A Short Norweign Saga day four 2nd February

Home today but not before visiting the Cathedral, lunch and the Grand Opera Tour.
The Cathedral is just a short walk from our hotel so we booked out and trundled the cases off to the church. This cathedral was the third to be built in Oslo and was opened in 1697. It is of Dutch cruciform style. The original interior fittings are baroque, see the pulpit, organ and royal box. The altar is a splendid affair complete with a 3D relief sculpture of the Last Supper which features a whole roast pig in the middle of the table. The painted ceiling was done quite recently between 1938 and 1950. Although the traditional egg tempura paint will stand the test of time the foundation layer is failing, so restoration is under way.

The stained glass windows are also early 20th century. You remember Gustav Vigeland? Well his brother Emanuel was responsible for these. Mr and Mrs Vigeland must have been very proud. Although Protestant, the place is sort of liberal and democratic in a Norweign kind of way. There are regular Catholic services and everyone is made welcome to do more or less as they please. If you just want a bit of quiet time or light a candle for peace, then this is your place. 

We went off to the station to deposit the cases and buy our tickets before the 24 hour delayed Opera House tour. Apart from another external of the House, there will be no more pictures as photography is not allowed past the foyer. 

Now we have done the tours of the Sydney Opera House and the Vienna State Opera but this was entirely different. It was more of in depth insight into how an opera/ballet factory works. The planning, design, construction process starts at least 3 years before the show opens. In home productions everything is made from scratch. The costumes start as white material which is dyed and printed then made up with wide hems for easy adjustment. This means everything can be reproduced and repaired. The procedure applies to everything, scenery, props, shoes, hats, wigs, prosthetic make up, the list seems endless. The complex has 1,100 rooms to give some idea of the scale of the place. There's also rehearsal rooms, dance studios, medical areas, fitness suites, changing rooms, music rooms. Then there is an administration centre, archiving department, financial centre, advertising and marketing, front of house, catering and all that before you consider the technical side. Lights, sound, acoustic balance, on stage logistics, electricians, computer control, the list goes on and on. Our tour guide was a semi-retired ballet dancer and our party consisted of three people. It was a real eye-opener and a great insight into the world of ballet and opera.

To conclude, here is a country to live in when you have won the lottery but do visit, it will make you wonder why you live in the UK (if indeed you do).

A Short Norweign Saga day three 1st Feb

Today we are planning to go first to the Fram Museum then we have a tour booked around the Opera House. After that we plan to visit the Vigeland Park to see the sculptures and carvings by the eponymous Gustav Vigeland. Then we might try the much recommended Tandoori Restaurant for dinner.

So it's off on the 12 tram followed by 30 bus to the Bygdoy penninsular where the Fram Polarship Museum is situated. The Fram was dragged out of the water just here in 1935 and the museum built round it. Fam which means forward has near heroic fame in this country. It was designed by an Englishman Colin Archer, the strongest ship in the world at the time. The egg shaped hull means it was pushed up by the ice, rather than crushed by it. First captained Nansen (explorer and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work internationally with refugees) then by the remarkable Amundsen (nearly north pole and definitely south pole explorer and scientist). He did properly what Scott got so wrong.

An original kayak with polar (north) bear and seal. 

Stranger in the hall of fame with the Fram Museum behind. As we were leaving we just missed a bus, so had a 10 mins wait for the next. This we also managed to miss as we rushed out of the coffee shop. We were now looking very likely to be late for our 1.00pm tour at the Opera House. We were. They were very kind, but couldn't locate the tour party, so no tour for us. They offered us free tickets for the evening concert, sitting with the orchestra (worth NOK 350) as compensation. As you can see the Opera House is a stunning piece of architecture like a huge ice flow going into the Fiord. Voted European Building of the year in 2008 and 2009.The external cladding is Carrera marble with stainless steel and glass. We were very impressed, look at the pictures and see what you think yourself. 

This is a 360 degree panorama, so enlarge it to get the full effect. 

Floating on the Fiord in front of the Opera House is Monica Bonvicini's 3 dimensional interpretation of Caspar Friedrich's 1824 painting Das Eismeer ( The Sea of Ice). As the tides rush in and out the steel and glass sculpture spins and twists giving a constantly changing perspective on the work. 

Talking of sculpture, it's on now to the Vigeland Park and see what Gustav has to offer us. Born in 1869, as a teenager he was deeply interested in Protestantism, spiritualality, woodcarving and drawing. He trained under Bergslien and later in Paris where he was influenced by Rodin. In 1921 his talent was recognised by the City of Oslo who built him a spacious studio and he created the park artworks down to every detail like the lights, fencing, gates etc.The crowning glory is the 14 metre high Monolith, a writhing mass of 121 human figures struggling to get to the top. It took 3 carvers 14 years to complete from a single piece of Norweign marble. Is it phallic? Or the struggle for existence? Or yearning for spiritual reward? It's certainly fun and thought provoking. Also look at the vast numbers of figures each telling a different story you can try to work out. The much photographed bad tempered child is the crowd's favourite. 

Juggling with the life/work balance?

Male love?

Female love?

Baby love?

Some detail from the above group is shown below. 

We left the park at 4.30 and boarded the bus for home. We were aware that the Oslo passes expired at 4.10 but as we hadn't seen a ticket inspector all trip we thought we would risk it. There were no less than 6 inspectors on the bus we boarded! However we played innocent and they were very helpful (No "Blakey's here!) even directing us to the correct bus. There was no charge, financial or legal. Back at the station Helen encountered some of the street wide life. 

Back to the hotel to change for dinner at the much heralded Tandoori Restaurant. This was in Grunland, an area which is very ethnically diverse. The restaurant looked more like a closing take away. Although they said that they were still open, having all the chairs stacked onto the tables was not the ambience we were after so we left.As we weren't far from the Vietnamese Restaurant we enjoyed on Friday, we returned to have another excellent meal.
Meanwhile I have checked the timings for tomorrow and reckon we can do Opera House tour revisited, if they will have us.