Monday (June 12th) – Clay and I were getting a little tired of the weekend with rain every day.  Happily we awoke Monday morning to beautiful skies and temperatures.  We never really plan our day until after our morning coffee and breakfast.  That works better because we can take the latest weather conditions into account.  Much needed in Oslo!

We decided that 2 perfect outdoor places would be the Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Park), and the Oslo Botanical Gardens.  The gardens are a short walk from our apartment so we decided to go the Vigeland Park first, and then take in the gardens near our apartment if we had enough time.

We took the bus up to Vigeland Park, and now understand why it is Norway’s most popular tourist attraction.  It is a rather unique park that contains more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and forged iron.  It represents the life work of sculptor, Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943).  We learned that he was known as a man with creative imagination, and also known for his exceptional productivity. (I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but Clay and I knew very little about him beforehand.)

The park is free and open 24hrs daily – 365 days a year.  We both got lost in our own thoughts as we walked along the pathway with many of the statues on each side.  Later, we both admitted that we were trying to wrap our heads around Vigeland.  We found ourselves trying to analyze what he was thinking when he produced these sculptures. Take a look at some of his work and see if you find yourself doing the same thing.  Below are some of our favorites.  This is only a small fraction of the 200 that are on display there.

Botanical Gardens:

The Botanisk hage (Botanical Gardens) are in the center of Oslo and just a mile from our Oslo Apartment.  We read that there are 7500 different plants in the gardens.  Combined Clay and I could probably name 12 – so don’t expect a lot of plant names on the photographs.  🙂  The gardens are open every day of the week!  How convenient.

Below our a few photographs from the park.  Enjoy!