Norway post #4 (why do my feet hurt?)
My feet hurt. My legs are a bit sore.
It probably has something to do with the immense amount of walking I did yesterday.
As I type this, it is overcast and windy outside. It has been raining on and off all day and promises to do so for much the rest of my trip. Knowing this in advance, I decided to take advantage of my last sunny day in Oslo to be outside as much as possible.
Akershus Fortress
I started at about 10 AM and headed for the Akershus Fortress. I've walked past it several times already but couldn't figure out how to get in. I also have heard amplified sounds and cheering from inside. This was the day to find my way inside. I followed Kongens gate but was about to despair when I saw people walking on a bridge above me. Found a stairway that took me up and crossed over a drawbridge into the fortress.
The visitor's center had a guide to a walking tour, which I took advantage of. The fortress is beautiful. Some of the buildings and structures date back to the middle ages. The ramparts all have a wonderful view of the fjords, when they are not blocked by restoration construction, or giant cruise ships. There were lots of people lying around, enjoying the sunny day. I saw military men, honor guards being very formal, repair workmen rebuilding cobble stone streets, construction vehicles moving dirt around, koi, tourists, office workers, and a groundskeeper mowing the lawn on a rampart using climbing equipment and a weedwhacker.
Lunch on top of the Opera House
Eric and I met at the hotel around noon, to go find lunch. We grabbed some baguette sandwiches from a deli in the nearby train station and took them over to the Opera house. As I mentioned previously, one can easily walk to the top of the Opera; that's just what we did. It was a delicious and picturesque lunch indeed.
I then took Eric to the fortress, as he could not not see this on such a beautiful day. We had a short walk around and he headed to his concert. I headed over to...
City Hall
The walls of the lobby of City Hall are stunning. They are covered with murals about Oslo's history. Or so I am told. I have no idea because the lobby of City Hall is only occasionally open to the public. This was not one of those days.
However, the gallery on the other side of City Hall was open so I took a peek. The Norwegian Arts and Crafts group was celebrating their 100th anniversary by taking their show on the road. They had three exhibits, one was a collection of Norwegian dolls, at least two feet tall, wearing traditional costumes. They also had a series of sculptures mounted on the wall which may have been reliquaries. I'm not actually sure what they were but quite nice to see, and a lot of variation.
My favorite were the table settings. Perhaps 8 of them? Each item handmade and beautiful. I particularly liked the one made entirely of felt. I also enjoyed the wooden goblets whose rims were the bark. You can see some examples here.
After that, I wandered around the outside of the building, towards Fridtjof Nansens plass. It is a big roundabout full of tour busses.
The square in front of City Hall is Radhusplassen. The VG top 20 live concert will be there tonight. It is Scandavia's largest concert and free. I don't know whether or not I'll go but it does explain all the activity I've been seeing there all week.
Vieglandsparken
Since the day was so nice, and since I am a bit afraid to try to figure out the transit system in Oslo, I challenged myself to walking to Frogner Park. Viegland's sculpture park is one of those attractions you can't go to Oslo and not go see. It is also not a short walk. I went via Slottsparken, the lovely and large public park, where the royal palace can be found. Stopped at a cafe for a bit of strawberry tart. Then up Uranieborgveien and Majorstuveien to the park. This park is absolutely full of Viegland's sculptures and the sculptures are absolutely full of drama and emotion. Lots of photos are already online, if you do a search. I also took one or two and bought a lovely book about the park, which I am happy to show you when I am home. Treated myself to an ice cream bar on the way back. This is already more sweets than I generally have in a day but hey, vacation :)
The walk back to the hotel took about an hour, partially because I thought I had gotten lost. In reality, the street I was on was the one I expected to be on, just the map I was looking at didn't have that name on it. Named Obeservatorigata, I had it confused with Observatorie Terasse, though I could not figure out how I had gotten onto that street. Fortunately, in that part of town, as long as I wasn't headed back the way I came, I was eventualy going to hit a major street or water.
Partying with Norwegian Developers
Thursday evening was party night at the Norwegian Developers Conference. The organizer was kind enough to give me a free pass into the conference so I got cleaned up and took myself over to the Oslo Spektrum, where the conference was. Dinner was catered by the Flying Culinary Circus. I had crispy falafel, mashed potatoes, and some kind of purple pickled onion or beet or cabbage dish. Good but after walking for 7 hours, not enough.
Eric and I found some of his friends and we listened to a quiz about dot net. I didn't understand a thing but the developers found it quite amusing. I then listened to his friends talk developer talk while I focused on looking pretty (actually, I doodled on the paper table cover).
Turkish pepper "cheesecake" and not-nachos
The group decided they wanted more food too so we went out to Karl Johans Gate to Onkel Donald, an outdoor cafe. Around this time, the bad weather we were promised was starting to roll in. Alas, I was dressed to take a short walk to the conference center and stand around a crowded party and not to sit outside eating desert. Eric was kind and lent me his suit jacket. The weather in Norway is so bad for so long, that peole will take any excuse to dress skimpy and to be outdoors. Therefore, lots of cafes will offer outdoor seating. If you are going to have outdoor seating in Oslo, you had better have heat lamps galore and blankets. The waiter provided me with a blanket.
I was in the mood for something savory not sweet so I chose nachos while Eric had the cheesecake with turkish pepper. So far, many dishes were not quite what we expected them to be. The chocolate and yoghurt parfait we ordered on our first night turned out to be an almost inedible tall but skinny cone of chocolate filled with ice hard ice cream, garnished with a tiny amount of rhubarb. My nachos had no melted cheese or jalapenos or guacamole on them. They were just tortilla chips, with a side of a tiny amount of salsa and a ton of sour cream. Eric's cheesecake was more like pudding with a bit of grahm crumbles on top. I did like the turkish pepper mixed in.
Back to the conference where an 80's cover band was about to play. The exercise and lack of sleep finally caught up with me, so we only stayed a few minutes before retiring back to the hotel.