Ceci n'est pas un blog

Had a big walking day today.

Went to the Albin Upp gallery that had been recommended but found it to be a little disappointing. The bulk of the space was a one-woman show and her work was so inspired by Picasso that it almost seemed like an assignment. I just didn't connect to it and the cafe there is supposed to be quite good but I felt scruffy and took a pass.

If there was a theme to the day it was Big Dogs. I saw them everywhere.

I went on walked to Frogner/Vigeland parkvia the antique market in Marjorstuen. Most of the vendors had already broken down their stands and were packing up. One lady was playing fetch with her beautifully trained black dog that looked exactly like our friends' dog Leo in negative but young and black and a little less chunky.

Frogner park is huge, the bulk of it is taken up by a section that had been given over to one sculptor who designed and created an amazing space full of dynamic statues in stone and bronze. Obviously this is popular with the tourists and there were groups of Germans and Japanese moving in tightly packed clusters. But this is also a great park for kids and dogs and both were out in abundance today. I bought a fresh hot waffle with jam and watched little scenes unfold: a tiny girl riding her bike for the first time, a young Japanese man approaching strangers to take his picture, a woman walking, not alone, but waiting for someone.

There was a family with three big Swissy dogs in the park and a man whose working model bi-plane drew lots of attention. I had never walked through the park to the Skoyen side until today and there by the school, on the edge of the park, was a permanent dog agility course. How cool.

I made the long trek over to the harbor and learned that all the ferries and sightseeing cruises are suspended until April on account of winter coming. It was the first visible sign that winter is to be taken seriously other than the constant conversation about the darkness, which honestly I haven't found to be a problem yet but I suppose it's still early days.

As I was out and about, I also went over to where they are building the new Opera house to see how it looks compared to the renderings and to get a sense of the scale. There are some pictures in my Oslo photo album (bear in mind, of course, that the structure is still very much under construction).

It's definitely more impressive in person but I still don't think it will become a symbol for the city the way Sydney's has. On top of everything else, it's not in the most photogenic spot and it's hard to get to. It's right by a highway with office buildings and a big hotel behind it rather than the iconic historic buildings a couple miles away. Coming from the main part of the harbor, I had to cross over the highway on a bridge with metal mesh walkway. I found it somewhat disconcerting to see the cars passing below me.

Tomorrow I'd love to hit the docks and pick up some fresh shrimp but we'll have to see if I can get up early enough. If not, I'll head north and check out the neighborhood where we expect to live. It's called Sagene (Sah-gen-uh) and I don't know too much about it except that people say it's nice and it's about a 20 minute walk along the river that runs by the office.