- McDonald's (70 Kr).
-Two pieces of toast--one lathered with a dollop of jam and another providing a fine pallet for a cold piece of cheese (40 Kr).
-Lefse bread (25 Kr).
-The traditional Norwegian Christmas dinner. The meal consisted of a medium-sized sausage, a variation of meat loaf, two cutlets of virtual fat, some type of syrup-saturated prunes, purple cabbage, sauerkraut, potatoes, lettuce, and tomatoes. I spoiled everything, probably, by dousing it all with an unnecessary heavy drizzle of Tobasco sauce. I couldn't resist when I saw the red bottle. (175 Kr).
I wish I had been able to experience their notorious seafood dishes, but perhaps I'll save that for when I visit the fjords. The night we arrived, or the day rather--for it was only four o'clock but the sun had completely disappeared, the city welcomed us with brisk weather. We managed to find our hostel rather quickly, thanks to Talia--who had thoroughly researched our entire itinerary prior to arrival, and proceeded to situate ourselves until we felt comfortable leaving. We walked around Oslo for the remainder of the night. The city's urban development surprised me the most. I never expected Norway to boast such tall high-rises but Oslo's business sector was full of them. It was quite a modern city to say the least, but it also had its historical city center. Most of the streets were laid out in that European-esque flagstone, or that mystical cobble-stone that everyone familiarly fantasizes about when they dream of quaint European towns. The buildings were beautiful and although I neglected to note their age, I sensed a range from the eighteenth to twentieth century. We went back to the hostel later that night, exhausted from our day of travel (why does the mere process of travelling induce so much exhaustion?) and discussed a topic inspired by one of the magical proclivities of Norway: dragons. Our avid discussion lulled us to sleep until we were awoken by the light of the warm Norwegian sun. Kidding, we were awoken by an alarm clock.
We managed to pack a day's worth of activities into a relentless morning. Our itinerary consisted of the Viking Ship Museum, the Folklore Museum, and Vigeland Sculpture Park. We reached all of these locations by the extremely efficient Oslo bus system. I think the twenty four hour bus passes were the best investment we made the entire trip. The viking ship museum was incredible. The building itself, I thought, was quite an innovative design. It was laid out in the form of a large cross, wherein the main wing displayed a nearly pristine viking ship and the adjoining wings held two ships in far worse condition--especially one whose hull was almost entirely deteriorated. The museum also featured a collection of artifacts from the ships' excavation sites. The detail that went into all of the wood carvings was incredible; even the ships' masts and sterns were intricately carved.
From the ship museum we walked down the street to the folklore museum, which had to be the most engaging part of the trip. Here, several viking villages were recreated. We were able to walk around and pretend we were actual vikings, which we happily did. Two Norwegian women reenacted oppressed viking bakers as they gave us warm lefse bread from their small hovel. The lefse bread was good, but not as good as asiago. From the village we proceeded to the indoor section of the museum, which featured a variety of Norwegian antiques from across the centuries. What especially interested me was the presentation on Norwegian fifties culture, which was closely akin to that of America's. I think I merely liked dancing to the jukebox in the corner. As we continued through the museum, the displays became more and more grueling, in my opinion anyway. The basement held an array of glass display cases that suspended various Norwegian cultural attire. It became quite monotonous after a while and I believe the only thing that could've wrenched me from that drowsy boredom was what came next.
I've never been to a more obscure setting than the Vigeland Sculpture Park. After entering the wrought iron gates, we were ushered across a bridge--the sides of which supported a variety of naked stone sculptures. Most of them were naked men performing various acrobatics with young naked children. Some of the sculptures were actually quite discomforting. The bridge ended at a large fountain whose sides were adorned with copper templates showing more naked children. The center of the fountain featured a group of naked men supporting a large bowl from where, I'm presuming, water is supposed to spout in theory. After trekking the entire length of an adjacent staircase, we observed the enormous, obelisk-like pillar of crushed naked people. Yes, this pillar consisted of, I'm assuming, one hundred intertwined nude people. It was outrageous, but interesting.
I wish I could've spent more time in Norway itself. I'd like to go back and revisit the countryside in the summer; perhaps see the beautiful fjords, but I think the day's visit yielded great results no less.
