Post by Ella. Todays ride from Oslo to Bergen was awfully stunning. But is there really a best? Name your top couple of favorite train rides. Be fun to see where they are. We started and ended at sea level but went as high as 4,000 ft., up through lush meadows, craggy mountains, frozen lakes, snow…
How about this for an “Enemy of the People”?
Post by Grubb. I saw this poster outside a theater in Oslo. It’s for Ibsen’s play, “Enemy of the People.” It opens in June at Oslo’s Nye Theater. Nothing unusual about any of that, but I was struck by the play being advertised with a photo of a woman hold a baby. Then I checked…
Our route, Saturday, May 20
Beautiful 6-1/2 train ride from Oslo to Bergen
What’s the story?
Looking out from our 7th floor apartment last night in Oslo. What’s happened here?
Odds ‘n Ends
Post by Ella A few photos from our wandering this morning.
Dinner at Rorbua
Post by Ella. All thumbs up on this one. Warning. More food photos. Contains crawfish. Don’t look if squeamish. We tried the skagentost (called Skgenrore here) again despite the horrible experience at Louise a few nights ago. This was outstanding. Yes, that’s a crawfish on top. The shrimp tasted like shrimp and not macaroni. There…
It’s a sculpture park…or something
Post by Ella. Late in the afternoon, we strolled to the Tjuvholmen Sculpture Park. Call it a minimalist sculpture park. Or is it a post-apocalyptic Disneyland?
Future indicative
Post by Grubb. The bane of any travel enterprise is, of course, other travelers clustering in groups. They can gather in front masterpieces, squeeze you off the sidewalk, or storm the restaurant you’ve been considering, so we’ve learned to dodge the sudden visitor swarm by doing a dart and slide dance with the occasional spin. Call it…
The Devil is in the details
Post by Grubb. Walking by the Oslo Cathedral it’s easy to miss the Devil of Oslo, a nine-hundred year old stone relief on the corner of the building depicting a man attacked on both sides by a lion and a dragon.
Post-Modern Kon-Tiki
There’s the raft that fights the elements for five-thousand miles, then there’s the raft that is a floating sauna drifting around the Oslo bay. Knut would say, “There you go. Fixation becomes relaxation. Karl Ové can get all gnarled up with anxiety, but that’s progress.”
The Scream, take three
Post by Grubb. We popped into the National Museum today for a couple of hours. The modern design exhibit was overwhelming. Furniture, appliances, cutlery, you name it, they had the Scandinavian prototype in mint condition. After that it was hard to absorb Chinese porcelain throughout the ages, or decorative German tankards. But there was a large, somberly lighted room…
Hammering the point home
Post by Grubb. Cities have their symbols. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Rome, the coliseum, New York, the Statue of Liberty, Albuquerque, the car without a license plate. In Oslo, from what I’ve seen this last week, it has to be the hammer. First there was Ibsen’s grave. Then, just today alone, I ran across these variations. And these…
Walking all over the little people
Post by Grubb. This morning on our Oslo ramble we came across a small square where little bronze figurines were crammed into even smaller squares. It was hard not to trip over them. Artist: Korean American Do Ho Suh.
Our route, Friday, May 19
Grass Roots Square (the little bronze people) The Devil of Oslo at Oslo Cathedral National Museum Tjuvholmen Sculpture Park Rorbua restaurant
There goes the night
Post by Grubb In Albuquerque you’re getting about nine hours of darkness at night starting around 8:35 PM. Here, in Oslo, night shades its way to an unconvincing black around 10:30 PM giving us six hours of darkness. I find I’m falling asleep later and later. Then I wake up when it’s light outside and find that it is…