Everyday chores and the Oslo Pass

18 May 2022.

This morning dawned with overcast skies and the promise of rain later in the afternoon, a promise that would be kept by Mother Nature.

After coffee and a light breakfast we headed out about 10:00 to run a few errands. First I dropped Susie off at Cutters, a hair salon right up the street, for an over due haircut. 

I then walked to a nearby optical shop Synams, to have them repair my glasses (the nose pad of one side broke off). I found them online as one of the retailers in Oslo that dealt in my particular frame company.  

Once we rejoined each other it was off for the short walk to the train station to buy a couple bottles of wine. While grocery stores can sell beer they cannot sell wine or spirits - for that you need to visit a Vinmonopolet (Wine Monopoly) store. The nearest one for us is the central station which also has an indoor mall among its many other facilities. Quite handy. Much like the state run liquor stores in some parts of the USA, Vinmonopelet stores are operated by the national government.

Wine in hand we returned to the apartment. Once back home we sat down and downloaded the Oslo Pass to our phones. We opted for the 72-hour pass which gives us unlimited public transport and admission to most major attractions in the city right up until we leave for Bergen Saturday morning. 

We packed up and headed out to break in our new passes.

Joe and the Juice shop in our block

We hopped on the no. 13 tram to Dronnigens Gate where we switched to the no. 12, taking us to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. The park contains some 200 sculptures by local artist Gustave Vigeland. There is also a museum in the park that was once his studio.   

Gustave Vigeland

The park is impressive. The grand entrance opens onto a sweeping vista to the horizon and a series of steps leading to an obelisk at the very top. But before you get there you cross a magnificent bridge each side of which is lined with a series of sculptures of individuals of all ages in different poses and in various states of activity.

The bridge gives way onto a plaza with an enormous fountain ringed by a number of human sculptures each intertwined with trees. At the base are bronze reliefs, again showing various stages of life and death. 

around the fountain

looking back toward the entrance from the position of the obelisk

facing the entrance

more sculptures in the other direction

yet more sculptures ringing the obelisk platform

As we strolled the park we commented to each other how the sculpture collection was impressive only in its scale and the sheer number of sculptures. Otherwise, the sculptures themselves were uncomfortably uniform and rather boring, as if the same subject had been used over and over again, just in different poses. 

Leaving the sculpture park we made our way through the larger Frogner Park in the direction of the Oslo City Museum where we stopped for fika, coffee and a sweet and saw some lovely paintings of Oslo in the 18th to early 20 centuries.

The museum WCs did have the most interesting icons on the doors. . . 

Back to the tram stop we took the no. 12 back into town and switched to bus no. 30 at one of the key transfer points. This bus would take us to the Norsk Folkemuseet and then on to a cluster of museums in the area know as Bydøy.

"If you are delayed. . ."

Once aboard the no. 30 we rode it through a lovely residential area that rather recalled Paris, or at least parts of it. It was a quick ride to the folk museum where we showed our passes and in we went. Like Skansen in Stockholm, this is also an open-air museum with buildings from various parts of Norway spanning the past several centuries. 

After walking for about 15 minutes the sky that had threatened rain for most of the morning followed through on its threat. We eventually made our way back to the bus stop and waited for the no. 30.

our bus leaves us at the museum

the entrance

grocery store from the early 20th century

part of the Telemark village collection of buildings

we loved how so many of their farm buildings were built up off the ground

Once aboard the no. 30 we thought to ride it to the end of the line and get on the ferry back into town. Not paying close attention, however, we ended up staying on the bus all the way back to our transfer point. But no matter it was raining, more or less, and it was fun being driven around parts of Oslo we would probably never see otherwise.

Back at the transfer point we switched to tram no. 13 which dropped us off just three blocks from our apartment.

Susie and I concluded that this had been a curious day but somehow quite pleasant.