Oslo, Norway

The Constellation’s first stop after a day at sea was Oslo, Norway. I was eager to see the fjords that I had heard so much about. Sadly, I didn’t realize that not all fjords are created equal. There are small ones and the towering cliff ones that people normally associate with Norway.

We had a self-planned tour to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Gustav Vigeland (1872-1943) was one of Norway’s most famous artists, and the park contains some 192 sculptures spread across 80 acres. The life-sized sculptures of adults and children are almost exclusively nude, something “Americans” would find too distressing. I read that during NBC’s Olympics coverage of the Opening Ceremonies, the network deliberately cropped out the bottoms of the performers, who were dressed as faux-Greek statues (i.e. naked).

Following our tour of the sculpture park, Rae and I walked a bit around the city. We saw our first of many McDonald’s along one of Oslo’s main tourist thoroughfares. McDo is everywhere in Europe! We didn’t see as many super-sized Europeans, perhaps because they walk and bike far more than their American counterparts.