One last day in Oslo: murals and a marvelous library

And so I continue with the trip to Norway that my wife and I made last month, which culminated with a cruise through the country’s famous fjords:

Monday, May 5, 8:54 a.m. (Central European Summer Time): Breakfast in Europe certainly has changed since my first visit to the continent in 1976. At that time, during a road trip through Switzerland, my first wife Freddie Jenkins and I were lucky to get some fruit, a piece of sausage or two, a biscuit and some cheese.

And in those days we were vegetarians, which meant no meat. Or as I learned to say in German, “ohne fleische.” I can still remember sitting in a café In Zurich drinking coffee and eating plastic-wrapped croissants. They weren’t nearly the fresh kind I’d get a few years later in Paris.

Here in Oslo, the breakfast buffet at the Hotel Christiana Teater that my wife Mary Pat Treuthart and I enjoy offers a full range of choices, from eggs and meats, fruits and rolls of all kinds, along with cheeses and juices and pretty much everything to soothe an American traveler’s palate. (No more “ohne fleische” these days.)

Today’s our last full day in Oslo, and we plan to use it to hit some sites we’ve passed up so far.

12:54 p.m.: We’re standing on the second story of the Oslo City Hall overlooking what appears to be an indoor area bigger than a football field. That may be (and likely is) somewhat of an exaggeration, but the beauty of the murals we can see certainly is impressive. That’s true of Henrik Sørensen’s study of city life, which is reputed to be the largest oil painting in Europe.

We’ve already been to the city’s Norwegian Maritime Museum, which houses a genuine Viking boat and other exhibits. Then we took a ferry across the port to city hall. Our next stop will be the Oslo’s new main library.

3:54 p.m.: I’m drinking coffee, maybe my third or fourth of the day (including a tasteless cappuccino that I bought at the maritime museum). This one is perfectly drinkable, though. After we left city hall, we walked a few blocks to the new Deichman Bjørvika Library, which is said to be “the centerpiece of the city’s 22 library system.”

Having opened in 2020, the library is one of the most impressive such facilities I’ve ever seen, and I love visiting libraries. It outclasses even Seattle Central Library, which a reviewer for Lonely Planet described as “like a giant diamond that’s dropped in from outer space.”

Containing more than half a million items, Oslo’s six-story-tall Deichman Library – according one website – features “countless study rooms, a bustling makerspace complete with sewing machines and fitting rooms, and an energetic vibe. There’s a wall of living plants, a world language collection featuring 33 languages (and) a terrific children’s section.”

The hour or so that Mary Pat and I spent touring the place brought us in contact with literally hundreds of people, studying, conversing and in general communing in a way that would cause legacy librarians to frown in abject disapproval.

We saved our own disapproval for our next stop: the Munch Museum. We’d been told by our Spokane friends Sheri and Dan that their personal guide advised skipping this place. The collection at the National Museum, he said, was better.

And he was correct. Though the Munch Museum does have more Munch paintings, including three “Scream” variations, the process to get in felt like going through a TSA security checkpoint. And the people running security were less than helpful (and even less friendly) than your average TSA type.

We were more interested, once we exited, in walking along the harbor past the Oslo Opera House, which has a contemporary design said to be “inspired by glaciers floating in the adjacent Oslo Fjord.” It was closed when we walked by, so we weren’t able to see the interior, which is said to be both beautiful and built to best offer the best sound for its musical productions.

I like opera houses, too, especially the one in Sydney.

5:54 p.m.: Back at the hotel, thanks to Oslo’s dependable tram system. It’s been a busy time in Oslo, but I’m certain there’s much that we’ve missed. Is it possible to see everything a city has to offer in just a few days, especially when you’re still battling jet lag? Probably not.

One thing I failed to mention was the two nights that we ate out (following our first night eating pizza at the hotel). First, Mary Pat found a recommendation from Rick Steves, Kaffistova, at which I was served meatballs with lingonberries. It seemed like a strange combination, but it was … delicious. On another night, we enjoyed dinner at the Indian restaurant Der Perrern Gror.

Only now am I realizing how much eating Indian food tempted fate because it came the night before we were scheduled to catch a train to Norway’s second-biggest city, the port on the North Sea known as Bergen. Why the concern? Well, every time I eat Indian food in Spokane, I tend to suffer dire consequences the next day.

Anyway, the rest of tonight will be taken up by collecting our things – including the dirty laundry that is already piling up – and stuffing them back into our suitcases.

So, for the moment I’m not going to worry. It wouldn’t do much good anyway.

Next up: Train travel, snowy mountain and lucking out with Bergen weather.