Flam to Oslo and First Day in Oslo Sept 13 & 14

September 13 Flam to Oslo by Train (8+ hours)

Arrival at our room in the hostel

    We got up bright and early (too early) and left the hostel and walked to the train station. Nothing was open, so...no coffee. The temperature dropped to about 32 degrees F. We got on the Flambana train which took about an hour to go 20 kilometers to the junction Myrdal where the cafe did have cappucinos. The Flambana is the steepest train in N. Europe climbing out of a deep gorge/canyon.

Waterfall between Flam and Myrdal. Train stopped for photos

     The road to Flam was built in 1898 and the railway in 1940 but opened a bit later. There was pressure to open it from the Germans to access an aluminum plant.

Rail junction, Myrdal

At any rate, the railway has 20 tunnels, 18 of which were dug by hand. The train had nice photos and informative announcements along the way. There were many waterfalls. It was beautiful, but not easy to photograph from the moving train.

      Then we boarded the train for Oslo which took from 10 a.m. until 3:30. We sat with nice people. The most memorable was a woman who married a Norwegian and raised her family here. She met her future husband because her roommate at Harvard spent a semester in Norway and introduced them when she visited. We learned a lot about life in Norway and she loves her chosen country. The woman, whose name we did not get, has degrees in Marine Biology, but she has worked in Norway in a variety of jobs. 

     For the last dozen+ years, she has owned a gym outside Oslo that teaches rhythmic dance that caters to special needs children. Her youngest daughter has Downs Syndrome and has participated in 4 Special Olympics and has won medals. The competitions have taken them all over the world. Both she and her daughter now coach for the Special Olympics.

And, presently, that daughter is a co-star in a hit Norwegian television series called Cammo which has won many international awards. This is the second person we've met on a train who had won awards in television.

      We came into Oslo to a very crowded train station. We went to Tourist Information and got maps and transit tickets. We also got tickets to change our train trip to Copenhagen as we used an aggregator called RailNinja which changed our ticket time. The ticket seller said that RailNinja is crooked and charges a lot more. We had no idea that Barbara had used an unofficial site.

Arrival in Oslo

We are undecided whether to keep the original tickets which seem to be non-refundable or to eat those tickets and keep the ones that have a better timetable.

   

View of lighted up "tree" from our window

"Our" apartment - Sjogangen 4

 We met Anders at the apartment in a very modern part of Oslo called Sentrum. We got a bit turned around as the taxi driver let us off and told us to walk in the opposite direction than we needed. Luckily, Google Maps came to our rescue and we got to the apartment which is in a pedestrianized and very modern part of Oslo. It is quite a contrast to the historic old neighborhood where we stayed in Stockholm.

      The apartment is beautiful, overlooking a canal near the harbor. It is filled with luxurious apartments and hip stores and restaurants.

     We are exhausted, so went to a nearby restaurant to eat - New Delhi Kitchen. It was excellent. Then, we walked to the grocery store (Coop) and got a few things. We did a laundry and then - collapsed!

September 14: A Day in the Frogen Park

   Today was great; sunny and almost 70 degrees. We got on the tram and went immediately to Frogner Park and to the Vigeland Sculpture Park which was amazing and thought-provoking. It was entirely the creation of Gustav Vigeland, Norway's greatest sculptor.

In 1921, he made a deal with Oslo. For a studio and support from the city, he would beautify Oslo and, we'd say that he kept his word. He worked from 1924 until his death in 1943 designing not only the statues, but also the landscaping.  There are 600 bronze and granite statues, all nude. Vigeland was religious which might surprise Americans with more Puritan sensibilities.

    Vigeland was inspired by Rodin and, like Rodin, many feature the relationship between men and women. Vigeland's groupings include men and women from babies through old age.

The famous "angry baby"

      58 statues on the bridge in the park are a general study of the human body. The section includes the famous angry boy.

   

  A big fountain is held up by six giant men with water considered the source of life. It cascades over their labor. Twenty "tree of life" statues surround the fountain. The four groupings represent: 1. children (Vigeland called them "geniuses) 2. Love   3. When life becomes complicated as we enter middle age and beyond. 4. Death melts into the branches of the tree of life. We found them quite moving.

      Beneath the statues around the fountain are 60 bas relief bronzes which are easy to overlook with all the giant statues, but they were also incredibly beautiful.

       Around the fountain, he designed a huge maze which takes about an hour to complete. We saw one little girl and her mother diligently following it. The maze represents life's winding road with its twists, turns and dead ends. 

     

Mark in the maze

A 50 feet tall monolith is the centerpiece of Vigeland's work. 121 stone figures are carved into a single piece of rock. Three stone carvers worked full time for 14 years, cutting Vigeland's full-size plaster model into the final 180 ton monument. Some people seem to be floating and rising, while others struggle not to fall. What an apt description of the human condition.

     Circling the monolith on the raised plaza are 36 sculpture groups.  These represent the ages of life. We found some poignant, capturing the cycle of life. These statues were up close and able to be touched. They seemed personal and visitors seemed most mesmerized by these ones in particular and many touched them in wonder.

   The park is beloved in Norway; there are no fences, no protection of the statues and no graffiti. It is open and free at all times. It says a lot about the Norwegians.

Along Karl Johan's Gate looking toward the Palace

Along Karl Johan's Gate

     Afterwards we took a tram through the shopping district and got off at Karl Johan's Gate and walked from the Royal Palace Park to the train station. It was crowded as the weather was so lovely and, as a Saturday, maybe one of the last warm weekends for a while. Children played everywhere and amusements were set up. Mark got a hot dog; Barbara bought a pair of black gloves. From the train station, we took a tram back to "our" neighborhood: Aker Brygge. 

Two thumbs up!

     We got lunch at a Japanese restaurant, Yokoso, along the waterfront. We had to order everything on an Ipad. Mark got a pork ramen bowl. Barbara got a spicy tuna roll. The food was good, but Mark was almost done with his soup before Barbara's meal arrived. And, paying using the QR code didn't work for us. However, we had comfortable outside seating and enjoying watching the steady stream of people strolling the waterfront. Then we went to the Coop for breakfast tomorrow and for some snacks. We chatted to Nan and Jim, Christian and Nick and Michael and Nancy.

Mark in "our" apartment

View from our window