[Finally Finished!] Kyo Does The Land Of The Midnight Sun (aka Kyo Visits Norway)

[Kyo]

Thanks for that piece of info, Pinkfloyd - I recall back in September '09 that the exchange rate meant the prawns cost me USD9. So my calculation was admittedly rather vague (and based on that signboard). I may be off by a few dollars (SGD), but either way I remember thinking to myself "This is probably going to be my cheapest meal in Norway..." (and I was right!)

See if you can bring some fresh Rekke down to SIN in June, would ya?

[Pinkfloyd]

Yup seafood bought off a boat is generally one of the cheapest option for eating in Norway (a McCrap's not-so-happy meal would set you aside almost 20 SGD!)...

Don't think the airlines would be too happy about me bringing a whole load of shrimps on the flight but there might just be a way... Will try!

[Kyo]

Day 2 - A Ride Around Oslo Harbour

With the saltiness of the prawns still in my mouth, I realised I didn't have much of a plan for the rest of the morning. Fortunately, not a minute passed as I was walking away from the Rekke boat, that I saw this sign promoting cruises around the fjord...


Oslo Sightseeing - Sounds like a plan! (albeit an expensive one)

A foghorn sounded that very instant on the next pier, and a little boat pulled up...


The local ferry #91 to Bygdoy - For a non-touristy price of 12NOK, you too can try this

So we depart, into the very chilly morning (but oh - to have such fresh air in Singapore! One can only dream...) and almost immediately pass by another vessel on the right.


M/V "STAVANGER" - Here's a shoutout to our long-missing friend gardkarlsen

The ride is only a short 20-minutes hop... and we're soon approaching Bygdoy...


Bygdoy - This 'island' is more like a peninsula, and has some very interesting tourist stops


The FRAM - It's a museum, we'll get to that bit later (it's the second stop also on the ferry, incidentally)


Garden on the water - Literally! Very impressive stuff, how do I get one?!

We'd soon arrived...


Stop #1 on Bygdoy - Here's where you get off if you're visiting the Norwegian Folkmuseum and the Viking Ship Musem


Stop #1 - Also has a wrought-iron sculpture reflecting the Viking Ship Museum being here...

Well, I've always been a fan of the Vikings, even when I was a young teenager... so I'm off to the Viking Ship Museum. A note for those who may choose to do this - the climb is a little steep... and the museum is a little farther inland then you might think... nevertheless, a good workout to work off all the foie in TPR...

I had to photograph this charming driveway...


Fairytale-like entrance - Nice and round


Follow the signs - Vikingskipshuset


One of the signs near the museum pointing the way back to the ferry - In English, mostly


Viking Ship Museum - Wonder what we'll see here?

Things To Do List
Ride on the Oslo fjord - Check

Next instalment: Vikings (or at least, their ships)

[Kyo]

Vikings (or at least, their ships!)

We'd finally arrived at our first cultural exhibit for the trip, the Viking Ship Museum! Time to educate myself on the finer points of these Nordic warriors...


Opening Hours - Perhaps to plan for your own OSL DO one day!

On to the exhibits. The building is in a shape of a cross, it's not a wide building and the exhibits are mostly long (they are ships, after all)


Viking Ship #1 - On display a few restored ships

It's probably not the most exciting of museums, but great for culture/Viking buffs...


Prow of a Viking's ship - The front that cuts through the water

And zooming in...


Very fine detail - No doubt about it, these intricate patterns are handmade/carved...

You can also climb a short flight of stairs to alcoves to get a better viewing angle, like so -


Inside of a boat - You get the idea


Eyes Wide Shut - Wonder what this guy is thinking about

Also -


A nice little burial wagon - Also richly decorated!

When travelling back in those days, there's also a TPR...


Viking TPR - They didn't have much to work with here!


TPR Comb - For when you travel with Viking Lines in F

My tour of the museum was quickly over but I did appreciate a glimpse into the past lives of the Vikings. I decided to make my way to check out one of the other museums (there are five on this island *that I'm aware of*, incidentally).

It was a pleasant 15-minute walk that meandered around the hill. Some awesome scenery also to be seen...


House on a slope - Look at the view you'd get living here everyday!


Zooming In - A glimpse of the waterfront where the boats are docked...

Around the bend, down the slope, and we've reached the area with the rest of the museums!


Kon-Tiki Museum - Dedicated to the Great Raft 'Experiment' by Thor Heyerdahl

Things To Do List
See a real Viking Ship - Check

Next instalment: More Exhibits and the Ride Back

[sumitsan]

Great TR so far. Love the photos and scenery!!

[Kyo]

More Exhibits and the Ride Back

Since time was getting on and I hadn't planned on coming to this part of Oslo, I didn't really have a plan for getting back. I decided to make haste before the next boat arrived and quickly scouted around to see what places of interest there were.


Polynesian bust with yours truly - In the picture preceding this one, if you look closely, you'll see a South-Pacific statue

I quickly moved on the the most interestingly-shaped building on this islet, the FRAM Museum.


Entrance - Inside, the museum tells the story of the Polar expedition vessel 'Fram'


Polar Bear - One guards the entrance


More Polar Bears - These ones are perched over the entrance ready to pounce on the unsuspecting

And on the left...


Don't know what mammal this is - I'm no biologist... but I wouldn't want to bump into one

Looking right in from the entrance -


The 'Fram' - They've preserved her here (apparently this lady sailed from 1893-1925, managing to accomplish four trips to the Arctic and the Antarctic during her lifespan, remarkable!)

I didn't go into the Fram (in hindsight, one of my bigger regrets about this trip) as I was more drawn to the other museum just opposite. Anyway, it's a reason for me to return to OSL one day.

Here we have the -


Norsk Sjofarstmuseum - Otherwise known also as the Norwegian Maritime Museum

Being more directly related to my line of work, I opted instead to visit this exhibition. I seem to not have any photos of the interior although I must have spent 45 minutes here, possibly because photography wasn't allowed (I don't remember, unfortunately). But I do remember it was quite a large museum across split-levels with all sorts of artifacts and even a cinema including a fly-by all across...


Coastal Norway - It even flew past KRS (Kristiansand), home of our dear Pinkfloyd (so I've sort of been there, heh)


Venturing back outside, I decided to take a few photos of the Oslofjord to stitch up into a panorama later. I seem to have sort of lost that photo so I'll have to do this at the end of the TR...

I decided it was best to head back into town as the boat had arrived... one last quick snap at a wee li'l vessel whose name I can't pronounce:


Gjøa - Not quite Gøa, not quite Jøa... this unassuming vessel was the first to make it through the Northwest Passage (took 4 years to accomplish by Roald Amundsen, a very mean feat!)


Our ride back to town - The little beige boat heading towards the right


A small 'clipper' - Very nicely restored, I must say


Speaking of little boats - One last photo of all the rowing boats owned by the locals at the little dock


Next instalment: An Afternoon Seeing the Sights + Arrival of the (One And Only) Other OSL DO Attendee

[Kyo]

Thank you sumitsan, your appreciative post motivated me to put up another update...

Can't believe I'm only halfway through this TR... too many photos! It's very de-motivating... also, thanks for your recent TR - hope to see more!

[Kyo]

An Afternoon Seeing the Sights + Arrival of the (One And Only) Other OSL DO Attendee

Time for one last photo as we head back into town on the boat - a photo of the FRAM museum that I didn't get to explore...


FRAM - Not to be confused with Farm

...and a photo of a massive cruiseliner that I'm told ferries tourists back and forth from Germany (or maybe it was Denmark). At any rate, it was just departing (if you look closely, and maybe use your imagination, you can see all the tourists waving at us from the top deck)


Colorline Cruises - You can also visit Oslo by boat, obviously

My apologies for the least-documented bit of the trip, but we'll be mostly without pictures as I was racing to meet RennyBA back near Oslo's Grand Central Station. Our special guest, the one and only SQflyergirl (who also happened to be the one and only other attendee who flew in) had arrived and was coming into town on the flytoget train!

Alot of things seemed to happen at once - vaguely in my memory I remember:

i) SQflyergirl announcing she was enroute from the airport. Her side of the drama here
ii) Myself heading back into town on the boat from the FRAM museum (as above)
iii) Rushing to meet RennyBA who by the time I arrived was already waiting in the carpark in front of the station
iv) SQflyergirl's arrival and subsequent announcement that she'd fallen sick, heading to the convenience store inside the station and purchasing lots of Coca-Cola
v) Coming outside to meet RennyBA, loading up SQflyergirl's luggage and RennyBA driving her across to her hotel a few intersections away
vi) Sending SQflyergirl up to her hotel room

OK *phew*. Glad that's out of the way...

For a few more bits and pieces of the drama, here's SQflyergirl's own account of what went down:

SQfg's Journey

The Announcement (Post 86 onwards)

The TR


Whilst RennyBA and myself were of course a little stunned, but unperturbed as ever, we quickly made the decision that the 30-odd minutes or so that all DO attendees shared together would be only a minor setback.

We decided to keep going and pressed on with the schedule.

Off we go, then.

First destination of the afternoon: Holmenkollen Mountain

Holmenkollen Mountain is famous for a variety of things, but we'll start off first with the Hotel that overlooks Oslo, Homenkollen Park Hotel Rica


Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica - The 'Top' Hotel in Oslo

This hotel is notable because of the view it commands and also its construction. It has two wings: the first one you'll see is the accommodation wing with a red wooded facade and employs a traditional method of laying criss-crossing timber logs together in its construction. A big thanks to RennyBA for taking the time to explain how it was built.


View Over The Harbour - 350m above Oslo!

The other wing houses the more 'regular-style' entrance to the hotel -


Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica - The 'Top' Hotel in Oslo

Of course, all the eagle-eyed readers would have noticed the trailer in the driveway.

The even more observant will notice that I haven't yet had lunch due to all the kerfuffle earlier... and Kyo+ was feeling hungry ++... and I smelt food!

I wonder what gourmet delights wait in store? RennyBA and myself walked over to find out! After introducing himself, I was introduced as a guest who'd come all the way from Singapore... the ladies behind the counter seemed rather impressed and amused, and went on to inform us that there was some conference (believe it was sports-related, but my memory fails me) going on inside the hotel and they had been engaged to cater for the event.

Long story short, the lovely ladies introduced me to a locally-eaten, cheap street-style Norwegian snack - a 'pølser mit lumpe'... absolutely free (quite impressive considering how expensive things are here!). Great service and hospitality indeed! I'll try to stay at this hotel the next time I'm in town...

Allow me to introduce the first sausage I had in Norway...


Pølser mit Lumpe - Grilled sausage in a potato pancake (that ain't no ordinary flatbread, 'yo)

After demolishing the pancake, we headed to our second destination of the afternoon: The Holmenkollen Ski Jump

Although the Ski Jump was being reconstructed/renovated/built, let me start by saying this is one MASSIVE ski jump... and by sticking it into the side of a mountain, it's even MORE IMPRESSIVE!


The 'Holmenkollen Ski Jump' - For when you want to soar like a bird

The angle of the photo doesn't really show the gradient of the slope, nor how steep it is exactly. What you see is only half the slope, by the way. They had yet to attach the second half of the slope that shoots upwards into the sky (the bit you gain speed going down on)...

Anyway, see for yourself how crazy high this thing goes...

Right next to the construction site, we have a wooden sculptures representing the spirit of Winter Olympics

This is the spot they had the Winter Olympics Ski Jump event in '94...


Lillehammer '94 - The symbol is a Viking Ship! (and I love those)

This one represents one of the native wildlife species in Norway, a Moose... try as I might, I don't think this particular moose was a mascot (can't find any names on Google)


I'm a Moose - I'm made out of wood

Since the construction was still going on, we didn't stay too long and headed on to our next stop.

Our third destination of the afternoon: Holmenkollen Restaurant

With that pancake well and truly vanquished by now, I was keen for a bit more to nibble, so I was very pleased to learn we would be heading to a restaurant next.

This restaurant sits on top of the mountain with arguably one of the best views of the city. Alas, I was so impressed I'd forgotten to take adjust the exposure when taking a photo at the restaurant... so I'll have to borrow one from RennyBA instead!


Holmenkollen Restaurant - A million-dollar view! (but that glare is VERY STRONG!)

We placed our orders and I noticed what could well be the highest flagpole in Oslo in the garden of the restaurant:


Norway's Flag - They fly 'em high!

My 'lunch' / tea:


Apfel Kakke - Otherwise known as Apple Cake (I'm told literally translated into German, it means something more... vulgar... heh)

For more of the afternoon and this trip, you can check out the post RennyBA made here on his blog

We're fast approaching the highlight of the trip... which *should* be in the next update. Thanks for reading!

Next instalment: Vigeland Park and The Monolith!

[Pinkfloyd]

That Colorline ferry should be the one doing the Oslo-Kiel route. Done it once before (Kiel-Oslo) and it was pretty nice.

[Kyo]

Vigeland Park and The Monolith!

As we departed Holmenkollen Restaurant , one of Norway's winter mascots looked at us hungrily as we left, full of Apple Cake!


MOOSE - With 'sinister aura' mode (aka flash) on...

We were not amoosed...


Mooosing right along then.


The highlight of Oslo is, in case you're wondering, a sculpture famous for its near resemblance to a phalus. More on that later - first let's take a look at the the beautiful surroundings it inhabits as the season changes from Autumn into Winter.

192 of Vigeland's sculptures are displayed in Vigeland Park. In all, there are 600 human figures in this unusual permanent outdoor exhibition. The monolith in the center of Vigeland Park is 50 feet high and depicts 121 entwined bodies. Vigeland Park itself is a large, well kept park including recreation facilities,a cafeteria, and restaurants.


In the spirit of SQTalk mini-competitions, let's see if we can play the Colours of the World Cup game... match the team with the colours in the photos (remember, more than one team may share the same colours). Prizes will be awarded at various LDs throughout the year, mind you:

Oslo-ites (couldn't think of something better, sorry) come here for recreation, such as cricket - which I must admit I didn't know they even played.


Colourful - White, Green and Gold

The entire park is the life's work of its Sculptor -


Gustav Vigeland - Red and White

"A sculptor??" I hear you ask...

You see, the park is also littered with sculptures. In fact, I'll be using the rest of this post to take a closer look at the more noticeable ones. Scandinavian aficionados of culture and the arts in general hold a very high regard indeed of the level of planning and detail (not to mention time and effort) it took in order to pull the feat of designing ane executing the entire artwork (and the park is itself designed as a piece of art). One thing you will notice is that the sculptures are all without clothing. The sculptor believed in displaying humanity and human emotions in all its guises, and to my mind, succeeded spectacularly.


No, it's not Medusa - Blue and White

-End of Game-

Back to sculpture appreciation...



I shall call this - Frustration!

And this one...


Fighting with... - BD's Call Centre

Since we're on a roll...


Give me back my... - PPS status!

Or else my...


Family - and me...

...will


Run Away - to TG!

Where we will forever...


Wrestle with... - Royal Orchid Plus!


Okay, none of that made sense, I must admit. On to something that makes more sense, then - we'd found the Vigeland Besokssenter!


Vigeland - Besokssenter

I believe it means bookshop, but I could be wrong. Perhaps Resource Centre?

Anyway, we've reached the bit where the highlight of the trip looms...



In The Distance - What's that pointy thing?


Next instalment: That Pointy Thing!

[FlyingDan]

Truly fascinating report Kyo, GREAT READ !!

[Kyo]

That Pointy Thing!

The highlight of our trip draweth near.

Before getting to the pinacle, however, one has to ascend a few flights of steps upwards towards the centre of the park. It is here that another famous sculpture (this time, a fountain) becomes the main attraction.


Circle of Life - A Fountain?

What's so special about this fountain then?

The various sculptures that are strewn across the park can first be seen drawn together, interacting with each other here.


A Closer Look - And you'll notice here, they are holding up the 'urn' from which the fountain spills forth 'life'/water

The fountain is surrounded not by a circular, but a square fountain.

The symbolism is best described here:

"The men, representing different ages, may be interpreted as toiling with the burden of life and the effort expended in lifting the heavy vessel varies. Water, a universal symbol of fertility, is used within the fountain complex in a meaningful juxtaposition with the twenty "tree groups" on the surrounding parapet, the latter evidently symbolizing the "tree of life."


A Closer Look - Bronze Reliefs Adorn Each Side


'Trees of Life - At Each Point

Let's keep going.


Staircases Aplenty - Taking The Road Less Traveled

And before we know it after three flights of stairs, we've made it.


Barred - By A Wrought-Iron Gate

After all we've seen so far, the highlight of the trip has arrived!

As I'd mentioned earlier, the most famous sculpture in this park is a column of sorts. The life's work of Gustav Vigeland culminated in his creation called: The Monolith

The monolith's appearance varies depending on the day one views it. On a cloudy and overcast day, much like the day I visited, the sculpture appeared cold and imposing. It would not look out of place in an ending finale on the set of an Indiana Jones scene, for instance.


The Obelisk - Otherwise Known As The Monolith

It's surrounded by more interesting sculptures of...


Screaming Babies... - At One Side


Growing Up - And Piggybacking


Intertwined Lives - I liked how you it draws the viewer in to look at the lives of others


Growing Older - Understanding Those WMBO-ed...


Companionship - and Support

It's a humbling testament to stand in the epicentre of one's lifework.

Next instalment: Aker Brygge

[Kyo]

Thank you FlyingDan, I'll try to finish this within the next 24 hours or it'll be one year since this trip started! Time flies!

Thanks for the motivation...

[Dent@SUB]

finally.... my favorite author has decided to "publish" the "sequel" of his journey...

Hardly can't wait for the rest of his journey...

[Kyo]

Aker Brygge!

The evening was fast approaching and we decided to drive back and pick up RennyBA's wife (DianeCA) for dinner along the boardwalk at Oslo Harbour.

We drove back towards the city centre and this time, I managed a quick snap of OSL's cathedral, only this time, from the back and from a moving car!


Domkirke - Cathedral

We picked up DianeCA who'd just knocked off from work, found a parking at Oslo's hippest nightspot, Aker Brygge and soon found our location for the evening's meal.

Whilst we had already sampled traditional Norwegian fare the previous night, I craved for more - I craved for seafood, and I was about to be treated at probably the best local seafood restaurant, D/S Louise.


D/S Louise - Oslo's Best Seafood!


D/S Louise - Signboard (No idea what Mat Og Drikke means)


A Polar Bear - Greets You

The restaurant is chock-full of maritime memorabilia (mostly),


Nets - And Schematics


A Sou'Wester - Sets The Scene

Why is the restaurant called D/S Louise?


This Picture - Reveals The Answer

Incidentally, that picture is dedicated to a certain SQTalker... I wonder who!


Whopping Huge - Fish

No prizes for guessing who this fish is dedicated to... hehe


Something To Guide - Dedicated to N_Architect?

And I'm not sure why, but this reminds me of...


Warm... - Nuts?!

This one is dedicated to Dent@SUB:


For Going Where No One Else Dares To Go- Take it on your cruise mate!


Somersby Cider to Kick Things Off - Danish (Actually)!

Next instalment: Dinner at D/S Louise