oslo-gothenburg

(above) Vigeland Park in Frognerparken

2nd day in Olso, Norway...

After breakfast, we all put on sundresses and took Atlas, Silje and Hans's giant dog, to Frognerparken, a huge park in Norway. It included a giant pool, large parks-including a dog park where Atlas proceeded to jump on every single dog in Norway- and Vigeland Park- a huge sculpture park filled with lifesize statues made of granite and bronze by Gustav Vigeland. I think there was over 200 or something. Lonely Plant described them as 'screaming pot-bellied babies to entwined lovers and tranquil elderly couples', and I think that suites the varying emotions well. It was crazy though, some of them were really intense. Like there was this one where this man had a woman's head by her hair and was flipping her over backwards. That one was kind of violent, but the others were pretty normal. Two in particular were pretty famous. One was of this little baby, who was pulling a tantrum and had his little fists all balled up and was screaming (left). Silje said it was probably so famous because all mothers know that look so well. The other one was of this man with 4 children, all hanging off of him and he looked really stressed. It was kind of funny because there were other statues with men and children, but only 1 or 2 and the men looked really peaceful and had the situation under control. The 4 baby statue, though (right), was a bit different. Silje said that statue was a sign to her that she should stick to 3 children or less.

All the statues lined the park on both sides, and led up to this giant phallus made of all these bodies climbing to the top. Silje said it took something like 30 years to build, and it was all from one giant stone. Like Mount Rushmore, but the bodies were not presidents and included men, women and children, and far less huge. So nothing like Mount Rushmore then I suppose. But the picture does not do it justice. The huge collumn of bodies was so tall. I can't imagine how hard it was to make, but it was really impressive.

We walked around the park for a while, and then we went back to the pier, where Silje and Hans (left) bought ice cream and I bought a hot dog. An expensive hot dog. I still can't get over how expensive everything is in Norway. Silje said it is the 2nd most expensive country in the world. I don't know what the most expensive country is... maybe Japan or Iceland? Definitely not the United States. Everywhere I go people are talking about how now is the time to go to the US since our dollar is so weak. Go America.

They both had to go to work after lunch, so I headed to the National Gallery, which housed the infamous 'Scream' painting by Munch. I had no idea that Munch was Norwegian. I also thought the painting was still stolen. Turns out it was returned a year or two ago. Silje said some guy just walked into the gallery, took it off the wall, rolled it up, and then walked out with it in plain sight and no one stopped him. Maybe that's just a myth, but either way, security had stepped up a bit since it was returned. There was a guard in every room, and about 2 in the room with the painting. The 'Madonna' was there too- another one of Munch's famous works. There was also a Munch museum, which had another version of the 'Scream' painting in it (which also had been stolen and returned), but it was kind of expensive, so I stuck with the National Gallery. I managed to sneak a picture of it, incase it ever got stolen again, so I could prove I saw it at one point.

I was kind of tired so I bought an expensive cup of coffee, but I had run out of money at that point, so I couldn't afford to add cream to it. Therefore, I decided to compensate the black coffee with 3 large clumps of sugar. Turns out this is not a good compensation. The very strong coffee, now also very very sweet, was the most intense cup of anything I have ever made myself drink. Next time I think I'll stick to 1 clump.

I headed to a little park, and made myself another PB&J sandwich. The little jar of peanut butter I bought a few days ago I think is going to become my new best friend. I stayed there for a while, wrote down what I did that day, watched the fountain, and told a homeless guy I didn't speak Norwegian when he came over to ask for something.

That night I went back to the apartment and watched 'Out of Africa' with Silje, since Hans had to work. During the movie, I started thinking about how weird everything all was. I was thinking about how I was watching an old Meryl Streep and Robert Redford movie with this random Norwegian girl (who were very cool but this is irrelevent) and how I was completely away from home, and completely on my own.

The next day I took a train to Gothenburg, Sweden. I think winning the RailEurope pass in the NC State photography contest was the best thing that has ever happened to me. It was a first class pass, so I was riding in first class (Komfort Class) with red plush seats, old ladies with little dogs, and free coffee and tea. Crazy. The ride was pretty short, and once in Gothenburg, I got picked up by Johanna, who I met on CouchSurfing, and who I would stay with that night.

I think Johanna was maybe the nicest host ever. She had this whole picnic planned, where 2 of her friends came, and we had this really elaborate picnic in a park. She made baguettes with shrimp in them, fruit with cheese, and homeade Swedish cinnamon buns which were amazing. All her friends were really cool, and I'm going to wander around the city today with one of her friends while she is at work. I had a really good time at the picnic, and back at her apartment where she played all this good Swedish music.

So far, I love Sweden. If it weren't for the fact that I cannot understand the language at all, I would move here in a heartbeat.