I slept poorly due to a combination of skipping dinner and eating a snack I was likely allergic to. I felt sick and had a headache the whole night. However, once I got a sizable breakfast in me (at my hotel), I felt a ton better. My hotel's breakfast buffet was mostly sliced breads, sliced meats and cheeses (like the pre-sliced kind you find in supermarkets), and jams/jellies I didn't recognize.
Feeling better, I ventured out to explore Oslo. As I did so, I took pictures. During the day I recorded my walking route on a paper map, a route which I later posted online.It was a beautiful morning which changed to intermittent drizzle the rest of the day. The drizzle wasn't so bad--I walked around in it without an umbrella.
Norwegian Parliament
In the morning, I took a tour of the Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament building. At one point, the tour guide asked various people when their countries' constitutions were drafted. The other Americans on the tour didn't know, saying 1776. (Sad.) I knew it was the late 1780s, though didn't recall the exact year. Most other people knew the answers for their countries. Norway, by the way, is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy.
Also on the tour, I learned that when the potato famine came, Norway survived because they had an ample supply of herring. Nevertheless, one quarter of the country (one million people) immigrated to the U.S. at this time.
The tour guide explained the government was eliminating the two separate houses of parliament and combining them into one, an event I don't think I've heard of occurring anywhere before.
Finally, he explained how the seating in the legislative chambers intentionally mixes up the parties, claiming that doing so helps legislators to get along and government to function, pointing out that governments that don't do so tend to have strong, visible conflicts. *cough* *cough*
National Gallery
Soon after the tour, I explored the National Gallery. It mostly included 19th and 20th century paintings by Norwegian artists, along with a few sculptures. There were also a few famous non-Norwegian artists represented, covering some contemporary styles too (cubist, abstract), including Picasso, Gauguin, Manet, Cezanne, Monet, and Degas. I generally liked the museum, considering it a decent museum for a major non-international city. I particularly liked the stunning Norwegian landscapes, in various sizes, such as those by Hans Gude and J. C. Dahl. The museum took about an hour to explore. The audio guide wasn't bad, but not particularly interesting to me.
Though photography wasn't allowed, I want to mention some pieces I particularly liked. (Sorry, I can't find pictures of these paintings online.)
- A room of paintings by Munch, all in odd colors.
- Knud Baade's Cloud Studies / Skystudier.
- Asta Nørregaard's (Norregaard's) Marthine Cappelen, which looks real.
- Harold Sohlberg's Winter Night in the Mountains, with its stunning vivid blue.
- Thorvald Erichsen's luminous Winter Sun, View from Breiseth Hotel at Lillehammer.
- Hans Andersen Brendekilde's The Forester and his Children. I like the carpet of leaves.
Next on my agenda was the Historical Museum. Covering archeology (i.e., things dug up from various ages), medieval artifacts (mostly religious), Egypt (seen enough of that), coins (oddly, this room had no English), the arts (Africa, Asia, ...), and more, it didn't have as much as I expected/hoped for about Norway. Thus, I spent a bit less than an hour there. It's not that the exhibits were bad, though they were poorly documented (i.e., they didn't tell me why I should care about what was on display). The exhibit on pilgrims, in contrast, both Christians and others, was great--the museum people can do it right. It's just that most of the time they didn't.
More Oslo
I grabbed lunch, then walked fast to the Royal Palace, intending to take a guided tour, but decided not to wait in the slow-moving line in the drizzle. On the way to the palace, I passed the royal marching band its two horse-mounted escorts.
Stenersen Museum
I then explored the Stenersen Museum. It had three exhibits: one experimental one on women and violence, which I didn't get, and two photography ones. One documented people with AIDS from all over the world, and the other was realistic photography by Bjørn (Bjorn) Opsahl that, though I didn't like, I respected. All together, it wasn't possible to rationalize the museum's cost given how many museums in Oslo are free.
City Hall
See the comments accompanying the pictures.
National Museum of Contemporary Art
The day's last museum was the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Museet for Samtidskunst). Aside from a special exhibit by experimental artist Matias Faldbakken in which every piece seemed incomplete / not even set up, the museum was okay. I spent fourty minutes there, some of which I spent watching a neat video, 12 Studies on Shit, covering sewage, fertilizer, waste in space, ...
Throughout
In between and after these museums, I saw other sights in Oslo. See the pictures.
Afterward
In the evening, I met Di Yin and we walked around a bit, mainly through the waterfront area Aker Brygge, where I found dinner. See the pictures and my evening route.
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