We arrived in Olso, Friday night, April 19, 2019, and met my friend
Faith who had arrived earlier in the day from Stockholm, Sweden.
Stephanie and I stayed in an apartment I rented in the Barcode District
which was just south of the train station (Oslo S). Faith had a hotel
maybe 10 minutes away on foot. Even though it was Good Friday, there
were a number of restaurants that were open, and open reasonably late.
We had dinner that night at a restaurant called Pincho Nation, which
had a circus theme and was a tapas-style restaurant that's kind of
self-serve. It require a smart phone to order and you have to download
their program and run it on your phone. Fortunately, Faith had such
a device and was willing to risk its security so the three of us could
eat. They send you a message (through their program, not email or text
because that would be too interoperable) when your food is up and you
walk over to the window ledge and pick up your order. Whatever. It
tasted good and was open after 9pm on Good Friday.
The next morning, Saturday, April 20, 2019, we went on a free guided
walking tour of the central downtown area. It was good, interesting,
and informative and provided a little orientation of what's what, and
what's where, downtown. The tour included City Hall, but that's in a
separate album/folder.
After the tour, we went in the Cathedral and looked around.
We then headed to the Royal Palace and the Queen's Chidren's Park
next to it. Those are in a separate album/folder too.
By the end of the day, for some reason I was feeling miserable.
I went to be early-ish
The next day, Sunday, April 21, 2019, I was feeling somewhat better
but decided to take it easy and sleep for some of the afternoon.
Faith and Stephanie went out for Swedish fica, which is
basically a coffee break with a snack and socializing. They had a
grand time and I felt pretty normal by the time they came back.
We had dinner at the Cathedral Café which was right next
to the Oslo Cathedral. That night we walked to the Opera House
and I took some night pictures of the waterfront area.
On Monday, April 22, 2019, Faith checked out of her hotel and
stopped by our place and dropped off her suitcase. We then took
a bus to Frogner Park, where the amazing Vigeland Statue Park is
located. I didn't take many pictures, because Faith and I had
been there before a few years back, but it was still cool to see
and a beautiful park. We headed back and eventually walked Faith
to the train station (about 5 minutes from our apartment) and then
she went on her way. Stephanie and I then wandered around the
waterfront area and other places, looking for a place to eat and
eventually wound up a vegetarian place where Faith, Stephanie, and
I had eated previously.
The next day, Tueday April 23, 2019, we checked out and left our
bags at the rental office. we then went inside the Opera House
and then wandered around back downtown and went to an Indian restaurant.
Turns out their buffet had absolutely nothing Stephanie could eat,
so we wound up back at the Cathedral Café since we knew it
was safe had had food we both could eat. (She would have been happy
to go to the vegetarian place for a 4th time, but 2 is my limit.
That's where they went for their Fika.) The food was good. We
headed to the Oslo S train station, Stephanie got a ticket for
the train to the airport, we retrieved her baggage, hung around
the station for a bit, then she headed off. After that, I got
my bag and went to my next stop, the Helsfyr District, about 4km
northest of downtown Oslo, but that's in a later folder/album.
002-DSC_3229-header: The Barcode District and Views
002-DSC_3229-headertextk:
002-DSC_3229: 003-DSC_3230: 004-DSC_3231: 005-DSC_3240: 006-DSC_3241: 007-DSC_3242: 007-Oslo_S_train_Panorama: Panoramic north view of the Oslo S train yard from our apartment balcony. 007-balcony_Panorama: Panoramic east view of our apartment balcony beyond the Oslo S rail yard 008-DSC_3246-header: Oslo Walking Tour 008-DSC_3246-headertext:
We joined a free walking tour of the city that started at the Oslo S
tiger statue. Faith was there, but Stephanie and I were late. We
caught up with the group just as they were leaving to go to the next
stop which was the waterfront.
008-DSC_3246: The Oslo Opera House.
009-DSC_3247:
010-DSC_3248: The new Oslo Public Library, under construction. To open in
2019.
011-DSC_3249: The new Edvard Munch Museum (Munchmuseet), under construction.
To open in 2020.
012-DSC_3250: The tour guide tells us about the Opera House and Munch museum.
013-DSC_3251: The mobile iceberg in front of the Opera House reflecting the
sun.
014-DSC_3252: The fountain at Christiania torv in one of the oldest areas
in Oslo. After a fire in 1624, the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV
decided to rebuild the town (and rename it it Christiania). Some of the
buildings date from the 17th century. The story is that he pointed to
a place saying where the new town would be. The fountain with the hand
pointing to the spot is a memorial to that story.
015-DSC_3253: Gamle rådhus (The Old Town Hall) is one of the oldest
buildings in Oslo in the Kvadraturen (the quadrature) by the Finger fountain.
It was the Town Hall from 1641 to 1833. In 1925, a restaurant opened
in the main floor.
016-DSC_3254: Akershus Fortres. That building houses horses. Not sure if
they're royal or used by the police.
017-oslo_fortress_Panorama: The Akershus Fortress, originally built in
the late 1290s by King Haakon V.
021-oslo_wall_Panorama: A somewhat bad stitching together of a few pictures
of the wall around Akershus Fortress with half of Faith in the front.
024-DSC_3264: The tour guide talks about the harbor and Alfred Nobel.
025-DSC_3265: The sculpture Marriage by Tony Smith in the
Kontraskjæret, an outwork (exterior fortification) of the Akershus Festning.
The sculpture was made in 1961 though according to the
Tony Smith web site it was assembled in 1965 and finalized after that.
The piece was a gift of the Carter/Menil Foundation for Peace in 1994 to
Oslo and Norway for the then ongoing peace process between Israel and the
Palestinians that were being held in Oslo at the time.
I spent a few hours unsucessfully trying to find information about the
sculpture and then sent an email enquiry to the Visitors Centre at Akershus
Festning and received the answer I was trying to find. Tusen takk
to them!
026-DSC_3266: More talk about Nobel's history.
027-DSC_3320: The National Theater in Oslo.
028-DSC_3321: The Grand Hotel, built in 1874, attracts famous people as
guests.
029-DSC_3323: Irina, the tour guide talks about the Parliament building
(Stortingsbygningen, the Storting Building), first used in 1866. This
is the front side.
030-DSC_3325: In the center is a somewhat sad, somewhat creepy guy dressed
as Mickey Mouse.
031-DSC_3326-header: Oslo Cathedral
031-DSC_3326-headertext:
The Oslo Cathedral is in the middle of the touristy downtown area. A restaurant is next to it and a condom store is across the street because Norway is awesome. We walked inside the cathedral (they allow pictures if a flash is not used) and eventually headed to the Royal Palace after that. We also ate 031-DSC_3326: By the old church, pretty much near everywhere in Oslo. 032-DSC_3327: The Oslo Cathedral. 033-DSC_3329: The Oslo Cathedral. 034-DSC_3331: Fountain inside the courtyard by the Oslo Cathedral. 035-DSC_3332: The side of the Oslo Cathedral with rainbow effects from shooting into the sun. 036-DSC_3333: Big doors of the Oslo Cathedral. An organ concert was going on and the churck would be open to the public at 1pm. 037-DSC_3334: Statue of Christian IV in downtown Oslo. 038-DSC_3335: The steeple of the Oslo Catheral. 039-DSC_3336: Looking into the cathedral from the back. 040-DSC_3337: 041-DSC_3338: Stained glass windows in the Oslo Cathedral. 042-DSC_3339: Stained glass windows in the Oslo Cathedral. 043-DSC_3340: Stephanie by candles in the Oslo Cathedral. 044-DSC_3342: 045-DSC_3345: Candles in the Oslo Cathedral. 046-DSC_3346: 047-DSC_3347: Pipe organ pipes in the back of the Oslo Cathedral. 048-DSC_3349: Karl Johans gate (street) leading to the Royal Palace (Slottet). 049-DSC_3352: Stephanie and Faith, acting suspiciously normal, caught by the telephoto lens. 050-DSC_3353: A stone lion with the sun behind it. Rrrrrooooarrrrrr!!!! 051-DSC_3357: A fountain that looks like a dandelion. 052-DSC_3392: A condom store is across the street from the Cathedral. Norway's awesome! 053-DSC_3397: The Café Cathedral restaurant. Good moose stew and reindeer steak. 053-cathedral-Panorama: Panoramic shot of the Oslo Cathedral and the Café Cathedral. 054-DSC_3398-header: Oslo with Friends 054-DSC_3398-headertext:
Faith, Stephanie, and I explored Oslo. We had lunch at the Cathedral
Café and Faith was sitting near an overhead space IR heater that
cast an ominous red glow on half her face.
We went to the Vigeland Statue Park. Faith and I had been there before
back in 2015 and I took a lot of pictures then that can be seen
here. So I didn't take many this time, even skipping the Allstory of
Human Life, and only took a few iconic ones as well as Faith and Stephanie
posing with a statue.
After that, we accompanies Faith to her train at the Oslo S station and
she returned to Sweden.
054-DSC_3398: Faith and Stephanie are shoe pals.
055-DSC_3399: They're long-hair pals too.
056-DSC_3400:
057-DSC_3401: Faith pauses while dramatically half illuminated by red light.
058-DSC_3404: Now wearing a black napkin, Faith looks more than half-evil.
059-DSC_3436: S. Topp next to a Stopp Signal (mixed signals?).
060-DSC_3437: Giant Angry Baby!! Vigeland Statue Park.
061-DSC_3439: Faith and Stephane model their hair like the the Vigeland Statue.
062-DSC_3440: Surprise baby attack!! Must...keep...kicking.
063-DSC_3441: The monolith plateau in the background.
064-DSC_3442:
065-DSC_3443:
066-DSC_3444: The monolith. Lots of naked, stone Norwegians and babies.
067-DSC_3445: I belive this is the Wheel of Life, with the Monolith and
steeple behind.
068-DSC_3446: Gustav Vigeland, sculpture of many naked Norwegians and babies.
069-DSC_3447: The S.I. black train poking out from under the bridge is
the Swedish train.
070-DSC_3448: Frank and Faith at the Oslo S train station before she leaves
for Sweden.
071-DSC_3449: Stephanie and Faith at the Oslo train station.
072-DSC_3450: The conductor with his green flag.
073-DSC_3451: He waves the flag signaling the engineer that everyone is abord.
074-DSC_3452-header: Exploring Oslo
074-DSC_3452-headertext:
After Faith left (a sudden loss of Faith), Stephanie and I explored a bit of Oslo by the harbor and then back towards the center of town to get some tourist postcard stuff. 074-DSC_3452: The new library from the Harbor Promenade. 075-DSC_3453: 076-DSC_3454: 077-DSC_3455: Information on the Harbor Promenade. 078-DSC_3456: The Oslo library (still under construction) and much waterfront construction. 079-DSC_3457: An art isntallation about immigrants, consisting of t-shirts hanging from a large A-frame wooden structure. 080-DSC_3458: A view of "We Are Still The Same" art installation. 081-DSC_3459: The A-frame and t-shirts. SALT is an area that has saunas, food, and art. 082-DSC_3460: The shirts are white in one area and gradually have more and darker colors. 083-DSC_3461: More colorful shirts in the SALT art installation. 084-DSC_3462: Concert posters in Oslo. A variety of styles and artists, old and new. 085-DSC_3463: A vegetarian restaurant. 086-DSC_3464: A kitchen store. Yes, all the products are SMEG brand. 087-DSC_3465: Oh smeg! It's the AI Toasters from Red Dwarf! OK, it's not. 089-DSC_3467: A sculpture of 3 chickens, with two real pigeons perching on it. 090-DSC_3469: Stephanie poses with the bronze tiger outside Oslo S. 091-DSC_3470: The tiger was a gift in 2000 celebrating Olso's 1000-year anniversary. 092-DSC_3471: Oslo is known as the tiger city. 093-DSC_3472: You wouldn't like Frank when he's angry! 094-DSC_3473: Interesting graffiti. 095a-DSC_3488: The lights over the train platforms had fingerprint patterns. Hidden art? 095-DSC_3474-header: Oslo Apartment in the Barcode District 095-DSC_3474-headertext:
The barcode district is an area of new fairly big buildings just to the east of the Oslo S trainstation, immediately south of the train tracks. There are busiensses as well as residential apartments. I rented a 2 bedroom furnished apartment for about 4 days. It was pretty nice and the aparatment had a balcony that wrapped around 3 sides of the building, so there were nice views in every direction except south (so no water, but that was OK). 095-DSC_3474: Translation:Take a look in. Disappointingly, there were no titts in. 095b-DSC_3229: An art exhibit at a gallery near hte apartment. 095c-DSC_3230: I don't really know what this is other than art. 095d-DSC_3231: Note artist's name, Ingrid Torvund, is on the blue/green wall. 095e-DSC_3240: The west side balcony, looking northwest towards the train tracks. 095f-DSC_3241: 095g-DSC_3242: The north side balcony looking at the bridge to the northeast. 095h-balcony_Panorama: Panoramic north view of the Oslo S train yard from east side of our apartment balcony. 096-DSC_3475: Stephanie's cat on our balcony. 097-DSC_3477: Stephanie's cat on our balcony. 098-DSC_3478: The apartment kitchen. 099-DSC_3479: The living room with the kitchen behind it. 100-DSC_3481: The living room and second bedroom in the corner. 101-DSC_3482: The living room, dinette and balcony with a table. 102-DSC_3483: The second bedroom. 103-DSC_3484: The first bedroom. 104-DSC_3485: The bathroom, laundry room, and shower. 105-DSC_3486: The entrance hallway. 106-DSC_3487: Looking up from the bottom of our building. The mesh panels make the building look black. 106a-Oslo_S_train_Panorama: Panoramic east view of our apartment balcony beyond the Oslo S rail yard. 108-DSC_3489-header: Oslo Opera House 108-DSC_3489-headertext:
We went inside the Oslo Opera House. There was some information about operas, and there was a poster with cut-outs so people can put their faces there and be part of an opera. The interior decorations were neat, with stark, dark tones in the bathroom, and space-age walls nearby by the coat-check area. 108-DSC_3489: Stephanie's toy cat and the Oslo Opera House. 109-DSC_3491: Stephanie getting into opera (her toy cat was too). 110-DSC_3492: Stephanie sings opera (note the guy holding grapes is checking out her rack). 111-DSC_3493: Stephanie nails the the high E in her aria. 112-DSC_3494: Cool futuristic walls inside the Oslo Opera House. 113-DSC_3495: I liked the colors, textures, and patterns here. 114-DSC_3501: The faucets in the bathroom was also cool looking. 115-DSC_3503: Frank caught in a coatrack forrest. 116-DSC_3504-header: Oslo S Train Station 116-DSC_3504-headertext:
We went to the train station and got information about trains to the airport. They run frequently and there's no need to buy a ticket ahead of time. So we went to lunch then returned to the station with ample time. 116-DSC_3504: Stephane playing her toy cat on the brone tiger's head. 117-DSC_3505: Big cat, little cat. 118-DSC_3506: At the Cathedral Café Stephanie's cat enjoys some hard pear cider. 119-DSC_3507: The tunnel to the train platforms. 120-DSC_3508: Stephanie and Topp pocket books. Bottom: