Diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 7 OSLO, Norway - The CITY HALL

The next stop.... The CITY HALL of OSLO.

The City Hall of Oslo was inaugurated in 1950, when the city celebrated its 900th anniversary. The modern twin-towered building was decorated with themes of norwegian history and culture. It is also the place where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every December 10th.

The interior of Oslo"s City Hall has over 20,000 square feet of colorful murals and is called " Administration and Festivity".  These murals were created by Henrik Sorensen. He included many images from World War II.

The room where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.

The interiors of the City Hall.

                              

The view of the courtroom inside the City Hall.

After the tour of the City Hall we went back to our hotel to get ready to depart for an early morning train departure for Stockholm.

It was a tiring day... lots of walking but it was worth it....... looking forward to our next leg.... STOCKHOLM. Goodnight all!!!!

Diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 6 OSLO, Norway - The Viking Ship Museum

We had lunch at Brasserie 45 ..

then we went for a 2 hour break at the City Center to do a little shopping and souvenir hunting. The main department store in Oslo is GLASMAGASINET. H & M ( a new retail store for men and women ) had their main store at the center too. Norway doesn't accept EUROS and DOLLARS ( cash ) they would rather accept your credit cards or their currency, which is NORWEGIAN KRONER. For a traveler like me who really can't stay long in a place--- I had to make sure that I get to change enough KRONER ( since COPENHAGEN has DANISH KRONER and NORWAY has NORWEGIAN KRONER).... The stores and souvenir shops do not accept Danish Kroner.

The National Theater ....

                             

next stop..... The Viking Ship Museum.

The Viking Ship Museum  has put on display the best preserved Viking Ships ever found. These ships were found in three royal burial mounds by the Oslo Fjord. They were buried more than 1100 years ago to carry their royal owners to " the other side ".

The museum also has on display the unique finds from the graves; such as small boats. sledges. textiles, kitchen utensils and the only carriage from the Viking Age ever to be found.

After the Viking Ship Museum... we proceeded to our last stop  ...The CITY HALL.

Diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 5 OSLO, Norway - The Vigeland Sculpture Park

The next stop Vigeland Sculpture Park- one of the tourist destinations of OSLO.

This park covers almost 80 acres and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. The Vigeland Sculpture Park is divided into sections like: the main gate, the bridge, the fountain, the monolith plateau and the eternal wheel of life. As it was rather a sunny day, there were lots of people and tourists on the grounds therefore we had to stick close together so we won't get lost. I took photos of my favorite sculptures.

                                 

                                              

                                            

It was quite a long walk but I didn't feel tired at all... there were lots of nice sculptures and I couldn't decide which one i would choose. We walked to the bridge and here I saw at least 50 sculptures. All these sculptures were clad in bronze and contribute to the " human condition " theme of the park. Also on this bridge was one famous sculptures of Vigeland, The Angry Boy. Unfortunately, this sculpture was against the sun and I tried taking it on all angles but it didn't come out well. In case you get to visit this park, don't forget to go and see " The Angry Boy ".

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Further down... we reached the fountain.

                           

                            

Originally this fountain was designed to stand infront of the Parliament. It was fabricated in bronze and adorned with 60 reliefs portraying children and skeletons in the arms of trees. On the ground is black and white granite in mosaic tiles.

We went deeper into the park and up 4 flights of stairs ( according to our tour guide each flight had 29 steps ) and at the top... we were all awed by the magnificent sculpture of the Monolith. This was the highest point of the park and it is also considered the most popular attraction in the park. Did you know that the design of this monolith took Vigeland only 10 months ?? and this sculpture is 46 feet high and is composed of 121 sculptures rising towards the sky.

                                                    

The sundial was made in 1930.

                                                  

The last attraction to the park was the Wheel of Life which was created between 1933-1934. The wheel looks more like a wreath showing 4 people and a baby floating in harmony.

                            

After all that walking we had lunch and after we proceeded to our next stop... The Viking Museum.

Diary of an adventure to Eastern Europe.. Part 4 OSLO, Norway - The Opera House

I woke up really early to try to catch the sunrise.... as I reached the deck .. it was very chilly.. the temperature had dropped to 10 degrees and with the wind factor aboard the ship... that was really cold for me but still I positioned myself towards the sunrise. There was a slight drizzle but it didn't stop me.

The trip from Copenhagen to Oslo took 9 hours. We arrived at the harbor past 9 am. We were met by our Norwegian tour guide and she took us on a city tour around Oslo. Our first stop was the Oslo Opera House.

The Opera House is located on the Bjorvika Peninsula overlooking Oslo Fjord. The government wanted the Opera House to be a landmark for Norway as a cultural nation, highlighting the Norwegian Opera and Ballet, and also the foundation for the urban redevelopement of the area. the design was created by Snohetta who won the international competition in 2000. Approaching the Oslo Opera house on an overcast day, you may imagine that the building is an enormous glacier sliding into the fjord.

View from the top of the roof of the Opera House.

White granite combines with Italian marble to create the illusion of glistening ice.

The sloping roof angles down to the water like a jagged chunk of ice.

The marble clad roofscape forms a large public space in the landscape of the city and the fjord.