Actually, it’s a lot more.  The Vigeland sculpture park holds 212 of Gustav Vigeland’s sculptures; and most of them include more than one person.  The Monolith alone comprises 121 bodies entwined around each other.  All of them, all the people in the 212 sculptures, are nude.  If you follow them in order, you see the whole span of human life from birth to death.  It’s hard to do the park justice in words and we’d have to include fifty or more photos to give you a true sense of the place.  A few photos here and on Smugmug will have to suffice.

Monolith at Vigeland Sculpture Park

Sculpture at Vigeland, one of 212

Vigeland was a contemporary of Edvard Munch’s.  Apparently they did not like each other; once Munch wrote on his tax return that none of his money should fund Vigeland’s work!

The park is in a neighborhood called Majorstuen in the west part of Oslo.  Oslo itself was pretty much closed for Sunday, so it was good we saved the park for today.  It was however cold and rainy when we left the hotel.  The T-bane is closed between downtown and Majorstuen, so we learned the trolley system.

In the afternoon we walked on the roof of the Oslo Opera House.  That’s right; you get to walk on the roof.   It’s all white marble and fairly steep.  It was a challenge for the booted of the two of us.  But we made it.  As we ascended the sun came out and it got quite hot.  The building is spectacular.  Norway is a small country, but they think big about public works and places.  After descending, we sat in the café and had coffee while gazing out at the Oslo fjord.  A very nice, serene afternoon.

The Oslo Opera House

‘Pano’ from the roof of the Opera House

Tomorrow we’re off to Bergen.  It’s a long drive through some really forested areas; should be pretty.