I woke up today and tried to decide what to do. But even though I did some planning things didn't really go my way today....!
Started off by going to the town hall. Had a look at some interesting murals outside, only to ybe told I couldn't do a guided tour today because the German president was visiting. Ok whatever. Went to tourist information to book a royal palace tour "oh no they only run from 21 June". No worries. Go to the Oslo Cathedral. Sign outside reads "Freidag 16.30-22.30". Argh!!!! Wasn't having much luck. My guidebook didn't say any of this!
I just walked around for a bit. Had a look at the area around town hall and the main shopping street Karl Johan Gate where I saw the parliament building and a nice park.
Then I decided to go to the national gallery and have a look at some artwork. Finally something that was open!! I spent an hour and a half looking around and really enjoyed myself!
Saw some work by Johan Christian Dahl. Apparently early on there was no fine arts academy in Norway, so aspiring artists here had to move overseas to learn and practice. Most went to France or Germany. Dahl went to Dresden. Those who went overseas came back and used what they had learned to paint the local landscape.
The gallery had different themed rooms in chronological order. My favourite room by far was the Munch room. Munch is Norway's most famous artist. I can remember looking at his work 'The Scream' at primary school and having to reproduce it. For this reason it was really special to me seeing that one in real life. I stood in front of it for 10 minutes taking in all the colours and brush strokes. I quite liked Munch's paintings. Very deliberate and chunky brushstrokes. And he had a way of making the people in his paintings look ghoulish. Pale and dark eyes or something.
I think I've been to too many art galleries. Scared myself today by guessing El Greco and Cezanne's work before I looked at the title of the painting. Starting to recognise them - creepy!!!!
Next I walked to the royal palace. No tours but the gardens were open and quite nice! Walked all around near lakes, fountains and statues. The gardens were opened in 1847 and the palace 1849.
Next I walked to Aker Brygge. My guidebook had mentioned eating shrimp in a baguette with mayonnaise here. I'd been looking forward to it all day for lunch. Got here though and it's all swanky restaurants. No fish market or anything like I was picturing. So I had a norwegian hotdog and a 3 scoop ice cream, which is fast becoming my usual lunch!!!!
Then I walked to the Nobel Fredssenter (Nobel Peace Museum). I was a bit reluctant and thought this might be boring, but nothing else that I wanted to do today was open!! But I absolutely loved it. It was so interesting and the way the displays were set out using technology was so clever! The guy at the front desk told me half the museum was closed today due to a function, but it turned out this was the temporary exhibition part. And to compensate he let me in for half price - finally a win!
There was a room with all these screens coming out of the floor like flowers on stems. When you stood in front of one it explained to you one of the prize winners and why they had won it. Another room was all about last year's winner, a group who destroy chemical weapons. It was horrifying and interesting to read that every year in Belgium 150 tonnes of unexploded weapons are discovered, especially as I will be going there in April next year. And then another room had a digital story book that you turned the pages of to learn about Nobel's life.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel ran a weapons factory but dreamed of peace (strange!). He died on December 10 1896 and in his will asked that his factory and assets be sold and the funds go towards five prizes. These became the Nobel prizes for chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peace. All were first awarded in 1901. Between 1901 and 2010 99 individuals and 21 organisations have won. On 19 occasions no prize awarded (eg during the world wars). The prize is often used to try and create peace or unity. But in 1935 it was awarded to a concentration camp prisoner. Hitler was furious and banned Germans from winning.
I then got a text from dad saying he was on his way to the train station! So I quickly walked to the station and met him easily outside the NSB Office. It was so great to see him! He's staying 50m around the corner from me. It's a long story. Basically I asked if he wanted to come, he said no, I booked a no cancellation room, he decided to come. Silly dad!
But I am really proud of myself for how I've gone the last 10 days. I wasn't sure how id go travelling alone but I think I have coped really well! Didn't get lost once, organised everything myself, dealt with problems like delayed or cancelled trains with no stress. Have enjoyed some great me time and learned a lot about my capabilities and independence :)
After we checked in at Dad's hotel I gave him some time to freshen up. Then we walked to the apartment he's staying in when he's back here in 10 days to drop off some alcohol dad had bought the owner, Martin, duty free. Alcohol is 2-3 times the price it is at home here.
Then we walked to Aker Brygge as Dad wanted to have dinner outside. This morning it was cloudy and rainy but as the day wore on it became sunny and beautiful! We had the most amazing dinner. So much better having someone to share dinner with. We went halves in fish soup that had prawns, mussels and fish in it and was delicious and a plate called 'The Great Taste of Norway' which had salmon, trout, cod, ham, lamb and reindeer sausage with various sauces. For what we got it wasn't all that expensive, especially considering we were at the wharf. It was quite comparable with city prices at home.
Finally we stopped at the Football Festival going on near the fortress for the FIFA World Cup. All the matches are played live on a big screen. We watched some of the Mexico vs Cameroon match. Mexico won 1-0. Dad has carked it now but I am considering heading there for a little bit at midnight to watch us play Chile. We will probably get flogged but I want us to at least have one person there singing the national anthem!!! Aussie Aussie Aussie - Oi Oi Oi! Keeping fingers and toes crossed that we can somehow prove the critics wrong.
We bought some caramel cheese which apparently is to Norwegians what Vegemite is to us, they grow up with it! Had some on some crackers - delicious!
I'm currently watching Spain vs Holland on tv while dad naps!
No comments:
Post a Comment