Our first trip to Oslo

Last weekend we decided to take the train into Oslo from Moss.  The train was doing track maintenance so we took an alternative bus in and a taxi van back (because they didn't have car seats on the afternoon bus), all at the train price.  Our main destination for the walking tour was Vigeland Sculputure Park, but we were able to see the Opera House, Oslo Cathedral, Parliament, The National Theater, and The Royal Palace on the walk.  Oslo is laid out with a pedestrian street running straight through the city from the train station to the palace, and especially in the afternoon(on a Saturday) it was packed with people enjoying the sunny and 70 degree weather, possibly the last in the 70's of the season.

 Getting ready for sunscreen at the Opera House

 You can walk all over the different angles of the roof

 The girls thought it was a playground

 Their version of parkour

 Juliet gives some scale to the building

 3 happy peas in a pod, at least first thing in the morning, fresh off the bus ride before the hours of walking started

 There are stairs up on the sides

 Oslo Cathedral

 Cool Peacock-ish fountain near the National Theater

 Juliet wouldn't pose with her sisters

 The National Theater building

 The Royal Palace (only open for inside tours on summer break for schools)

 A Royal Palace Guard

 A picture of the picture of the Royal Family outside the palace

 Snack time in the park on the palace grounds with some friends

Vigeland Sculpture Park is a huge green space and park on the west side of the city, about a 45 min crisp walk from the train station.  It was crowded and well used on this beautiful Saturday afternoon with tourists and locals alike.  It has hundreds of sculptures throughout the park, especially concentrated along one thoroughfare that hits the main focal points.

 Mom as a jungle gym

 What parenting feels like on a more challenging day

 The monolith made of human bodies

 Our three with the three faces behind

Close-up of that same sculpture

 This was a cool circular sculpture

Close-up of the sculpture

 View of the monolith, back at downtown with the Cathedral in the background

 Nap, I don't need no stinking nap. (We're hoping not the "making of" a sith lord...although we see that in this pose, too!)

 Atlas-like fountain was another focal point

 This was their uncle Aaron's birthday so they posed for an "I love you" picture

Here a few of the many sculptures along a main bridge in the park that forms the beginning of the main thoroughfare through the park

 The literature said Vigeland gave this boy a chocolate bar and then took it away to get this reaction, it is apparently so famous that someone stole one of his hands.

Maybe what parenting feels like on a less challenging or more joyous day?

A look back at the bridge, fountain, and monolith