Pictures around Oslo

 Random photos from walking around and observing.  I would readily visit Oslo again.  It was beautiful!

There were a lot of sculptures around the city.  I liked this one of the child reaching for their dropped teddy bear.

I've never seen someone backpacking their parrot around before (!)

I liked that the manhole covers had St. Hallvard and his 3 arrows and millstone on them.  (People thought I was weird taking this photo).

The waterfront by the City Hall. 

This bell originally hung the City Hall, but it became out of tune and they removed it from the carillon.  It has a foot pedal at the base of it that you can step on and make the bell ring.  It has a electronic clapper installed.  This is right on the water front by City Hall and as you walk around you hear a gentle 'dong, dong' throughout the day as visitors walk by and try out the pedal. 

This is the Oslo Cathedral (Church of Norway).  It was rebuilt in 1848, so this building is not particularly old.  The King and Queen and the Prince and his wife were all married here. 

After the bombing and mass shooting on July 22, 2011, thousands of people left roses at the Cathedral.  A local artist started an initiative inviting survivors and others to forge roses from iron in remembrance of those lost. No two roses look the same. It is quite beautiful. 

Organ in the Cathedral.  The painted ceiling is quite stunning.

Its hard to tell from this picture, but the front alter piece is a carved wooden sculpture. 

Royal seats

Pulpit

Freia is the Norwegian national chocolate.  Founded in 1889.  It was acquired by Kraft General Foods in the 1990's

Pretty tasty.  I like the 2nd one.  It has wafer bites in it. 

The airport is at least 30 miles from downtown Oslo.  We took a cab out to catch our return flight.  Although you can see the highway on the map of Oslo, you don't see it from the city.  It's all underground!  An extensive tunnel system.  I was surprised to find the GPS could tell exactly where we were.  There must have been booster signals in the tunnels.

This was taken at about 5:30 am on the way to the airport.  The rolling fields (with grain?) were so picturesque.  This photo from a moving taxi doesn't really do it justice.