Oslo Favorites

Fondest memory: My favorite memory of Oslo is hanging out with some really awesome people! I know I have made friends for life and they are incredible people. I was able to see Oslo, and Norway for that matter through their eyes as they see it. In my opinion that is one of the best ways to see a new city/country. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity.

Favorite thing: Most of the tours I took whether it was through the Akershus Fortress or the Norwegian Folk Museum, I was given more information that I could have gained just on my own. Most are done by college students and they are very informative. Usually they are free also.

Favorite thing: Honestly, the whole existence of Vigelandsparken started off with this fountain. Early in 1907, a blue print of the fountain was drawn out and Gustav Vigeland was commissioned to make the Fountain. However, as time passed, not enough money was raised for the fountain and pissed by waste of time, Vigeland just made sculpture after sculpture. Eventually, these granite sculptures that eventually were placed around the later Monolith...

Fondest memory: In the center of the basin, six giants hold a really large rice bowl and from it, water is supposed to spill down around them. Unfortuanately when I was there, it was as dry as a bone. But no loss, I enjoyed it all the same.

Favorite thing: Somewhere in the middle of Vigeland Sculpture park, lies a bridge where 58 bronze sculptures stand on either side of a Bridge. This has to be favourite portion of the park, for I found several bronze likeness of children over here.

Fondest memory: Gustav Vigeland probably understood kids very well. How else could he capture them life-like in bronze? A wide variety of expressions can be seen here ranging from a pissed baby throwing a monster tantrum to a couple of kids running with their hands in the air. My favourite is the sculpture with the sky gazing kids. They looked so real!

Favorite thing: Other than the sculptures in Vigeland Sculpture Park , life-like figures are also wrought into the iron gates! Do keep a look out for them..

Fondest memory: This picture of these three naked sods were was taken at the wrought iron gate at the monolith.

Favorite thing: Unless you are a bat, it's unlikely that you'll miss this gigantic phallic column rising 14.12 meters out into the sky in Vigeland Sculpture Park. Carved out of a single block of stone, the Monolith consists of 121 entwined naked figures, asses and all. It's quite a sight, I must say.

Fondest memory: Honestly, though I felt awed by this conspicous monument. I can't help but feel disturbed. What was the artist trying to express, I wondered. Man's struggle for existence? The phrophectic judgement day? I still wonder till today.

Favorite thing: "I was a sculptor before I was born. I was driven and lashed onward by powerful forces outside myself. There was no other path, and no matter how hard I might have tried to find one, I would have been forced back again."

Gustav Vigeland, 1867-1943

Fondest memory: If I have one more chance to visit Oslo again, I would definitely make a trip to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Why? Let's just say that the beautiful, sprawling park with 192 sculptures with more than 600 figures appealed to the inner artist in me. All the figures are modeled in full size by the sculptor , Gustav Vigeland and they were so life-like that they took my breath away ! Here's my quick guide to the beautiful park.

Favorite thing: While looking for cheap accommodation in Oslo I came across this website that is great if you are on a tight budget and visiting this expensive city.

I e-mailed them and soon they replied with a three-page document filled with addresses and phone numbers of affordable private accommodation options and cheap hotels. (Well, there's no thing like cheap hotel in Oslo, but at least they were cheaper than the rest.)

Fondest memory: They have their office in central Oslo, close to Karl Johans gata and you can go there if you need accommodation or just some general info about Oslo that you'll find in their free brochure "Streetwise".

USE IT
Møllergata 3
Tel. (+47) 24 14 98 20
Fax: (+47) 24 14 98 21
E-mail: use-it@ung.info

Opening hours:
July and August:
Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm
Rest of the year:
Mon-Wed, Fri 11am-5pm
Thursdays: 11am-6pm

http://www.unginfo.oslo.no/useit/index.php