Rick and Marie's Travels: Scandinavia

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 child-
ren 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
that separates 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 this to see
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
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
avantguarde 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 the 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.