Anyway, back to the cruise. Jonathan had done the same trip twice before on his study tours, and he wanted show us the city. It takes about eighteen hours each way from Copenhagen to Oslo and back. Our ship, MS Crown of Scandinavia, left the port on 4:45 pm on Tuesday, and arrived in Oslo around 10:15 AM the next day. Then we had about six hours to explore Oslo, and the ship departed at 4:30 pm, returned to Copenhagen at about 10:00 am the next day (Thursday).
Here are some of the highlights of our trip.
THE SHIP - Copenhagen~Oslo
Our cabin. |
"♪Near, far, wherever you are...". Ok, this is not Titanic... |
In our cabin. |
Enjoying the sun on the deck as we sailed out. |
I even had a hard time sleeping with the ship still rocking, but when the morning came, the sea was calm, and I didn't feel sick any more. After we finished our breakfast, we went out to the deck again to see the ship sail into the fjords. The landscape was flatter than I expected, but it was still very scenic and fun to sail through the fjords. And we arrived in Oslo, Norway at around 10:15 am.
Calm sea in the morning sun. |
Sailing into the fjords of Norway.
OSLO OPERA HOUSE
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The building is pretty new (construction was completed in 2007), and it is made to look like an iceberg. It is located by the water, and you can see in the photos below the proximity to our cruise ship. The building is made of white marble, and you can climb on the outside from the bottom all the way to the top of the building, and back from the other side. The interior is equally beautiful. In contrast with the marble and glass exterior, the big hall is all made of wood, and has a very warm feeling to it.
What is amazing about this new opera house is that they made it very accessible to the public. Unlike most opera houses in the rest of the world, anyone could walk all over, in and out of the building, even if you don't have a paid ticket. You are free to walk, run, have a picnic or even ride a bike there if you want.
It is so great that you can go inside without a ticket, but what an experience it would be to actually go see an opera in this beautiful iceberg!
VIGELANDSPARKEN SCULPTURE PARK
At the square at Central Station. |
From the Opera House, we walked to the Central Station to get on the tram to go to our next stop, another "must-see" in Oslo, Vigeland Sculpture Park.
The park covers 80 acres and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures ALL designed by this one man, Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures depict humans at every stage of life. And at the highest point of the park lies the most popular attraction, The Monolith, with statues surrounding it. The column is over 14 meters tall and has 121 human figures - from babies to old men - carved onto one single stone. There were a lot of tourists at the park (of course), and a lot of them were having fun posing like the sculptures and getting their pictures taken (we didn't do it...).
The park is like an open-air sculpture park, but I have never seen anything like this, and was totally blown away. It is the world's largest sculpture park created by a single artist. The rest of the park is also very beautiful, and it is in the same caliber of Central Park in New York, or Hyde Park in London. It is a really magnificent park.
The Monolith. |
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
We had a nice lunch in Aker Brygge, a newer development built along the harbor and very popular for its shops and restaurants. After lunch, I strayed from the family, and went to the National Gallery by myself. I had very little time to visit the museum, so it was a very short visit, but my main, and sole purpose was to see the very famous painting by the Norwegian artist Much. Yes, the "Scream"!!.
The museum has a room dedicated to Munch's paintings, and the "Scream" was among the other twenty or so paintings. Photography was prohibited in the room (other rooms were fine), so I don't have a picture to prove it, but I was pretty happy that I actually saw this painting in its country of origin.
The National Gallery. |
Image from the Web. |
ON THE SHIP AGAIN - Oslo~Copenhagen
As I was walking back to the Central Station to meet up with Jonathan and the kids, I heard a familiar voice calling "Mama!". I look over, and who's there? Jonathan and the kids on the other side of the street! I guess the city is pretty small?? We stopped at one shop, a traditional Norwegian sweater shop, to do some souvenir shopping. I was the lucky one who got a nice Norwegian sweater as a souvenir from the store.
We hurried back to the ship, and again, we just made it in time. And thanks to the anti-motion sickness pills I bought while I was in Oslo, I didn't get sick this time, and my journey back was a lot more enjoyable. I even had some crawfish for dinner, and they were quite good. But I was pretty tired, and fell asleep with the kids around 8:30 pm and almost slept for twelve hours!
The kids found more fun things to do... |
We were back in Copenhagen around 10:00 am. Oslo was beautiful, and I wish we had a little bit more time there to explore. If we go again next time, I think we will definitely spend a night. Other than me getting sick on the ship, the kids had so much fun, and everything was fantastic, perfect for closing our fun two months we have had in Denmark.
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