Archives for “Relaxing” tag

Some of the most common images in the postcards from Oslo are with sculptures from Vigeland park. It is part of the Frogner park, covering about 320,000m2 and hosting 212 bronze sculptures realized by Gustav Vigeland. These works of art reside along an 850 meter-long axis divided into six sections: Main Gate, Bridge, Children’s Playground, Fountain, Monolith Plateau and Wheel of Life. You can read about the meaning of each on the park’s website.

Each sculpture depicts people performing different actions, all together being part of a Cycle of life that the author has visioned. The statues are playing, running, dancing, jumping, hugging but few of the statues have a bit of an abstract touch.

Besides admiring the statues, I enjoy sitting in the grass, having a barbecue, playing various ball or card games, trying to walk on a rope, walk around the beautifully arranged roses or feed the ducks by the river. Occasionally, I spotted people training for various ‘sports’, from skate boarding, roller blading to fancier fire eating or one wheel bikes driving.

The Vigeland Museum is situated south of the Vigeland Park and as their website states, the majority of the Museum’s exhibition space is a presentation of Vigeland’s oeuvre. The museum represents the studio where Vigeland worked until 1943 and is currently hosting various art exhibitions, besides the artist’s sculptures, wood-works, drawings and books. In the mausoleum, which has an amazing acoustic, they host concerts that are listed on the museum’s website.

Opera House is usually the quickest accessible destination upon your arrival in the city. It is a 5 min walk from the central station.

Built from 2003 ’til 2007, the Opera House was the winner of the 2009 Mies van der Rohe award, the European Union prize for contemporary architecture. It is currently Norway’s biggest culture and stage institution.

It is meant to resemble a ship and the coolest thing about it is that you can walk up on the roof and see a lovely panorama over the city of Oslo and the fjord. I also get to see random street shows or gatherings or simply enjoyed the sun and the cool air, since it has been build right by the water.

For art lovers, it also offers a wide variety of shows from Ballet, Opera and concerts but also a multitude of exhibitions. Plus there’s a souvenir shop located inside. And if you’re more curious, take a trip around to have a peek inside the rooms where the scene settings and costumes are being manufactured. But the trip to the top of the roof is my absolute favorite thing about the Opera House.

In a capital city surrounded by plenty of forest and filled with parks and green spots, the botanical garden makes for an extra special place of relaxation at any time of the day . It is very close to the city center and once you pass its entrance gates, the sound of city vanishes and it’s all about walking the long twisted alleys, stopping and admiring the natural beauties that the University students and researchers have arranged in lovely mini gardens (Grandma’s garden, Roses, Alpine garden, etc). They offer about 7500 species of plants from all over the world and you can even use this page to locate them.

I also love stopping and staring at the huge old trees around and smile at the sight of a squirrel or the birds finding their food or homes among their branches. And as a bonus, there are several ponds and water streams with beautiful rock and plants arrangements.

If time allows, the garden, which is part of the Natural History Museum also hosts other museums: Geological museum and Zoological museum, perfect to enhance your knowledge on natural sciences.

I love the Palm house with its impressive tropical plants. I also love the sunny days when you can bring a blanket and a basket of food and sit down with friends in certain areas of the garden, eat, play cards, tell stories or just get toasted under the heat. Note that grilling is not allowed.

If you visit Oslo and happen to have some skates, a board or a bike with you, you might want to go and do some tricks at this skating park located right next to the Dyvekes bro bus station. It is one of the biggest in Oslo.

I personally don’t skate or anything, but I find it fascinating to look at the tricks that people manage to do there, at the graffiti artists that fill the walls all over the place or at the dancers under the bridge who take advantage of the tunes played by a DJ. It’s especially interesting to see how the graffitis change all the time and how they end up in a cool design from a bunch of initial stripes.

The stage under the bridge is known as GSF (Gamlebyen Sport og Fritidand). GSF occasionally hosts concerts in the evenings, mainly with underground music styles. I found this website with a few concerts scheduled, but I usually find out about them from the posters placed in the city. A really nice initiative from the municipality and certainly a special kind of entertainment for a lazy sunny day.

I think this is one of my favorite relaxing places in the summer, in Oslo. It is part of the few islands that can be seen and visited from Oslo center, if you take one of the boats at Vippetangen. But unlike the other islands, it is not common to visit for tourists and it is mainly for private summer houses.

Hence, there is no shop and only a few available public toilets so it’s best to just bring along anything you need. The beaches are not extremely friendly as surface and for entering the water I really have to watch my step. But it’s much more calm and quiet than on any other island.

But the views either over the city or the fjord are just breath taking. I saw incredible sunsets there, I enjoyed listening to the waves in the pseudo dark Norwegian summer evenings and I also got to fish for some baby crabs.

So you can’t plan a stay overnight there or you won’t find places meant for tourists, but on your way to the other islands, a stop here could be nice. The boat always stops here before going further so one can just catch the next one. And don’t forget to collect your trash and throw it away in one of the trash cans that are constantly emptied. The website where you can read about the island is in Norwegian but with a translator might help you get more info.