You tiger now! – Pixeled Passport

|02-NOV-2014| Woke up this morning to brighter skies and no immediate indication of rain. We headed out immediately after breakfast this morning to hit Vigelandsparken – the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron. The park is probably packed in the summer time but today the only splashes of color were the bright colors of tourists’ backpacks and rain coats. We snapped some pics – after all we did walk about 45 minutes to get there. Then we headed back toward the inner harbor to check out the architecture of the art museum. Turns out that little area of the inner harbor is home to not only the museum but some swank luxury apartments, trendy restaurants and upscale boutiques. We took a break for espresso and a brownie at a cafe before heading back to our hotel.

A sign from last night’s walk. Freia is a local manufacturer of chocolate candy

The central sculptures at Vigelandsparken. They were grey, the sky was grey – thankfully the grass was green, otherwise it would have been *very* oppressive.

Swanky Aker Brygge, boasts shops, restaurants, bars and condominiums. Apparently there are 5,000 restaurant/bar seats, 2,500 of which are outside!

Mathallen is a center for food culture in Oslo. Thirty-three specialty shops feature Norwegian products from small scale producers and mixed in with the beautiful deli counters are cafes, a sushi bar, a tapas bar, a chocolatier and a beer bar.

We people-watched from a small table at Øltorget, the beer bar with over 300 kinds of beer from all over the world! Most of it was in bottles – they had Red Hook! We preferred something on draft – I had an unfiltered Pilsner Urquell and Jeff tried Dåbbel Bundeknøl from local brewer Lindheim Ølkompani.

And now for the tigers … what’s up with all these guys?

Eye of the tiger? Glass Tiger? Tiger Veils? Tony the Tiger? Movin’ like a tiger?

YOU TIGER NOW!!

Pasta for dinner at VaPiano, a lovely Italian restaurant just down from our hotel. Interesting concept – you get a plastic card when you arrive that you use to collect charges at the various “stations” in the restaurant. All the pizza, pasta and salad dishes are made fresh to order to your specifications while you watch. You can customize all aspects of the recipe as it’s prepared. I had a spicy penne dish and Jeff had a spinach ravioli. The tables are adorned with fresh rosemary and basil plants that you can use to further flavor your dish.

Jeff’s notes: It’s the little things about traveling outside the US that are weird. We have a coffee maker in our room, and I wanted some milk/cream for my coffee. So we bought a small carton at the convenience store. Except…. turns out it’s strawberry milk. In Amsterdam we once ended up with chocolate pudding (in a milk carton)… in Reykjavik, it was a container of sour cream. <sigh>

Oslo has a rep for being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Turns out that’s accurate. We don’t usually experience sticker shock in Europe… but $5 for a 16 oz can of beer in the grocery store is crazy!