Oslo, 6-21-12

Hey again,

This is my last day to take advantage of the Oslo Pass, so first thing this morning I took the subway to the east end of town for the Munch Museum (you know, the dude who painted The Scream). I don't happen to be much of a fan but it just seemed like the right thing to do. After watching a film and seeing the exhibit I am even more sure he fell a little short of functional!

A side note: before entering the exhibit there is a sign in English that directs you to the film. Then there's another sign - in English - that directs you to view the film first. I expected English subtitles, but no! While it's perfectly acceptable that it's not done in English, I don't understand the signage insisting English speakers go.....but I watched about 20min of it & it was enough to know he had some issues!

Next stop gave me a chance to walk through the botanical gardens/park to clear my head after Munch got in it! Norway loves its flowers and has them all over town. This one is a Fire Lily. We probably have them too, but I always notice flowers more when I am on the road.

With fresh air in my brain once more I head for the Geologic Museum...for the dinosaurs, fossils & Ida. Remember Ida? She is the only complete fossil monkey skeleton in the world (and she's 47 million yrs old).

T-Rex

Cool shell fossil:

Then it was back across town to the Vigeland Museum. The park is shady and nice, so I walked through that again. As it turned out, the full-size models of the park's sculptures are among the items on display. I'd recommend a stop here too if you make it to the park.

Eventually I made it back to the center of town and walked down to the Royal Palace and Palace Park. Since 1847 the park has been open to the public, making it unique in Europe (taken from a sign). Another sign reads: "Please walk on the grass. Hug the trees -Enjoy!"

From here I walked over to the National Theatre (below) and then over to Henrik Ibsen's last home, an apartment across the street from the palace. One interesting non-literary fact is that Ibsen had a bathtub his apartment before his friend, the King, had one in the palace. The guide informed us that the King got one quite soon after!

Anyway, some rooms in his apartment are sealed off & preserved as they were when he died. There were only 2 of us on the tour portion at the museum - a Russian lecturer & myself. He kept asking questions and telling stories, which is when I realized I couldn't go to one more museum! He was interesting, but I just could not absorb one more thing.

So, I have one more post from Norway....And I think I will try to post it tonight while I have the wifi. Once I leave this part of Iceland, I have no idea what will be available.