Oslo was our home base away from home. As noted in the Oslo travel guide and tourist information, Oslo has a total area of 454 square kilometres of which, 242 sqkm are forested areas making it a green city with varied opportunities for recreation activities. The population is only 579,000. There are 343 lakes within the city limits and there are 40 islands within the city in the Oslofjord. The form of government is parliamentary democracy.
We arrived in Oslo and stayed at the Clarion Hotel Royal Christianna for a short trip to Athens and back to Oslo for our Baltic-Russia cruise. Oslo is beautiful and the weather reminded us of beautiful British Columbia especially this time of the year. It is situated by a fjord and surrounded by hills and forests. The public transportation is excellent and convenient by any mode of transport, air, land and water.
We enjoyed the most, the visit to Vigeland Sculpture Park and the convenience of annotated sight-seeing aboard the hop-on hop-off red double-decker bus. The Vigeland Park is located near the Frogner Park in Oslo and covers some 80 acres. The park was named after Gustav Vigeland, a Norwegian sculptor. The park displays 212 bronze and granite sculptures of Gustav, all personally sculpted by him. The story goes that he agreed to display his sculpture in exchange for land and agreement with the city that the park would be open 24 hours a day to the public and free (no entrance fees) so people would enjoy his imaginative creations. To the blushing person, this would be quite a challenge as the over 200 sculptures are depicted in nude, and shows people engaging in normal activities like running, dancing, embracing, holding hands, intimacy, etc.
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