harbor
in front of the Deichman Library and the
Pink Warehouse.

A close up of the Fjord Cruise ship.

Shipping container #9 shows

Norwegians boarding a ship

for America. This is the pier

where 860,000 immigrants,

between 1820-1925 sailed to

the U.S. and settled in rural

areas in the Midwest while

some made their way to the

Northwest to work in the

lumber or fishing industries.

In 1624 Oslo was destroyed by fire (again) so King
Kristian IV decreed that the town should be moved
west closer to the Akerhus Fortress and named
Christiana and laid out with wide streets that met at
right angles to hinder the spread of fire and help
firefighters move efficiently through the city streets.

The sculpture marks the spot where the king decreed
this is the place to rebuild Oslo.

This is the original City Hall and dates back to 1641.

The Dubliner Pub probably isn't as old as this
building, dating from 1666.

Radmannsgarden was erected by Christiania's wealthy councilman

and is one of the oldest buildings in Oslo. The two windows shown

here are painted on, because during the 17th century houses were

taxed by the number of windows. Although wealthy the councilman

was able to skirt paying more taxes while still appearing to have

extra windows.

This building, known as the Anatomy Building dates back to

1640 and is the city's oldest timber frame house. It abuts the

Radmannsgarden above.

We were told that Mathallen had food stalls where
traditional and trendy Norwegian fair was available
in the avant garde Vulkan neighborhood.

The crowd and tight spaces were a bit much so we
trudged back across town to our neighborhood.

Hmm, we're not in Denmark but this lane does lead to To-To's, a
pub we discovered yesterday. We enjoyed their fish and chips and
were eager to check out their burgers.

Marie chats with a British family who took a booth near us.

We shared the smashed cheese burger with a side of onion rings.
Both were yummy.

The park opposite our hotel where the Constitution
was signed.

These French toilets were a gift to the Norwegians

when they celebrated the centennial of their

Constitution. Note the names on top and the three

colors of the French flag.

Tomorrow should be relaxing. The only must-see for us is City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. Not sure what we'll do after that, but we'll think of something; we always do.

•. •. •

Today (September 23rd) we hoped to visit City Hall, but it is closed today and tomorrow (the day we leave for Bergen) for a government event. So we walked over to the Nobel Peace Center, but it's Monday when most museums are closed. And sure enough it was closed. So, we walked the harbor all the way to the Deichman Library and up to the Oslo Cathedral to take a closer look. We couldn't examine the ceiling during the church service yesterday, and I wanted to take a closer look and I'm glad we did. I've included a few pictures of the organ, altar, and ceiling, but also provide a link that shows information about the ceiling with beautiful pictures.

After revisiting the Oslo Cathedral we strolled over to the Aukerhus Fortress grounds and took a video of the harbor where we began our 4 mile walk this morning. We ended our "touring" today with a brief rest at our hotel before heading over to To-To for a goat cheese salad for linner.

Here are some of the pictures taken during our walk today.