Scandinavia 2018

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Feb 18, 2024 6:24:27 PM by JHawki

On our bike tour yesterday, Clay and Jean and pretty much everybody else on the tour, didn’t get to see much of the Vigeland Sculpture Garden on our stop there. The park is big and there are dozens of Vigeland sculptures. We had a total of about 15 minutes there, not nearly enough to see much of anything. So we hopped on the city bus and buzzed right there. The tour buses were already there disgorging hordes of crazed Chinese and Italians shooting endless selfies in front of anything remotely interesting. Luckily they move in packs so eventually they move on and leave you alone. At least we got to take our time and soak in the experience. It was fascinating to follow his life-timeline from birth to death in the hundreds of figures.

When we were done, we hopped on the tram (trolley) and headed for Bygdoy, a wooded peninsula that is home to the Kon-Tiki Museum, the Norwegian Maritime Museum, the Viking Ship Museum, the Norske Folkemuseum and a museum housing the polar explorer ship Fram. We opted for the Viking Ship Museum. It was cool. They had found the remains of three viking ships that were dated at between 800 A.D. and 1200 A.D. They were removed from the farm fields where they were discovered and moved to the museum. These were burial ships. They would take an old ship and use it for a burial crypt. The dead were interred along with everything they would need in the afterlife: food, drink, weapons, jewelry and in one case, a dozen horses and two dogs. Unfortunately, the burial ships had all been plundered, so there wasn’t a lot of the valuable metal work and weapons when it was excavated. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the ships was the fact that they were ocean going. They are not long, no more the 40 feet. The beam was quite wide and the draft was decent, but it was hard to imagine how it could weather long trips at sea. Plus there didn’t seem to be anywhere for people to take shelter. God knows how hard the life aboard was. No wonder they were feared.

Woman’s head in negative made of white painted metal by HIlde Maehlum. It is called “Konkavct Ansikt”

After the museum, we walked up towards the water and the other museums. We grabbed a bite to eat (Oslo dog) and then caught the ferry to return to the town center. It was a quick ten minute trip. Clay had heard about the Ekeberg Sculpture Park so that is where we headed next. Ekeberg is an enormous park way out on a point with a great view of downtown Oslo. It consists of deep woods with sculptures about women placed throughout. Like everything else in this country, the park is on a pretty steep incline. It’s a pretty vigorous hike. We probably hiked at least two miles. We had two favorites. One was a piece by HIlde Maehlum called “Konkavct Ansikt” of a woman’s head in negative made of white painted metal. It had the interesting effect of appearing 3D when viewed a certain way.

The other was “Pathfinder” by Fujico Nakaya. At two-hour intervals throughout the day, the piece would generate mist that would fill the woods with fog. It was not only cool to look at, but also refreshing to go through.

The view of Oslo from Ekeberg Park.

We spent a good two hours at the park and then headed back to the apartment. The girls went to the store for breakfast food and then we went out to eat at a great neighborhood Indian restaurant. We went back to the apartment sated and started to get ready to depart Norway and venture to Sweden.