Oslo Day 8 - Starring a Weird Version of Hamlet, some Bums, a Sauna, and Museumapalooza

 

Reasons #1 and  #2 for our visit to Oslo: Zoe and Waffles. 

Being a student here, Zoe was able to get us two free tickets to student night at a reimagined theatrical performance of Hamlet currently playing at the Opera House here in Oslo. And when I say performance I mean the love child of that weird interpretive dance you saw when you were 11 and had no idea what was going on, and a London Pantomime version featuring odd characters who definitely weren't in the original like Elizabeth I, Mel Gibson, and Sigmund Freud. I think you may be better off seeing this production if you come into it having no idea what Hamlet is about. Still, it's good to see new inventive versions of old classics, right? 

It was certainly cool to see the inside of the Opera House theatre.

The day following our opera experience was a rare sunny day. In the morning we made it to the Bum Sculpture Park, as I like to call it. It’s actually known here as the Vigeland Sculpture park but, basically everywhere you look there’s a bum, or maybe three, staring back at you. Sure, there are bodies as well, but it’s mostly bums. I mean just look at this spire of bums. This must be the worldwide pinnacle of bum sculptures. The artist, Vigeland, was a renowned and prolific sculptor and his work is impressive. Better like bums, though. Just saying.

In the afternoon I had a floating sauna booked for our group downtown across from the opera house in the fjord. Such a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, alternating between the very hot sauna and the freezing cold fjord, which was sitting at 10 degrees. Jacob and Jenna were meant to join us but managed to sleep in until 2pm (Jet Lag was over at their place), and then got lost, so their experience was slightly shorter than ours, but everyone managed a few jumps off the roof of the sauna.

So much easier when you have this to warm up in after the ice bath.

Have I mentioned how cozy it is here? We asked a server here how she manages in the long dark days of winter. Her response was that the Norwegians try to make their indoor spaces as nice as possible so that it is enjoyable to spend time indoors. Such a good philosophy, and it works too.

I think this means the water is shallow, and so no swan dives. It could also mean don’t hurl yourself at the water head first. The Norwegians are big on pointing out hazards, and then telling you you’re on your own with managing the situation. Far less heavy-handed than Canada. it’s basically up to you here if you want to be an idiot. And most people here are so sensible they are unlikely to do anything dumb anyway. Why would you? life is good here.

I’m not sure what this is but I like it – a knitted poncho for your bike? Art? Highly impractical but still appealing.

On our last full day we tried to cram in a few of the sights we hadn’t seen yet, which included a bus trip out to the Bygdoy Peninsula just across the fjord from downtown Oslo. Usually, you can take a ferry there but they only run May to October on account of the ice that forms in the fjord. This part of town houses four or five museums, including the Viking museum which is currently closed for refurbishment, the Kon-Tiki museum where you can see the original Kon-Tiki raft that Thor Heyerdahl or Thorvald Thorvaldson, or Hank Hankersson or whoever it was sailed across the Atlantic or Pacific or both in 1971. No, I didn’t go to that museum but I’m sure it’s worth a trip.

We did, however, go to the Maritime Museum, which was quite maritimey, and had a fantastic gift shop, and a lot of other stuff about boats which (full disclosure)  I may or may not have glossed over.

Me and Roald Amundsson. You know – he wrote James and the Giant Peach just before being the first person to make it to the South Pole, or something like that. I will admit I did lose track of the myriad explorers this country has produced and all their various accomplishments. They’ve probably already been to Mars, they’re just being typically Norwegian and not talking about it to anyone just yet.

The real star of the show, however, was the Fram museum on Polar Exploration. If you’re going to go to a museum here in Oslo, go to this one. Sometime in the 30s or 40s, the vessel was hauled out of the water and a giant A-frame building built around it, preserving it and making it available for the public to explore. There was an overload of information on all the various expeditions such as Shackleton, and Scott, and all the ‘ssons’ who did or didn’t make it, which was well presented, but the museum itself is well worth a visit.

We spent the evening shopping, where I found this oddity.

Well, something is certainly fucked up here, I'll agree with that. Who made this decision? I'd like to speak to them:

Me: Oh hey, I'm just wondering what you were thinking when you named this protein powder...?

Company: We weren't thinking, we were drunk.

Me: Oh I see that makes sense, thanks.

Company: You're welcome. Have a nice day.

Everyone was hoping for another round of bowling, but there was a two-hour waitlist so we had to settle for mini-golf, which was super fun, even if I did tie for last place...

On our way home, we passed this fantastic piece of public art. 

On the front was a tiny slit that you could peek through. Inside was a tiny little figure. Somehow, I was able to get a photo of it.

It's probably meant to represent the deep isolation and loneliness that tiny figures stuck in pieces of public art must feel...

Before I go, I'll just leave this here: it's the menu for the Seniors Centre. As we left the apartment for the last time, a dance class was taking place. They all looked very happy - they were probably looking forward to their kyllingfilet m/bernaisesaus, salad, og stekt slottspotet.

That's a wrap for Norway. Next stop: Madeira. Ma-where-ah? It's a Portuguese island about 500kms west of the coast of Morocco. Hope you'll stick around for more posts.