Oslo: Sculptures, Markets, Ibsen, and all the city's magic

A little while ago I visited Oslo with my friends in Bergen for a weekend trip. We took the train from Bergen to Oslo, which was quite a difference in travel time (the train journey takes around eight hours, whereas a flight would be roughly one hour and a half), however we had heard that this is one of the most beautiful train journeys in Europe.

It definitely was.

I have travelled to many places in Europe via train (especially in the UK, all my journeys there have been on a train), and have enjoyed many of them. Yet the Bergen-Oslo railway offers so much more. Usually I just see the ocean or forests, but on this journey I got to see mountains (actually loads of mountains), with valleys, snow, glaciers, and lakes in between. The most magical part of the journey was definitely seeing the town Finse – I was told this is the highest point the train will take you up (although I could be wrong). It was almost like entering a scene from “Into The Wild”, apart from the train station itself, there really wasn’t any civilization to be seen. People actually live in Finse, but at this point in time I could only see people waiting at the train station, everywhere else I looked was just the mountains and glaciers and snow covered ground making it seem like no one actually lived here, they just stumble across it on their train journey to another destination.

(Above: Finse - one of the glaciers can just be made out)

This is my other favourite moment on the train (picture above). I don’t know which town it was, but what I liked best about it was how the mountains reflected in the lake below – it was such a beautiful landscape, one that really makes you appreciate nature just that little bit more for how naturally mesmerising it can be. 

What I found bizarre before arriving in Oslo, was how much the people in Bergen hated the capital city. In the weeks before our departure to the city, many Norwegians had said to us negative comments, that Oslo was an ugly city, or it was horrible, it had nothing to offer, and the comments continued this way in this tone. I was really taken aback by it, and didn't take their comments too much to heart, but at the same time I tried not to have too high expectations of Oslo.
Well, I don't know why there is hate from the Norwegians in Bergen towards Oslo - perhaps it's city rivalry - but all I know is that I completely loved Oslo and was in awe of the city as soon as I stepped out of the train station.

So here's some of my favourite places and moments from the trip:

The Norwegian National Ballet and Opera:

Unfortunately I didn’t attend any events held here, but I still felt lucky enough to see it. Before I arrived in Oslo, I was very curious to see it as I had heard rumours that it was giving the Sydney Opera House a run for its title of great designs. I can’t really conclude which opera house is better, but nevertheless the Norwegian Ballet and Opera house is absolutely lovely. It’s completely white: the building itself and all the pavement and walls leading up to the house; hence it gives the effect as if you’re in a typical snowy winter day – although the time of day and weather when we went to visit helped to give this effect too (we had visited at dusk and it was an overcast day). It’s right by the sea and if you were coming past on a boat, you couldn’t not see it, it begs for attention to be seen with its different shape and gleaming white colour.

I think if I get the chance to go back to Oslo, I will definitely look at getting tickets to the Norwegian National Ballet and Opera.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

This has to be one of the weirdest, but coolest, places I have visited on my adventures abroad. As suggested by the name, it is a sculpture park. You can spend hours here and visit it on numerous days to see all that it has to offer. Sadly, we only had an hour or so here if we wanted to see everything else we had planned, but an hour was definitely sufficient time to get a sense of the oddness that the park offers. What is odd about it is the statues themselves. The ones we saw were all of people, all displaying weird and wonderful emotions. Plus they are all naked which adds to the strangeness. You can definitely view things in a different way if they are shown naked. For example, there were many statues of men and women, young and old, all hugging and holding each other in different positions – now this is quite normal and natural behaviour, yet when you add the aspect that they are naked, it causes you, whether willingly or not, to change your perception of the image portrayed. A particular statue (that my friends found disturbing, but I thought quite funny) was of two children on top of their mother’s back ‘riding’ her. Now this is usually naturally for young children to play pretending they are riding a horse when on a person’s back (which more often than not, is usually the parents job). Yet, the statue makes you question this innocent childhood game:

Whether the statues were meant to be funny or serious, I do not know, I guess it’s open to any interpretation which is what most art tries to accomplish. What I loved most about the sculptures was the emotions the artists had captured in their human portrayals. For example one of the most famous statues in the park is this:

Most people will walk past this statue and look at it, and immediately think of different moments in their life from viewing this emotion – like it reminds them of when they were a child, or reminds them of their own child. It’s such a natural emotion that everyone goes through at some point in their life that it causes so much effect.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park is a little further out of the city (i.e. if you’re planning on walking), but it is definitely worth walking that little bit more or parting way with some of your cash for the bus fare.

Markets

Some of the best things about travelling (as I have mentioned in many of my posts) is stumbling across unknown places, the places that you might not always find in your dependent guide book.

In Oslo this happened to us when we were walking around the area, Grünerløkka. We went to this area since one of our friends had told us it’s a good area for cafes and vintage shopping. While we did find a café, on our walk back to some other place (I can’t even remember what exactly we were looking for), we came across a market.

The market was amazing, it was relatively small but they had stalls outside and also some more inside a building; and it smelled incredible! As soon as we crossed the little bridge to see more, our nostrils were immediately filled with the tasty smells of Norwegian waffles. It’s quite a good luring bait actually. 

One of my favourite stalls at the market was handmade jewellery by Anima Soleil. There were many different designs of necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc, but the ones I loved most were these inspirational bracelets. They were either gold or silver bands with inspirational messages engraved on them. I fell in love with them instantly, and so I just HAD to buy one. My good friend Emma helped me choose one, and she picked out one which said “Everything Will Be Alright” – particularly because every now and then we will start singing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”. Now I know it isn’t the exact words from the song, but every time I look down at the bracelet and read those words, it instantly takes me back to all the memories I have had here in Bergen with Emma.

Henrik Ibsens Gate

My favourite Norwegian writer has to be, without doubt, Henrik Ibsen. I first was introduced to his plays in high school, where I had to study Ghosts. I really enjoyed his play, it was controversial and the imagery was so powerful in regards to his vivid descriptions of the props and costumes. Most plays I have difficulty reading – as my literature teacher had once explained, they are meant to be performed, not read – however Ibsen is possibly one of the only playwrights were I can easy enjoy simply reading his works, I don’t need them to be performed.

So, as you can tell, when I had read about all the monuments to Ibsen in Oslo, I went a little crazy and was persistent to my friends that I had to see them, whether with them or alone. I ended up going alone, but I didn’t mind.

Among some of the different monuments to Ibsen (there’s the theatre, his grave, etc), there is a street actually dedicated to him, called Henrik Ibsens Gate. On here there is the Henrik Ibsen museum – which is actually his old (last) house but converted to a museum) – but what I was impressed with most was that on the street, they have quotes from all his plays engraved in the pavement. They are all in Norwegian, so I couldn’t recognise some of the plays, but I was still intrigued by it anyways.

It is possibly one of the most fascinating ways of showing dedication to a loved writer in their home country.

Litteraturhuset 

All lovers of literature should come here. Or perhaps those who just love a cup of coffee and some good hearty meals.

It’s a bookshop, but a café/restaurant as well – it is perhaps one of the easiest ways to appeal to me as I love a good book and a good cup of coffee or plate of food.

We stopped in here on our way back from the sculpture park, and I think there is something cosy about drinking coffee and eating cake next to tables and shelves filled with books.

Overall the place does actually even more than just books and food, they also host events here like readings, signings, concerts, debates making it an ideal hang out for book-lovers, students and anyone else who is interested in those sorts of things.

It’s a good thing that they didn’t have a huge range of English books (or from what I could see anyways), as I definitely would of spent hours here trawling through the shelves and tables.

Departure Gate Snacks

I thought I would post a little something whilst waiting in the departure gate lounge at Bergen airport.

Whenever I travel, I always usually have around a 2-3 hour wait at the airport before going on the plane, and instead of looking at duty free products, I choose to go to the newsagents and buy magazines/newspapers along with the usually food to binge on.

Yet I always fall into the terrible trap of choosing chocolate, or other sweets and accompanied by a cup of coffee. Needless to say after greedily indulging in these snacks and then embarking on a flight, I always regret it and my health suffers along with it.

I don't know why, but even though I have travelled a lot and know how dehydrating a flight is, I seem to still choose these products which do not help me at all on my journey in the sky.

For one, coffee is dehydrating as it is, plus it makes me go to the bathroom much too often than usual - which is a terrible thing to have to endure whilst flying. 

Then there's chocolate, most of my flights are early in the morning or late at night which are both terrible times to be eating sugary snacks, yet I do it regardless and my teeth are always aching after the journey (which I have put down to my high sugar diet, something to work on for the new year perhaps?)

ALAS I am learning! Even if it has taken numerous flights to learn...

So while I am sitting here in the early hours of the morning, I go to my regular before flight stop at the newsagents, and while my nostrils are being filled with the smells of baked delights and I can hear the coffee grinding, I take a stand and choose the following to get me through the flight and the rest of my day: a banana, a ham & pesto sandwhich (filled with capsicum, lettuce and red onion), vitamin water (a bit of a cheat, usually I would just choose regular water but vitamin well is just too good to resist sometimes), and nuts (to snack on for later).

And in all honesty, I feel very awake now and balanced, unlike feeling sluggish like I usually do after having my chocolate and coffee. 

And on that note, I am ready for my trip to Finland :) 

Busy, but I will be back... SOON!

So the reason there has been a delay in posts is due to studying for my upcoming exams.

I promise there will be more posts in two weeks time, once my stress is over from exams and I have time to write :)

So I am still here don't worry! And once I have got back on my feet expect to see the following posts on Oslo, Finland (Helsinki & Rovaniemi), and some more stuff from Bergen of course!

Lots of love, Tasha xxxx

Denmark: Copenhagen

Unfortunately I was only in Copenhagen for one day, with just a mere five hours to explore this enchanting city.

Still I don't let time constrain me! So here's a recount of my exact whirlwind five hours in the city of Copenhagen:

After the hour and a half train ride from Odense to Copenhagen, I arrive outside the train city with a variety of paths branching into every possible direction. I had not a map on me, just my guidebook but I didn't want to defeat myself to referring to the pitiful map they provide in the book (I hate the maps in guide books, they never fit into one page and you stuck looking for a road which you are currently standing on yet they somehow managed to leave it out, probably because it was deemed 'irrelevant' to tourists to know that road), so I did what I always do and decided to get 'lost' in the city by wandering.
Now usually, in the past when I have wandered around cities I generally stumble across all the tourist attractions and some hidden treasures. However on this particular wander I chose the wrong path, I should of walked right, but instead I diverted to the left thinking I was making a wise choice. While the path didn't leave me to any well-known attractions, surely I would find myself some gems of the city - whether it be a cool cafe, retro store, exhibition - yet I didn't find anything except many take-away food stores and factory outlets. And on this defeat, I chose to sit down and try place myself of the map.
The map in my book didn't help, as the road I was currently standing on was not part of 'their map' of the city - so I just did what I always did when I was in doubt of my wanderings: I retraced my steps, and chose the other path, heading right. I trudged on, kicking myself because I was losing precious and valuable time through getting lost, but then I saw a sign in the sky: it was the universal "i" for the tourist information building.
I got my free map of the city - including ALL the streets, even ones that perhaps could be irrelevant but yet still useful if you're wandering, and with this I set off on my journey again.
After looking at the points on the map of the must-see attractions, it was like everything came into clear view and Copenhagen just seemed to offer everything on a plate in front of me before my eyes. Tivoli, the second-oldest amusement park in the world after first opening its gates in 1843, the park seemed to have just appeared out of no where - how did I not see or hear this when I first stepped out of the station. It was as if Copenhagen had played a magical trick on me, where before I was surrounded in darkness and then the curtains were pulled up before me and everything was in transparent view.

Blinded by the bright sunlight I was not sure of what was lying right before me....

.... little did I know I had stumbled into the famous Tivoli.

 

I was being lured into Tivoli the same way a child is lured by the sounds of a calling ice-cream van, but then I hear the ding-dong bells of the town clock and immediately snap out of my hypnotised state to keep seeing as much of the city as I can.

From Tivoli, I keep wandering about, resisting the urge to look at my map and 'sense' my way around the city (because where's the fun in being strictly guided to your destination?) and I soon come face to face with Mr Andersen.
Well his statue anyways, and someone had placed a beautiful red-knitted scarf around his neck, making him to stand out proudly to any passers-by.
Just peeking out of the vines on the side of a building, I can make out the street sign stating I'm on HC Andersens Boulevard, and I think to myself how nice it must feel when stating your address to say you live on HC Andersens Boulevard -- Personally I would be happy everyday to know that I live on street which it's name is dedicated to beloved writer. 

Deciding I should really do something with my time other than walking around, I begin to find my way to the Nationalmuseet.
Now I don't always go to the national museums of every country I visit, I choose some more than others, and Copenhagen I was definitely choosing as it was hosting an exhibitions on the vikings, a subject in history which always and continues to fascinate me. 

The Nationalmuseet had presented the exhibition in both an informational and entertaining way - the rooms were pitch black apart from the spotlight lights which beamed down onto the various displays of viking history, giving them all the glory of their infamous lives. The spotlights were a fantastic effect, with no other distractions surrounding you, you were immediately drawn to glowing displays like a mosquito is to an ultra violet light. It was incredible seeing so many preserved artifacts from their era, all different artifacts of their lives were found and kept in this museum, from the jewellery and clothing to the weaponry and ships: 

I previously mentioned the exhibition was presented in an entertaining way, and this was achieved through the many interactive displays they had included. For example there were holes on the walls which if you put your ear to you could listen to stories and other recordings about the history; some of the other holes you had to look through and you could see images or videos of the viking lifestyle; but one of my favourite interactive activities was where you could try on the armoury and pretend you were a viking, even if just for a minute. I didn't try any on but it was funny watching the families put on the clothes, and seeing the amazement on both the adults and childrens' faces after realising how heavy the armoury was from back in the day. 

 

I found another exhibition in the museum which caught my attention as it was on the tribes from all over the world, particularly Greenland. I don't know much about Greenland and neither does anyone I know, so I was curious to find out some information on its history. I found some displays of preserved artifacts, but the window which most intrigued me was regarding their traditional fur dress. Now I knew that because of the extremely cold climate they would most likely wear fur-skin coats and other skin clothing and shoes. What I didn't know however was that the different regions of the island wore different animal fur or skin because the climate differed in some ways. Their clothing was adapted to both the climate and hunting conditions of the different regions of Greenland, so in the north region of Greenland, the tribe wore the skin of fox, bird and bear; in the east the tribe used seal skin with refinement for their dress; and in the west, the tribes wore clothing made out of seal and reindeer skin (NB: there was no information regarding the south). 

After the Nationalmuseet, I took a different turn, one towards the canals, instead of retracing my steps back to the main road. It was a good turn as I had come to the area of Slotsholmen, where all the the royal history could be found. I first saw the Christiansborg Palace, which is not where the royals live, but the royal horses live there in the stables (I was even fortunate enough to see the trainers riding the horses in the paddock right in the middle of the palace yard). I didn't go inside the palace, but I had a lovely time just walking around the outside hallways, admiring the architecture of the palace. Walking away from the palace, I came out through an exit where I suddenly saw myself surrounded by people dressed in medieval outfits. "What have I stumbled into?" was my first thought, wondering whether there was some festivity I wasn't aware of or if it was just some people having fun, I finally discovered I had actually arrived at the entrance of The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum. I observed the medieval actors and actresses for a while, then decided to keep on looking around the city.

As I turned my back on The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum, I found myself standing in front of a glittering black stone building. Intrigued to know what it was, I ventured closer and found it was The Royal Library. This was actually on my list of places to see in Copenhagen, because The Royal Library is quite unique, not just for housing royal archivial books, but more so because of it's black granite facade which has given the library the alternate name of "The Black Diamond". It was extremely pretty in the sunlight as the crystals from the black granite rock were sparkling in the sunlight. 

 

(Above: Christiansborg Palace)

(Above: The Royal Library, or "The Black Diamond")

 

After accidentally walking into the main shopping strip in the city - to which I had to spend little bit of my time since they had an Urban Outfitters (one of my favourite stores, and sadly is not present in Bergen) and also one of the coolest cafe/lunch chains called "Joe & the Juice" (they seriously have the most amazing sandwiches, juices, teas and coffees, plus it's healthy, an added bonus) - I was nearing the end of my day, so I went to my last stop which was at the botanical gardens.

I was actually looking for Rosenborg Castle, which I somehow just missed walking past and ended up walking through what I thought was the entrance of the King's Garden (which leads to the castle), but was in fact the botanical gardens. I was not disappointed with my missteps though for the botanical gardens were absolutely beautiful - literally the sort of scenery which takes your breath away. I was fortunate that the day I visited the weather was absolutely perfect, clear blue skies and sunny rays, and due to being there in the fall, many of the leaves were falling and brown, and it looked like those lovely autumn days. If I lived in Copenhagen, the botanical gardens would be an amazing place to have a picnic, to sit and read or write, or just simply lie back on the grass with the sun beating down on you.

(Above: plus a cool thing about the botanical gardens is that you can buy many of the plants that are featured, so you can always try create your own mini botanical garden at home)

It was starting to get cooler as the sun was almost getting ready to set, which signaled it was sadly my time to leave.

I loved seeing Copenhagen, but I only wish I had more time to see even more of the city and see not just the attractions but to try find some golden treasures which are the best things to stumble across when wandering around unknown cities.