There’s a challenge to visiting a place whose populace has made a career of leaving home.
Stockholm’s a cultural center. Copenhagen’s a party town. But Oslo? It’s the capital of a nation best known for what its people have done someplace else. Edvard Munch painted “The Scream” in Berlin. Thor Heyerdahl sailed Kon-Tiki through the South Pacific. Sonia Henie skated to gold-medal victories in Switzerland, New York and Germany before becoming an actress in Hollywood. The Vikings went Everywhere Else.
No wonder Oslo’s tricky to anticipate.
This city of half a million–they’re the ones who stayed home long enough to be counted–is a year-round port situated at the end of a wide fiord . . . overseen by a 197-foot-high ski jump. Its biggest art museum is outdoors in an 80-acre sculpture park . . . while its most famous ships are displayed indoors on dry land. The king lives in a palace cradled by flower-strewn woods in the middle of town. There’s a big stone fortress that displays instruments of torture in one building and holds church services in another. And part of the main strolling boulevard is barred to cars . . . so pedestrians need only avoid teenagers pushing aluminum scooters.
For a city that stays up all night in summer, Oslo is clean and quiet. Even the dockside rock concert and fireworks show on Midsummer Night are tame. And there’s enough variety of restaurants that you don’t have to eat fish three meals a day unless you want to.
This could very well be the most American of European cities. Where else are you going to find a Big Horn Steak House right across the street from a Mamma Leone’s, both of which are near a store advertising Wrangler jeans (“Texas” and “Ohio”) for $55. Then again, those places are only a block from Domkirke, or Oslo Cathedral, whose pulpit, altar and organ have been there since 1697.
If you’re smart or on a budget, you’ll take the high-speed train from the airport and hit town two blocks from Domkirke at Oslo Sentral Stasjon, which is how they spell central train station in Norway. If you’re rich or retired, you’ll arrive by one of the many cruise ships that dock most often right beneath the imposing stone walls of Akershus, a fort-and-castle even older than Domkirke.
Akershus is the sturdy kind of fort you dreamed of as a child: big, broad ramparts that contain a castle, a church and other structures that today house several museums. You could easily spend an entire day prowling its chambers and courtyards.
In fact, Norway’s Resistance Museum stands on the fortress grounds, in tribute to those Norwegians who suffered in Nazi prison camps. With exhibits such as leg screws, flails, prison-camp uniforms and even a set of dentures used as a radio receiver, it presents a sobering chronicle of World War II.
But that war is recent history compared to what this castle has witnessed in its 700 years. Why, just one of its rooms, Margrethe Hall (named in 1363 for the Danish queen of King Hakon VI), has served as ladies’ apartments, a granary, a reception room and an armory–when it wasn’t engulfed in the kind of fires that beset many buildings in the old days. The walls of this room are so thick that the window sills are fitted with sky-blue seat cushions, and from that vantage point you can see the harbors (Oslo has more than one) and a good part of town.
Across the harbor from Akershus is Aker Brygge, an up-and-coming shopping and dining district along the lines of Chicago’s Navy Pier.
That somber, red-brick hulk facing the waterfront is the Radhuset, or City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. Facing City Hall are the piers where fishermen sell the day’s catch, and you can take the 10-minute ferry to the Bygdoy Peninsula and the boat museums.
Norwegians have had the sea in their blood for more than 2,000 years. According to the Viking Ship Museum, Norse ship building dates to the 4th Century B.C.; and the museum displays a tapestry of ship builders helping William the Conqueror prepare to invade England in 1066. The Viking Age lasted 800-1050 A.D., when those famous Norwegians left home in vessels like the three in the Viking Ship Museum.
These boats, graceful as swans, were all excavated from blue-clay burial mounds in the Oslofjord area. No one knows when they were plundered of their gold and silver, but what the grave-robbers left behind was treasure enough.
Funeral ships
The 72-foot-long Oseberg ship, the most elegant and best-preserved of the three, was built as a pleasure boat, probably between 815 and 820 A.D. It was a Viking custom to bury their dead in ships, once the ships had outlasted their usefulness. When the Oseberg ship was excavated in 1904, it was determined that it had held the remains of a woman of high rank, possibly even royalty, and another woman who perhaps was her attendant.
The 79-foot-long Gokstad ship, the largest and most seaworthy of the three, was built about 890 A.D. It had room for 32 oarsmen; and when it was unearthed in 1880, its railings were fitted with the remains of 64 shields. They say it would have hoisted a woolen sail that spread 1,180 square feet. But in due time it also saw service as a burial ship, apparently for a Viking chieftain, whose wooden burial chamber is displayed in another wing of the museum.
There’s not so much left of the Tune ship, built about 900 A.D. and excavated in 1867. Only its skeletal-looking bottom is left. But several small boats, found with the Gokstad ship and broken to pieces probably as part of a funeral ceremony, keep it company.
A separate wing of this small museum houses the wondrous grave gifts found in the boats: combs, leather shoes, textiles, wooden buckets, elaborately carved sleds, an iron caldron riveted together in strips, peacock feathers and even bridles and harnesses, because horses (and dogs, too, for that matter) also were buried as grave gifts.
Ever more museums
Also on the Bygdoy Peninsula are the Kon-Tiki Museum, which houses the wooden raft that Thor Heyerdahl sailed from Peru to the Polynesian island of Raroia in 1947 to argue his theory of westward migration. The Fram Museum holds the Fram, the ship built in 1892 and used on polar expeditions, most famously by explorer Roald Amundsen.
The Norwegian Folk Museum is also on the Bygdoy Peninsula. It’s a mostly open-air museum that has collected more than 150 historic buildings from throughout Norway, from grass-roofed cottages to a stave church, that show how Norwegians have lived since the Middle Ages. The indoor portion of the museum displays the range of Norwegian decorative arts.
The ferry that brought you to the peninsula will return you to the piers in front of City Hall, which is not a bad place to launch an exploration of the rest of town.
A foray into Vigeland Sculpture Park is like entering a three-dimensional “Where’s Waldo?” You never know what you’ll notice next. You’re looking for the Obelisk, a 57-foot-tall, pagan-feeling monolith of 121 granite bodies–men’s, women’s and children’s–swirling skyward. You’ll come to it eventually, the design of the surrounding park makes that inevitable. But there are ponds, fountains, rose gardens and many intriguing statues (more than 150, in fact) along the way.
This “permanent” population of Oslo was created by sculptor Gustav Vigeland over a 30-year period. Among its most famous residents are “The Little Hot-Head,” a bronze baby boy caught in mid-tantrum that Oslo has adopted as city mascot. Another popular bronze has a male figure juggling four infants. But the park’s centerpiece is the Obelisk and the group of granite people that grapple, in plump Clydesdale proportions, around its base.
Adjacent to Vigeland Park is the indoor Vigeland Museum, where you can see how the sculptor developed his ideas for the figures in the park, some of them–“Hot-Head,” for one–from rough sketch to finished piece. The museum was once Vigeland’s home and studio, a gift from the City of Oslo, the better to do his work.
No wonder the painter Edvard Munch was outraged, or so the gossips would have it. Munch’s response, say the wags, was to donate all of his own works in his possession to the City of Oslo. That was in 1940. The city didn’t build him a museum until 1963 (World War II had a way of putting a kink in these kinds of projects).
Two versions of “The Scream” (Munch painted more than one) are displayed at the Munch Museum, along with canvases that depict ordinary human experiences–farmers and lumberjacks at work, for instance–and a series of life-size full-figure portraits, hung so that their faces are eye level with the viewer. The Munch Museum also exhibits some of the artist’s letters and personal effects. Another version of “The Scream” and several other Munch paintings hang in the National Gallery.
Just strolling
Like other European cities, Oslo is best discovered on foot; and the most enduring memories are made of unexpected discoveries and chance encounters: the Roman-style “triumphal arch” that leads to nothing at all, found on a lane north of Karl Johans Gate; a group of men in shirtsleeves playing a form of lawn bowling in a park just east of Akershus; waiters and street cleaners from Sweden working here, they say, because the pay is better than at home.
Not too many Americans come to Oslo–only about 250,000 a year, not counting the cruise-ship crowd. That’s too bad, and not just because English is practically a second language in this city. It’s also because there’s not another place on Earth where you can see a real Viking ship in the morning, see “The Scream” more than once in the afternoon and have your choice of ribeye steak or lasagna for dinner. Even wandering Norwegians ought to come home for that.
IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE
Oslo Airport is at Gardermoen, about 30 miles north of Oslo. The airport is served by many major international carriers, but none provide non-stop service from Chicago. You’ll likely get the best connections on British Airways, SAS or KLM. Unless the sale fares that were offered in late April and the first week in May are extended, you should expect the lowest fares on those airlines to run $650-$775. Seats and travel dates may be limited.
EXCHANGE RATE
May 7, $1 U.S.=9.05 Norwegian kroners; 1 kroner=$.11
THE OSLO CARD
This is a pass that grants you admission to almost every museum and onto most forms of public transportation. One-day family pass (two adults and two children) $45; one-day pass $21 adults, $8 children; two-day pass $34 adults, $10 children; three-day pass $45 adults, $13 children.
GETTING AROUND
Many of the sights in Oslo are within walking distance of one another. But you will need a form of transportation other than foot power to get you to the following attractions:
Viking Ship Museum: The ferry to Bygdoy Peninsula leaves from the piers in front of City Hall. Cost of ferry is included in the Oslo Card. Also on the Bygdoy Peninsula are the Kon-Tiki Museum, The Fram Museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum. A privately owned tram runs the circuit among these museums for about $4.
Vigeland Park: Take the tram (electric bus) between central Oslo and Vigeland Park. Cost of this tram is included in the Oslo Card. Or, take a cab between Vigeland Park and the royal palace (Slottet) for about $10.
Holmenkollen ski jump: Take the T-bane (subway/rail system) between central Oslo and Holmenkollen. A cab ride between Vigeland Park and Holmenkollen costs about $15.
IF TIME IS SHORT
See these first: Vigeland Sculpture Park, Viking Ship Museum.
See these second: Akershus Castle and Fortress, Munch Museum, Norway’s Resistance Museum.
If Oslo is your only stop in Norway: visit the Norwegian Folk Museum; otherwise, some of the things you’ll see here–sod-roof cottages, stave churches, folk arts–you may see elsewhere in Norway.
Nice but optional: Holmenkollen, for the view. The ski jump is on a mountain that’s 1,368 feet above the fiord. You can see all of Oslo, much of its fiord and a vast pine forest from up here.
Don’t feel bad if you miss: the interior of City Hall and the room where they award the Nobel Peace Prize.
LODGING
Clarion Royal Christiania: a business-class hotel that feels like an Embassy Suites, with modern rooms and central atrium. Good location, near the central train station, Domkirke and lots of shopping. Its small health club and swimming pool are the perfect antidote to trans-Atlantic flights. Rates start at $210/night.
Holmenkollen Park Hotel Rica: an atmospheric hotel built in “dragonstyle”–parts of it are more than 100 years old–atop the same hill as the ski jump; spectacular views. Rates start at $180/night.
Tulip Inn Rainbow Hotell Munch: a clean, tourist-class hotel near the royal palace. Rates in the budget range at $80-$108/night.
A travel agent may be able to book these hotels at discounted rates. Other lodging options include youth hotels, guest houses and farm stays.
DINING
Gamle Raadhus: Old World atmosphere and rich decor define this upscale restaurant housed in the former city hall, which dates from the mid-17th Century. Near Akershus at Neddre Slottsgate 1. A meal for two–vegetable lasagna with polenta, fried pike with blood pudding and mashed potatoes, the house burgundy, dessert and coffee–totaled $85. Reservations a must: in Oslo, phone 22-42-01-07 (from the United States, add 011-47 prefix).
The Great India: Just to prove Oslo has an international dining scene. Across from the National Gallery. A meal for two–spinach soup, vegetable stew, tandoori chicken, rattan biryani, beer for one person, tea for the other–came to $60.
Stortovet Gjestgiveri: Just to prove all meals in Oslo don’t have to be expensive. At the corner of Mollergata and Grensen. A meal for one of salmon salad and a glass of wine totaled $14.
Holmenkollen Kafe: Lunch with a bird’s-eye view of Oslo. At the base of the ski jump. Serving is cafeteria style. A meal for two added up to $41.
GOING POSTAL
At various points of interest such as the Norwegian Resistance Museum and Akershus Castle and Fortress, you can mail postcards that will bear the cancellation mark of that particular attraction.
THE WEATHER
Pack a raincoat and a sweater. Average highs/lows (degrees Fahrenheit) for Oslo are 69/51 in June, 73/56 in July and 69/53 in August. Though Oslo is less rainy than Bergen, Norway’s second-largest city, there’s a reason the countryside is so green. Average rainfall per month in days/inches are 8 days/2.4 inches in June, 10 days/2.9 inches in July and 11 days/3.9 inches in August.
INFORMATIION
Norwegian Tourist Board: 212-885-9700; or at www.visitnorway.com.
–T.S.
Celebrating Midsummer Night by boat, bonfire
OSLO–Stine Jordet should be in Minnesota by now, studying art and psychology as a university exchange student. But last Midsummer Night, her job was to explain Norwegian customs and folk tales surrounding the holiday, at a once-a-year sightseeing cruise of Oslofjord.
At 9 p.m., we sailed away in a spurt of diesel fumes from the piers in front of Oslo’s City Hall. They were setting up for a concert on the plaza there, and we’d be back in time to catch a few numbers before a brief fireworks display at midnight. But for the next two hours, we’d belong to this boat, these waters and whatever Jordet chose to tell us.
Midsummer Night is the eve of the summer solstice, the longest period of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere. It was once a pagan celebration; as Norway became Christianized, the event came to be associated with St. John the Baptist. But to this day, many Norwegian families mark the holiday as they have for hundreds of years: with bonfires, and never on any night other than June 23.
In truth, without a map in hand, it was a bit hard to follow Jordet’s monologue about what was what on each peninsula and island that we passed: here were the ruins of a monks’ outpost; there a row of reproduction cannons skirting a ridge. We passed parks and beaches and private docks where people fresh from their swim were just drying off, towels snapping in the wind.
And in truth, this fiord sightseeing cruise took the same route it does every day; even its price was the same: $18.
But this one night a year is special. Here and there, in fewer numbers than we had hoped, bonfires began to catch fire along the shore. The wind carried the scent of them our way.
Jordet said that the bonfires were a way for the ancient peoples to exercise some power over the natural world. The way she explained it, they lit the bonfires in order to “give the sun enough energy to turn around,” lest it stray too far off course.
These days, not everyone builds a bonfire, of course. Some families, like that of a potter who demonstrates her craft at the Norwegian Folk Museum, prefer a simple dinner at home. And the weather last Midsummer’s Night wasn’t conducive to fire-building; it rained throughout the day, letting up only about 7 p.m. The fires we did see ranged in size from something as small as a wastebasket to something as large as a single-car garage, and some were built so near to shore that we could hear the crackle and feel the heat of them as we eased through narrow channels.
By 10 p.m., we had passed a row of cottage-like boathouses used, said Jordet, to hide liquor during prohibition. We cruised the edge of a bay filled with party boats. Later, we came near a lighthouse that’s a popular wedding spot. At 10:30, we saw some kids jumping on a trampoline–because at 10:30 on Midsummer Night in Oslo, it’s still light enough to do that.
And along the way, Jordet told us the old tales that her grandmother Signe Harstad from Malselv had once told her: how the shape of a cross branded into a broomstick would keep a witch from flying it up the chimney, how “fastening” an object by steel or by fire would keep the trolls from stealing it, how pouring beer on the trees would ensure a good harvest.
It was a good night for listening to magic spells. And maybe they, as much as the look of the city itself, made Oslo, backed by its mountains, seem solid, strong and reliable as it came back into view.
–Toni Stroud
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Toni Stroud’s e-mail address is tstroud@tribune.com.
