Oslo's Way-Cool Opera House

The opera house sits on the water, across a highway from Oslo Sentralstasjon. It is stunning in its modernism and use of white. The roof angles sharply downward, and then levels out to merge with the water.

These angled glass windows sit to either side of the entrance.

 Here are some shots of the interior which is open, cool and spacious. Some Norwegians have grumbled about it being "too bright." I loved it and would imagine that the brightness is a plus during the long grey winters here.

 

Below is a shot of  the outside of the auditorium, which is oak.

Back outside the building, we followed the crowd and climbed up the steep roof. This is allowed (but not advisable in winter, when the roof is icy.)

Resting part way up.

The view from the top.

You can see here that some people actually lie on the roof's "beach" and sun themselves.

Looking back from the skyway.

After this visit, we decided we want to attend a performance. The consensus choice was Notteknekkeren (The Nutcracker Suite), and we just got tickets for mid-December. 

Can't wait!

Doug on Food in Oslo

 It's intriguing to relocate abroad for a protracted period. One thing that makes this different from a brief visit is that restaurant dining will not figure very prominently in your cuisine. We rarely eat out back home in Minneapolis, and we knew this would be the case here too, if things turned out to be as expensive as we'd heard.

They did.

The basic exchange rate is 6 kroner to 1 US dollar. 

So--

cup of coffee out: 22-30 kr, i.e., USD 3.65-5.00

cheapest meal out at somewhat nice restaurant, not fancy but OK: 100 kr, i.e., USD16.65

Thus, eating in and shopping at grocery stores are a matter of keen interest.

Oslo: not a food town.

Grocery shopping here is a bit like it used to be in Manhattan, meaning lots of small grocery stores stuffed into spaces between apartment buildings and small retail, always ground-floor or a step down from the street. There are grocery stores everywhere, as many as two on some city blocks. What almost all of them have in common is a four-letter word prominent in their name: Rimi, Kiwi, Rema 1000, Meny, Coop (pronounced like chicken coop); ICA is a three-letter exception.

 Even when these stores are more capacious than they at first appear, and actually are at street level, they have a bunkered underground feel (no windows, ever--maybe Norwegians think sunlight damages food; maybe it does...). With so many stores, and with our milk supply needing frequent replenishing, we have visited most of the venues within walking distance of our apartment. Several of them are similar in their (relatively) lower prices, a couple of them charge more and offer more abundant variety and a slightly less harrowing environment.

Despite some claims I have seen online, specialty food vendors--butchers, fishmongers--are not a practical alternative for shopping here. They are few and far between, and basically only for Norway's "one percent." The shocking thing is the high price of fish in particular. Do you want to pay USD50 for a pound of cod? I didn't think so. So, no, we aren't dining on fish, and neither do most Norwegians. It is true that any market has a supply of shrimp, both the small kind in jars, cleaned and ready to eat, and a big self-serve case of the frozen buggers, a bit larger, with heads and legs still attached, ready for boiling. Since we have a serious division in our family about shrimp, we haven't tried these yet.

What do Norwegians eat?

We had thought this was a big, big dairy country. And it just might be. But milk, almost only seen in quart-sized containers, costs 13.80 kr per quart at one of the cheaper stores, i.e., USD2.30 or USD 4.60 per half-gallon. Back home we buy a half-gallon of organic 1%-fat milk at Costco (admittedly at a modest discount) for something like USD2.40, so milk is about twice as expensive here and doesn't appear to be purchased by Norwegians in large quantities. Also, no organic milk. Really not a lot of organic offerings in general (although, curiously, most stores have a gluten-free section).

The dairy scene here is dominated by one company, Tine (pronounced like the woman's name "Tina"), which appears to be a collaborative of the nation's dairy farmers and something close to a monopoly. Almost everything dairy is Tine. At least they sell milk in low-fat varieties. 

Not so with yogurt. My usual breakfast for a long time is yogurt with muesli. Nice for me, there are usually a few varieties of muesli available in stores here (unlike back home). But the variety of European yogurt I thought I'd be sampling here--just not available. Tine makes one kind of yogurt, which is nice and unflavored, as I like it. (Rebecca says, "Bleh! It tastes chalky.") But it is full-fat--4%--which I'm not used to. So I try not to eat too much of it. Supposedly there is a wondrous array of heirloom bacteria varieties available in yogurts from different countries on the Continent, but this supposed bounty is absent from the stores here. Tine--with, I am guessing, a big assist from tariffs on imports--gives you one kind, I hope you like it (it's really fine). 

Actually, while you can't get 2%-fat or 1%-fat yogurt, and you have to read the fine print to find out how much fat content the regular Tine yogurt contains, there is another type of yogurt in the stores here that advertises its fat content clearly. This comes in either 7% fat or 10% fat.

People here do walk a lot.

While we're on dairy, two ice cream brands, Diplom-Is and Hennig Olsen, dominate the market. (The approximate equivalent brands in the States would be, respectively, Edy's and Blue Bunny.) The former is less sweet and much creamier, better quality than its equivalent in the States. Two liters (a little less than a half-gallon, costs between USD 5.50 and 6.00. There is some Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry's available (at extraordinary prices), but the market segmentation into cheapo ice cream and super-premium that has overtaken the US market hasn't caught on here so much.

Again, what do Norwegians eat?

There is a lot of cheese in the stores, so I am guessing that is a big part of the diet. About 90% of it from Tine, basically in three varieties: Jarlsberg, Norvegia (rather soft and creamy, somewhat buttery), and Julost (kind of halfway between the other two; kids and Rebecca think the Julost has a slight cheddar flavor). You can also get the sweet brown cheese that catches on fire, a Norwegian tradition (the cheese, not setting it afire, but apparently it is inflammable).

Also, the stores are filled with extensive packages of sliced ham and sliced salami. A lot of pork in the diet here. Not much to say about this, but there is a a hell of a lot of it.

Finally, the centerpiece of modern Norwegian life, it seems--the frozen pizzas and pork hot dogs. Some say that Norwegians have the highest per capita consumption of frozen pizza of any country in the world. Could be. We've tried it once. About what you'd think. One of those we tried, at kids' request, was three-cheese. From Tine. (This 12-inch pie cost us 90K or $15.)

As for produce, it's not emphasized. The veg-and-fruit section of the market usually isn't big, not put on proud display. There are some imports from the Low Countries and Spain, perhaps allowed because there's just not that much you can grow in Norway's climate. A package of 6 Pink Lady apples (nonorganic) runs 36K or USD6.00. A small head of broccoli is 14K, or about USD2.30. We stick to carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. The other vegetables are hard to find and out of reach, price-wise.

What does this leave us with?

Bread.

The staff of life, indeed. The one kind of specialty food shop here in abundance are good-quality bakeries, some independents and some chains, that appear every few blocks. The bread is very good. A loaf will cost 30-50 kr, i.e., USD5.00-8.35. A larger loaf can last a while and this is not as big a price differential over similar offerings in the US as with other food products. In fact, even in the grocery stores, the basic, cheaper sandwich bread on offer is distinctly better than its counterpart in the US. Even the white bread is chewier, with more substance. There is some pre-sliced bread, but most is sold whole. Every grocery store has a self-service electric slicer (be careful!) that you can use to make thin, even sandwich slices. So all this points to a diet that leans on bread heavily --good quality, filling, abundant, not as overpriced as other things.

I do feel bad for anyone here who really suffers from celiac disease.

So, a cold supper of bread with some sliced cheese, maybe some ham or salami, and whatever veggies or fruit we can scare up that doesn't look too sad: This has quickly become our default dinner, and so far we've not tired of it. The kids, especially, like it.When we do feel the need for something different, it's pizza time again!

A new civic slogan: "Oslo--come for the climate, stay for the bread."

Frogner Park

We've visited this 115-acre park three times now. It is a 20-minute walk from our apartment along two shop-lined streets that run through a very affluent part of Oslo. It is the most visited park in all of Norway. Supposedly, it is so beloved by Norwegians that no one commits vandalism here and no police presence is required.

The reason it is so beloved, and also why it is the best known of Norway's parks in other countries, is because of the hundreds of bronze and marble statues by Gustav Vigeland, Norway's most famous sculptor (who designed the Nobel prize medal). He worked for decades on the sculpture garden, which could explain the differences in the styles of the statues, if some were done at earlier times than others. The city of Oslo gave him a house and studio in the park (they are now a museum); in return, Vigeland donated all of his work to the city.

Here is a view of the park from the top of the sculpture garden. (The iron gates were also designed by Vigeland.)

Here is a sampling of the massive statues that line the bridge that leads up to the fountain (the part of the park that Vigeland first conceived).

At each end of the bridge, on either side, are even larger statues that show either a man or woman in struggle with a serpent. Early in his career, Vigeland helped restore a medieval church with serpent carvings and afterwards, the serpent became an important symbol in his work.

Here is the fountain. It is undergoing renovation and so the water has been turned off.  The fountain is surrounded by a low basin lined with bas-relief sculptures of people and animals.

Past the fountain are massive steps that are lined with equally massive statues. Again, a sampling:

And now, for the crowning sculpture: the monolith. It is 46 feet high and depicts 122 bodies, of all ages, in an apparent struggle to get to the top.

What was Vigeland's vision? What does it all mean?

You tell us!

The Vikings and More: Our Visit to Bygdoy

Yesterday, we decided to travel to Bygdoy, the island to the south of Oslo that houses many of the best-known museums. (The "o" in Bygdoy should have a slash through it. The name of the island rhymes, approximately, with Big Boy.)

The trip required us to walk to the harbor (Oslo Fjord). Luck was with us. It turned out to be a lovely day (about 23 degrees C or mid-70s F) and the walk was not long. We walked past the palace and then turned right at the National Theater and then headed down a few blocks, passing the Nobel Institute on the right and the City Hall on the left. (Below is a view of the Nobel Institute; the photo was taken from the wharf.)

Then, all we had to do was wait for the ferry, which is run by Ruter, the municipal transit company. You can see the ferry arriving (to the left of Bram).

 

There was a bit of a scuffle as the boat docked. An overeager, ill-behaved child of about 8 years old pushed onto the boat before the small aluminum gangplank was fully lowered, despite cries from the woman lowering the plank of "nei, nei." The girl dashed into the cabin where the captain was. A few minutes later, she emerged, apparently having been ejected from the boat, along with her parents who had scurried on after her. I'm not sure what surprised me more: that the family was actually booted, or that it all happened without any voices being raised and no commentary from any onlookers.

We then walked aboard, swiped our bus cards across the card reader, and took seats in the stern for a good view and fresh air. Here's Bram's photo looking back at Oslo. This area of the city, Aker Brygge, was a skid row. It was recently redeveloped and is lined with hi-rise condos and has a very expensive shopping area not unlike the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

The ferry makes two stops on Bygdoy. This is when I made my first byg mistake of the day--failing to get off at the correct stop. (Read to the end of this post for the other.) I told the captain and he said "not a problem; just walk." So we did. There were no signs to direct us so we asked a couple of different people along the way, each of whom told us "only 5 minutes more and you'll be there."

 Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the Viking Ship museum. The effort was worthwhile. The museum houses three ships. We will focus here on two, the Oseberg ship and the Gokstad ship, each named for the farm on which it was discovered a bit more than 100 years ago.

Here are some photos of the Oseberg ship.

And here are closeups of the carving on the stern (or was it the bow? no matter, it is on both ends). The design is known as "gripping beast." Also a close-up of the serpent at the prow. Serpent imagery seems ubiquitous in Norway.

Now for some history.

The Oseberg ship was probably built in the early 800s A.D. and used for traveling along the coast. (The sides are not particularly high and it is highly decorated, so not intended for tough sea voyages.) In 1834 A.D., it became a tomb for a VERY IMPORTANT lady and her companion or servant, as two skeletons were discovered. Vikings apparently believed in an afterlife and thought you needed to arrive well equipped. So these two gals came with four sleighs, one wagon, 14 horses, 4 dogs, 1 ox, 5 beds (for visitors?) and probably scads of jewelry and finery that was stolen some years later.

Forensic studies suggest that one of the women was around 80 years old and suffering painfully from cancer and a syndrome that crippled her. Many believe that she was Queen Ase (this "a" should have a small circle above it), the mother of Halfdan the Black and the grandmother of Harald Fairhair. Very important indeed! The other woman was much younger and possibly from Iran. Some think she was a servant. But archeologists can tell that she cleaned her teeth with a silver toothpick and that she had a diet heavy in meat. So she may have been a companion or relative of the queen.

Here are photos of the Gokstad ship:

This ship is 24 meters long (compared to 22 meters for the other ship) and was built for traveling the high seas. It could hold up to 70 Vikings (with 32 of them doing the rowing). This boat dates from around 890 A.D. and was the tomb for a Viking chieftan. 

Some believe that the skeleton found within belonged to Halfdan the Black's half brother, Olaf-Geirstad-Alf, who was the son of Gudrod the Hunter. He was about 40 years old when he died and was not nearly as esteemed as Queen Ase, if the contents of the ship are any guide. (He was buried with a board game, among other things.) 

According to ancient lore, "At length by cruel gout oppressed/The good king Olaf sank to rest." But the script at the museum said that he was felled in battle. Apparently, when fighting, the Vikings aimed for the legs and this Viking had been struck several times in the knee and thigh; he died of his wounds. Again, according to ancient lore (and not the museum), when he died, he became an elf.

This is the ship that has inspired Viking fanatics and proud Norwegian Americans to create faithful replicas (one of them sits at the Hjemkost Center in Moorhead, MN) and to set sail in them (proving that the Vikings COULD HAVE settled in North America--and more precisely, Alexandria, MN).

Having learned as much about the Viking ships as we could absorb, we headed for the gift shop, where the kids mulled over possible souvenir purchases for many minutes, finally choosing key rings. As Doug was waiting in line to make the purchase, he heard someone ask the clerk where the helmets with horns were. The clerk patiently explained that Vikings did not wear helmets.

After a bite to eat on the patio outside the museum, we headed for the Folk Museum, a Norwegian version of Williamsburg, VA (sort of). The museum is a vast collection of buildings (farm houses, barns, sheds) from the 17th and 18th centuries that were transplanted to the museum area and situated to create little villages populated by historical re-enactors and farm animals. 

Almost all of the buildings had sod roofs. Apparently, this was quite common up to the 19th century in rural areas. A roof like this requires considerable labor but costs nothing. From 6 to 16 layers of birch bark are laid, shingle-style, on top of the roof boards. Then two layers of 3-inch sod are placed on top. The first layer is placed top side down, the second layer, top side up. This construction keeps moisture from leaking through to the living area and also provides sufficient soil and moisture-preservation that the roof can make it through a drought. It seems to be a marvelous insulator. The interior of the homes, which were small, was nice and cool.

The fiddler who provided the music for the folkdancing. When Doug asked him if his violin was a replica of an antique, he pointedly explained to Doug that a replica would be made in the exact way that the original had been made and thus that his violin was most certainly NOT a replica. We were impressed with this guy's command of English!

This re-enactor was more polite. The photo was taken inside the home of a wealthy farmer @ 1750. 

From here, we went to watch a demonstration of lefse-making. This was holiday lefse, which is almost as thick as a slice of bread and made with wheat flour and a bit of sugar. We each tried a piece hot off the griddle and spread thickly with butter. "Yummy," according to Bram.

From here, we moved on to the traditional crafts. I hesitated over whether to purchase a "rigid heddle" for 360K and finally decided against it. I don't haven't enough time to weave a scarf and even less time to weave one as they did in the Middle Ages.

We then moved on to the building that shows home furnishing as it changed through the last 150 years.  When we got to the 1965 home, I turned to the kids and said "this was my home." I should have said "this was my mother's dream home." Danish modern furniture in every room. Bram's verdict: "Cool!"

To complete the time-travel back to the 1960s, the kids took a spin on the "merry-go-round" outside, the kind that can no longer be found on kids' playgrounds (presumably because someone realized that they can be very dangerous) but were a common amusement back in the day. A couple of tow-headed kids joined in and I spun and spun the thing to make it go as fast as possible.You can see Bram here struggling to stay on. Afterwards, Addie said it was making her dizzy and sick to her stomach. That's my childhood memory as well. 

We then stopped to look at the farm animals. Petting is allowed but there is a posted warning not to accidentally touch the electrical wire running around the pen. I began scratching the rump of one little pig, the way I remembered Wilbur from Charlotte's Web liking to be scratched. All of a sudden, the pig let out a loud squeal and dashed away from me. At that same moment, I felt a sharp buzz zip through my body. A split second later, I realized that my arm had touched the wire, and the shock had  run right through my arm  to that poor little pig. It stared at me, aghast, from across the pen, which hurt me more than the burn on my arm.

Anxious to leave now, we walked away. Suddenly, the horse (seen in an earlier photo) came galloping straight at me. He veered away at the last minute to avoid running into us. Message received! The animals wanted me out of there. We headed for the exit, pronto.

On the walk back to the ferry landing, we marveled at the homes of those who actually live on Bygdoy.  These are the most palatial homes we've seen since we arrived here. Here's a photo of how the other half lives in Norway.

Visit to Bergen

On the advice of a number of people, including the Fulbright staff in Norway, we booked ourselves on a "Norway in a Nutshell" tour to Bergen.

The trip began with a 5+ hour train ride from Oslo to Myrdal. The train was fully modern and very comfortable.

Among the sights was the Hardangerjokul glacier. Here's a photo. Not what we expected a glacier to look like. Could this be indicative of global warming? 

Next, we traveled on the historic Flam railway, starting at Myrdal (altitude 866 meters) and descending down the mountains to Flam (readers of the Samuel Blink novels, take note!), which has an altitude of 2 meters.

The train stopped at one of the many majestic waterfalls, so that everyone could pile off the train and snap photos. Look closely and you can see a "huldre" to the right of the waterfall.  She appeared magically just as the train stopped and tried to tempt a foolish tourist or two into her lair.(In Norwegian folklore, the huldre is a tantalizing seductress who appears suddenly out of the rain and mist to lure men into the forest. She has a long tail like a cow's, which she keeps hidden in her skirt, to disguise herself and fool the (obviously not very bright) men. Once ensnared, the men are forced into a hard bargain--never see the light of day again or marriage to a woman who will lose all her charm and grow old and ugly. Sadly, this misogynistic myth seems to have been taken a bit too seriously by some Norwegian men, including Edvard Munch. More on that another time....)

In Flam (the gateway to the fjords), we climbed aboard a boat and cruised the Sognefjord ("King of the fjords") and then the Naeroyfjord ("Narrow fjord"). By this time, Addie and Bram were notably less cheery. The weather had turned quite cool ("the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed...") and the boat was awash in tourists, some more tolerable than others. We holed up inside, in the dining section, and some of us wished that wine, or something stronger, was available for purchase. We did venture up on deck every so often, for a bracing view. The landscape was recently added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, with justice. 

Here are a few photos:

After the two-hour cruise, we hopped a bus that took us from Gudvangen to Voss by way of the steepest, windiest road in Norway. This used to be the only road access between Bergen and Oslo and was notoriously deadly. It is now a one-way road only, closed 7 months of the year and open only to tourist buses during the other 5. I still would've been happy to find a different route to Voss. Many many waterfalls espied on the road down.

From Voss, we climbed aboard another modern train, for a 75-minute ride to Bergen.

I can't remember if we saw this building on that particular train ride or during another part of the journey. But in any case, we saw quite a few buildings such as this one with "living" roofs. 

Bergen at last! This is taken from our hotel window at 9:30 at night. Yes, it does stay light quite late here!

The next day, we started out with breakfast (gratis) at the hotel. Typical European breakfast buffet. Coffee here is quite good--very hot and strong, but not bitter, like so much "strong" coffee in the States. (Yes, Dunn's and Starbuck's; I'm talking about you.) Some of you know of my love of (or weakness) for coffee. I had four cups at breakfast and was then ready to sight-see.

Bergen, for those who haven't been there, is picturesque without being quaint. The best adjective for it is "lovely." Here's the large, central park and lake that is pretty much in the center of the city.

As you can see from this, we did not have any sunshine the day we were there. In fact, we had a fairly constant drizzle. When it wasn't misting or raining, there was a thick fog hanging above the city. (See below.) This prevented us from taking the ride on the funnicular for a bird's eye view of the city (but saved us from spending the approximately 150 USD the 7-minute ride would have cost the 5 of us).

After a walk through the park and the city's upscale shopping area, we headed for the wharf and the fish market. Here is where the foodies in our group moved into high gear. I hung back and, at times, contemplated placing an emergency call to P.E.T.A. 

Do you prefer salmon? Or whale? (The black stuff)

Or perhaps monkfish (the thing that looks scarily like the head of a giant, drowned cat.)

The foodies asked lots of questions, resulting in many offers of free samples. The kids tried both reindeer and whale sausage before they realized what they had done. (They said of both that they were "good.")

There was also a stall selling pelts of all varieties, including rabbit, fox and seal. The stall merchant ordered me to stop taking photos (who knew that Norwegians could be rude and paranoid?) but then seemed to think better of it and told me that I could only take photos if I stood OUTSIDE the stall. 

Rain drove us inside after this. Here's an overview shot of the market:

In the afternoon, on the walk back to the train station, we came upon the Leprosy Museum. Did we go in? You bet!  

We learned that Bergen was THE go-to city in Europe for leprosy patients in the 18th and 19th centuries. And that a Norwegian doctor there--Armauer Hansen--was the first person to realize that this horrid, debilitating disease was caused by a bacterium. (Unfortunately, in his struggle to find definitive proof of his theory, he neglected to obtain patient consent when he injected a woman in the eye with fluid obtained from another patient. Somewhat amazingly, given that this was the late 19th century and the victim was a poor leper, the woman sued. And even more amazingly, the court ruled in her favor, and Hansen was fired from the hospital.)

The exhibit and accompanying text doesn't sugarcoat anything; it should not be visited for those who are not strong of heart AND stomach.

From there, we headed back to the train station for a long wait for the next train. Addie and Bram passed the time thusly. If they don't graduate, they will at least be able to join the circus.

The train finally arrived and 6 1/2 hours later (11:00 pm), we rolled into Oslo Sentral Stasjon. The sun had just set. We were glad to be "home."