Kiran's Musings: Oslo Day 4 - Giant Statues and Miniature Bottles

Once again, we were slow to rise (leaving the bathroom with it's warm shower and underfloor heating made for some long showers). After the now familiar breakfast of an eclectic sub roll containing salami and cheese at one end turning to lettuce at the other via tomato and cucumber in the middle we set out on our last full day in Oslo. We later found out that the temperature was -12^o but it didn't feel that cold.
We headed to the west edge of the centre of town by tram to Frogner Park. The park contains a series of sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. From the ornate Vigeland-designed gates to the multiple sculptures that scatter the park it was very impressive, if a little bewildering. The 212 sculptures start on the sides of a bridge over the park's pond and are then followed by several large displays. The theme of the work is the relationships of man, all featuring men, women and children in different states. The bridge holds the famous Sinnataggen - a small angry child. Why it is famous I have no idea.
Following the bridge is the fountain. Sadly not working it left a giant dish held aloft by 4 giant men whilst at the bottom a surrounding series of carvings based around trees shows the path of man from cradle (a series of babies in a tree) to grave (a skeleton in the tree) in an unbroken cycle. There is suppose to be a mosaic on the floor, but due to the thick snow that still remained (even though we had had no fresh snow since we arrived) we couldn't see this. We passed several people out walking on skis and indeed several parts of the lake had frozen solid. My feet had got decidedly cold and holding my camera for more than a few minutes became very uncomfortable as my fingers lost all feeling - perhaps it was -12^o...
The bad thing about the snow was that steps hadn't been gritted, so ascending tot the next layout, the monolith, was made more tricky than it should have been. The monolith itself is the centre-piece of the park and took 3 stone carvers 14 years to complete and is carved from a single block of stone. At over 14m high it certainly impressive, but you can imagine the pressure on the carvers if after 13 years of work they had accidentally chipped off an eye or arm...
The area is surrounded by further scupltures which are frequently climbed on by children and tourists alike. The final major piece is the wheel of life, a circular piece summing up the overall theme - the cycle of life and the various emotions man encounters on the way and features man, woman and child holding each other so as to form a circle.

Vigeland himself struck a deal with the council. In return for building him a house and studio adjacent to the park and turning it into museum after his death, Vigeland would hand over all his works to the city upon his death. Several sculptures appear around Oslo. True to their word, Vigeland's studio is now a museum featuring further works and offering an insight into how he worked,completely unaided.
All his sculptures were created in clay and plaster before being turned over to stone carvers and bronze workers to produce the finished items. The museum features the original three part plaster version of the monolith and many other sculptures found in the park.

We returned to the centre of town and set off in search of the most random museum we had heard of - the Mini Bottle Gallery - a museum dedicated to miniature bottles.
Unsurprisingly, this is the only museum of its kind in the world. As it was privately owned, our Oslo passes didn't work and we had to pay (much to Matt's chagrin). Once in, we were treated to one of the most wonderfully eccentric museums I've ever seen. As a child, the current director of Ringnes Brewery (one of Norways biggest) was brought a miniature bottle of gin(!) by his father as a present from a travel abroad. He soon started collecting these small bottles (defined as any vessel that holds drinkable liquid 50ml or less so perfume and sauce bottles were out).
The museum boasts a collection of over 50,000 such bottles in all shapes if not sizes. From the obvious simple miniature spirits bottles to custom made, hand painted decorative items and even hotel specific bottles. Many of the more ornamental bottles are from Japan and Germany. We are greeted by a video showing Christian Ringnes introducing the museum. We see him attending miniature bottle meets in the US and the history of the gallery. After this it's a trip through some of the wackiest displays you'll ever have seen. Themed rooms include sports, famous people, fruit, animals and birds, the globe, the sin room (including for some reason a phallus hanging from a chain), music, the occult and even boasts the worlds most tightly knit miniature carpet with 11 million knots per square metre although quite how that is worked out I don't know.
We get a tour of different types of liquor and how they are made (including of course, just about every miniature associated with them), and the initially funny What is up a Scotsman's kilt (hint - it involves 3 bottles) that is triggered by walking through a beam on the floor. I didn't spot several miniatures that I have (not that I was looking) including a green absinthe and Skyy vodka. The museum doubles as a conference centre and the dining area features a chandelier made from mini Absolut bottles. Even the toilets were not without their quirks as the urinal was a gaping gargoyle's mouth flanked by personal "enlarging" mirrors (on both sides to cater for both left and right handers!) which was actually incredibly off-putting. It certainly is an incredibly unique place (the museum that is, not the toilet) and has a good sense of humour running through the whole thing.

We finally headed home. After the latenight antics of the locals last night (bars open until 4am), the city was deserted and most of the shops were closed, including our newsstand. I tracked down another for my pølse fix, but Blondie decided to embrace western capitalism and went to Burger King and paid the price as a large meal cost over £8! Since it was our last night, we decided to throw caution to the wind and head down to the modern tourist friendly, wallet unfriendly harbour area of Akker Brygge. Much to our surprise a lot of the restaurants were closed or not that expensive - we had heard stories of main courses costing £30 a go, but infact ours were about £15. The real kicker was the beer at NOK58 for 0.4l (about £5).
My selection was the odd combination of tagliatelle with deer (complete with gravy like coating) and winterberries. Despite looking like roadkill, it actually tasted excellent. Afterwards, we decided to embrace the cold and sit outsiderestaurantarant (albeit with furs, fleecy blankets and a heater) and watch the world go by. Of course, because it was a Sunday in the middle of winter only about 2 people went by, but it was still good.