Fall in Oslo and Surrounds

Fall came and it was beautiful. The days did get shorter and shorter, but the beauty of the plants put the thoughts of cold and dark out of our minds (sort of). Although we did notice that the height of the sun was pretty low most of the time and that was a little worrisome.

This red plant is, believe it or not, Virginia creeper. Who knew? It covers many buildings and turns a blood red at the height of its fall color. There is an Edvard Munch series of paintings depicting a yellow house (common color of buildings and houses in Norway) that has this blood red color dripping, as it were, all over the house. When we first saw the painting we thought of blood and how many of Munch's works seem so sad and full of grief. But, it turns out, this is how Oslo looks in the fall.


















In October my brother Andy came for a visit and we took him to Vigeland park just after a rain storm (note the rainbow). We have managed to go to this park in all seasons and it still impresses us. This winter we managed to finally get to the museum that is at one end of the park and houses much more of Vigeland's work (it was his studio).







We took a couple of day trips outside of Oslo with my brother. We visited some viking mounds and yes that is just what they were - mounds of earth that were high, and presumably someone was buried in them. There looked to be an interesting museum, but of course, since it was Saturday, it was closed.

We continued our outing down the west side of the Oslo Fjord. This lighthouse (literally) was at a place ont he fjord that you could see open water. It was spectacular. A rocky outcropping at the edge of the water. The area is quite popular in the summer for swimming. More photos on the next post.