Frogner Park Sculpture Garden

Last night I wrote a marvelous post about the Oslo Frogner Sculpture Garden which has disappeared into the ether. And seeing how this has all been 2 thumb typing I expect sighs of sympathy from you all. 

Round 2: When Norway declared its independence from Sweden by referendum in 1905, they wanted something to be proud of: something reflecting the people and the culture and so they hired a local sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943).who spent 20 years ( from about 1905 to 1942) creating this masterpiece.

 

This sculpture garden is beyond description, yet I’ll try. Covering about 80 acres is contain 212 granite and bronze sculptures.  350 different figures are portrayed. The govt supported him by provided land, housing and resources - he wasn’t actually paid for the art. His prediction of a 20 year project was pretty darn close. And amazingly it survived the war years unscathed. Here is a view of the monolith. On the left from the back and on the right it’s from the front.

Gustav died months after creating the park.

We walked through from back to front and I’m only showing you some highlights. It was a place I had been prepared to skip- so glad I didn’t. 

Starting from the back we have the section with the Monolith with supporting sculptures themed on the “circle of life.”

The monolith was cut from a single piece of granite weighing 250 tons. When it was brought to Oslo, it was a national event with crowds gathered waving it on as it was drawn down the roads. It took a full year just to transport it from the quarry in Sweden.

A building was erected to protect the stone while three stonemason spent three years carving the 120 figures. It stands 17 m high (about 55 feet) and is 4 meters in diameter. Amazingly, there are no cracks after all the years.

The bridge is the middle section seems focus on an human relationships, struggles and journey of life:

Some say that the above sculpture with the babies is the sculptors view of himself wrestling with all his “babies” (his ideas).

These last photos show a human fighting with a dragon. A metaphor for wresting with internal and perhaps external evils.

The fountain might portray working together to tackle a challenge.

The first section starts with a labyrinth (one that would run 3 kilometers if followed)

If you do it as designed, you start through the gates into an area with the labyrinth and then the big rose gardens. It feels like a calm, pretty introduction before you get to the main sculptures.

For more details on the park check out:

https://www.nrk.no/kultur/xl/the-secret-story-behind-norway_s-most-popular-tourist-attraction-the-monolith-

Gustav Vigeland also created the Nobel peace medal as well much of the art we’ll see in the city hall.

Return to Oslo

Yesterday we returned to Oslo. A new appreciation for the topography and how it shaped the culture and the lifestyle. Still shocked to see swans swimming in random waterways as a mastering course. We didn’t get to see moose in the wild though some of our bus mates did. Random fact: Norway has the 2nd longest coastline in the world. Brownie points if you know the country with the longest

There are 4 other couple besides us. A delightful couple from Melbourne, a couple from Philadelphia and two couples from the UK . Our guide is a Frenchman

We still need to catch you up with the rest of Norway and will be posting that soon.

But wanted all to know that we are leaving Oslo today to see Debra, Mathias and grandpets in Angelholm. 

Stay tuned!!

Tunnels tunnels everywhere

So when you have this sort of landscape with Fyords and sudden 2000 foot elevations, tunnels become vital for a modern transportation. Early in the 20th century(1923-42) train tunnels were built by hand:

All the tunnels, with the exception of Nåli and Vatnahalsen, were drilled by hand. The drills were quickly worn down where the bedrock was hard. At Melhus the bedrock was so hard that they could not drill more than two-three centimetres before the drills had to be sharpened. The work teams could consist of six men; two men drilled, two men loaded, and two men transported the excavated masses. The rate of progress was usually two metres a week.

Now later in the 20th century (1995-2000) tunnel drilling was much faster and we did drive through the world’s longest road tunnel.

Lærdalstunnelen – World’s Longest Road Tunnel

It’s so long that there are pull offs, complete with light scenes (northern lights, sunrise, to rest and decompress. Lots of problems with people getting “hypnotized” and falling asleep while driving

Some tunnels are complete with round abouts to direct to other tunnels without coming out. I can’t imagine driving and come across the roundabout in a tunnel

Sometimes the roundabout puts you on a bridge only to enter another tunnel on the other side.

We’ll be back in Oslo soon and will try to catch up with all we’ve left out. 🙀

There are Fyords and then there are Fyords

Till Tuesday we had been a bit let down with the Fyords. They were cool and beautiful but not what expected. But yesterday cleared that up. In the afternoon, we took a three hour trip to see other fjords. These were the kind of fjords we were expecting narrow and steep sides.

To date we had been traveling from major cities towards the sea but on Tuesday we went inland. You can see how it quickly narrows down.

and then it opens and you find a town.

It was amazing to see villages of 300 people on the sides of a cliff. Until recently they had to get to school or to the city by boat only. Roads are fairly new in Norway. I would say the last 30 years. There were small schools right near the shore, so kids could get to the schools easily after being dropped off by boat. Until recently they had to get to school or to the city by boat only. (More on roads and Fyords in a future post) There are still a few villages with no roads

  

So the boat ride reminded me (Melanie) of ferry rides I used to take as a teenager. My girlfriend and I would go to the Staten Island ferry and sit on the ferry for hours for just five cents back-and-forth as we read. When we finally got hungry, we’d get off and go into the city for lunch. A very peaceful time of my life and it made me very peaceful on yesterday’s ship. PS I didn’t sit with anyone on this trip and I sat and read. Déjà vu all over again.

The walls of the Fyords can go up 1/2 mile and do a great job of blocking out the sun. These photos were taken at high noon but we are so far north that the sun never gets above about 10:00 angle. So some sides of the fyord never get direct sunlight. Great for the moss.

camping an kayaking are big pastimes in the Fyords

On the sunlit side you see some intrepid spruce making their stand.

We also ate in an Ethiopian restaurant that was wonderful. Neither one of us has any idea what we ate, but it was terrific.

Interesting observation: there seems to be a 7 11 on every block in Bergen. 

Random thought from Melanie: The buses are built for Norse people who were descended from Vikings. This means I have to climb up on my hands and knees because the steps are so high. She had to caution one of our tour mates to “keep her hands of her butt”🤪

And it’s Fish for lunch….

And then it was a short walk to lunch at the Bergen Fish Market. After a quick pass by the American Embassy (built 1710 ibid)

we arrived at the wharf.

Where we we had a tasting of Mackerel, Salmon, lox, shrimp ( which we couldn’t figure out how to eat), and Minke whale ( looks like pastrami ). Just a smattering of what the market offers.

David has already had a year’s worth of his fish quotient on this trip but has to admit it’s pretty good.

and for desert….

Cloudberry Ice Cream! Image a rich creamy ice cream that somehow imparts “berryness” without an identifiable taste. 😊

But now it’s time to sample some inland Fyords

At the top we found our troll

And then we met our troll….

And if we were lost there were helpful directional signs…

Much preferable than the trolls were the Kashmere Sheep.

who were free to wander into the Norwegian Wood. While we were there we also hiked the Norwegian Woods. I could hear John Lennon singing in my ear.  We also got to see trolls hanging under rocks. Bergen being the rainiest city in Europe, we were very lucky and had a beautiful sunny day.

We also got to see trolls hanging under rocks.