Now I shall recap the best weekend ever. Because it kind of was. Especially seeing that I was alone for most of it. Gus, Ian, and Lauren all went on excursions over the weekend, which left me with Evan, who was going to spend most of the weekend doing homework anyway. (NOTE: he did not actually do this. He spent four hours playing Knights of the Old Republic on his computer. Way to go.)
This gave me the chance to go out and do stuff on my own at my pace, which I will admit was kind of nice. After waking up early Saturday and doing laundry, I set out on my incredible journey as if I were a talking animal. I hope someone gets that reference. Unfortunately, the public transport system is getting the equivalent of a total body lift and will emerge from Extreme Makeover more streamlined or whatever, but for now it's just annoying because large sections of it are closed for construction on the weekends. Regrettably, these sections severely interfere with my transportation. So this has forced me to get more acquainted with the bus lines and trykken. Or at least that's what I tell myself.
First item on the agenda was the Munch Museum, to which I hadn't gone with my parents the last time I was here. I have become very fond of Munch and decided that the excursion all the way out to Tøyen, which is on the other side of Oslo, would be worth it. I like carrying around my ISS ID because that means I get discounts to all the museums. I like that. 50 kroner is less than 70 kroner. That is my math and I'm proud of it!
Very early on in my expedition, I told myself I was going to use as much Norwegian as I possibly could in order to practice. I idealistically told myself that I could even go the entire day without slipping up. I walked into the Munch Museum, and the first thing I heard from the guard, in perfect English was,
"You need to go put your bag downstairs."
World: 1. Cali: 0
Disheartened at my apparent American-ness, I went downstairs and locked my bag away and went back up. After going through security I was about to go into the museum when I heard,
"Hallo! Do you need to buy a ticket?" This was also in English.
World: 2. Cali: 0.
I was on a fail streak and became extremely conscientious. I figured that I was just getting it all out of my system, but then I got up to the exhibit doors and did not know how to get in. They're the same as the ones in Sentralstasjon, where it appears that you have to scan something and then the doors open. So I kept scanning my receipt, which elicited a cheerful bip but nothing else from the door. So I did this a bunch and started creating a line behind me. Finally, a security guard from the other side of the exhibit said,
"Just walk through."
Apparently they open automatically.
World: 3. Cali: -1.
However, once inside it was definitely worth the hassle. They had a copy of The Scream and of Madonna here as well as a bunch of studies I hadn't seen before. They did not have my favorite picture of his, which is of his sister Inger sitting on a beach.
I love the tenderness with which he paints her in all his paintings. She was very important to him.
After going through the exhibit, which is fairly small because it is only Munch, I went to the gift shop to buy a postcard. I regathered my resolve and made my way to the counter, compelling myself to speak in Norwegian. It worked out well at first. She said "12 kroner" in Norwegian, and I paid out to he in exact change to show my prowess with the coin system here. But then she asked me something very quickly, and instead of processing what she actually had said, I just replied "ja." She giggled and put my one postcard in a plastic bag.
World: 4. Cali: -1.
Feeling particularly derp, I made my way back to the T Bane in order to go to the city center and see the Ibsen museum. However, my sense of direction failed me and I walked in the wrong direction for a few minutes before realizing I had not seen this part of Tøyen before. I then walked back and started recognizing my surroundings and kept my eyes peeled for a T sign marking the T Bane entrance. What basically happened is that I circumambulated it for about another twenty minutes on the block surrounding it, stopped, looked around me again, and saw the T sign floating over a bridge that I had to cross under to go. It was a big sign.
World: 5. Cali: :(
However, once I did find the T Bane I zipped all the way over to Karl Johan's Gate on my great quest to find the Ibsen Museum. Yet once again my sense of direction failed me, and I ended up crossing over Akers Gate three times before I figured out where Karl Johan actually was. I became very acquainted with the street though and will never get lost there again.
World: 6. Cali: 0.
Upon finding the Ibsen Museum, which is on Henrik Ibsens Gate (duh) and just west of the palace, I sat myself down on a bench in the palace park and enjoyed my matpakke and creeping on the Ibsen Museum. It was wonderful.
World: 6. Cali: 1.
I arrived to the museum at the top of the hour to go on the tour, by this time completely abandoning my goal of speaking Norwegian on this trip. Turns out the building is actually his old apartment which was turned into a dentist office after his death but then reconverted in order to make the museum in 2006. I was the only one that showed up for the tour and therefore got a private tour. Of his apartment.
World: 6. Cali: 2.
Apparently Ibsen was loaded. He was the only person in Norway to have a bathtub. Not even the king had one, and Ibsen took two baths a day, twice as many as most Norwegians took in a year. Stinky Norwegians, clean Ibsen. Go figure.
The museum was fascinating and I think was a subconscious attempt to get me motivated for reading A Doll's House, which I have to do this coming week. I'm not familiar with Ibsen much, aside from seeing Peer Gynt staged a couple years ago at the Guthrie Theater. It was definitely some place I wanted to go back to.
After that I was pretty much done for a day and decided to head back to the dorm. I saw a trykk right outside the museum that had a line that ran to Majorstuen, the stop on the T Bane right before Blindern and right after all the construction. I took it straight there.
World: 6. Cali: 3.
Upon arriving back I did little else besides eat dinner and go to Sognsvannen to relax and stuff. That was the first day of the weekend.
Sunday was a later start. I did laundry again and then vegged out in my dorm before heading over to the National Gallery. I had been there before last year and was dying to go back. Admission is free on Sundays so I figured this was the best time to mosey on over.
The National Gallery has a very large collection of art including a temporary exhibit of only Werenskiold. I'm fond of Werenskiold also. I think my favorite of his is "Peasant Burial"
The museum also has a HUGE collection of Dahl paintings. I enjoy Dahl, but he's not my favorite of the landscape painters. Without a doubt, Peder Balke is my favorite, and "Fyr på den Norske kyst," or "From the North Coast," is my favorite of his.
I think Balke does an incredible job providing a mood without the use of people.
So after walking through there and enjoying the romantic paintings and some from Picasso and Van Gogh, I went outside to wait for my cousins to come pick me up.
What, was that not a smooth transition? Hold on; let me elaborate.
The ending of my weekend was to be a nice home cooked meal and football game provided by my cousin in Oslo, Berit, and her husband, Vegard, and her two sons, Magnus and Kristian. My cousins from Trondheim, Anne, Bjørn, and Øyvind, were in Oslo for the weekend en route to heading to Paris for a week for Øyvind's football tournament. With so many people in Oslo in one time, I got to see a bunch of people very conveniently.
It was wonderful to not have Blindern food. Vegard grilled veggies and chicken wrapped in bacon, and we had strawberries with ice cream for dessert. It was nice.
Øyvind, Magnus, and Kristian have all gotten so big. I only see them every few years, so they grow in spurts rather than increments. Øyvind speaks perfect English now, Magnus speaks quite a bit (last time I saw him he didn't speak any really), and Kristian is.. well.. adorable.
Left to right: Kristian, Øyvind, Me, and Magnus.
After that we departed for the football game, which was between Vålerenga, the Oslo team, and a team from Trømso at Ullevål Stadion, just a few T Bane stops from Blindern. This was my first football game, and it did not disappoint. Vålerenga won 2-0, and their fans sang pretty much the whole time. Some of the melodies I recognized as Christmas melodies, like "O Christmas Tree," "Jingle Bells," and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." I couldn't understand the lyrics, but I did enjoy watching them bob up and down for about two hours.
Vålerenga fans after they scored a goal. They went basically crazy and you could hear nothing but their singing.
I was relatively exhausted after the game and came back to campus to see all my friends back from their excursions. It was nice to hear we all had fun this weekend.
Except for Evan.
