Oslo
Fresh from the airport, in a jet-lagged daze, we all trooped up to Frogner Park to meet the owner of the house we are renting, to sign the lease and get the keys. Frogner Park is a surreal collection of hundreds of stone and bronze figures by the sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The park is more than a museum -- it is very much lived-in with hundreds of people relaxing and playing, sometimes climbing around on the stone figures and fountains. The central obelisk is a pile of intertwined naked bodies, carved from granite and perhaps 50 feet high. On this particular Sunday the scene included another surreal (at least for us) element. We heard crowd noise and somebody speaking English through a PA system, something about a pie-eating contest. We followed the sound to find out what was going on...
and found, among others, the Republicans Abroad Norway booth. Just down the row apiece was the Harley Davidson Booth, complete with a couple of hogs parked out front. Within a few hours of arriving in Norway, on June 30, we had stumbled into the American Coordinating Council of Norway's annual Fourth of July celebration. Being tired and more in the mood for the flavors of our new homeland, we didn't stay long.
In the following days we toured around Oslo, already somewhat familiar from previous visits. This view of the city is from the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump, at the edge of the Nordmarka forest area. Turn around and you can hike, bike, or ski into the hills, with huts to stay in if you need them.
Underneath the jump is the ski museun, with displays of skis and related equipment from the early days of skiing in Norway right up to the present. One item that had been introduced since our last visit was a pair of Bjørn Dœhlie's skis. Until his retirement last year, Bjørn dominated nordic ski racing for much of the last decade. Touching these skis was a "I'll never wash this hand again" kind of experience -- for Rick, at least.
Another favorite stop is the Fram, the ship commissioned by Fritjof Nansen (sternly looking over Zoe's shoulder) for his Farthest North expedition and subsequently borrowed by Roald Amundsen for his South Pole expedition. Both are outstanding stories of polar exploration. The ship is now enshrined in a special building built around it. It's pretty amazing to go on board and think about a couple dozen men living on the ship when it was frozen in the ice and drifting helplessly -- for two years! There are also some kayaks, including sleek sealskin-covered West Greenland ones collected by Nansen, on display around the perimeter.