BERGEN, NORWAY, 3 DAYS IN MAY: Old and New and a Walk About Town

The Domkirken (Cathedral) in Bergen, Norway, dates to the 12th Century.

Conventional wisdom says to always carry your umbrella when you are in Bergen, and on our recent trip to Norway in May, we were glad we did. Unlike Oslo, where we had enjoyed warm, sunny weather, it was cool and cloudy in Bergen with periods of rain. But that didn’t stop me from going out and walking around the city.

Our hotel and the colorful building fronts of Bryggen.

Our hotel, the Radisson Royal Blu, where Art’s conference was being held, was in the heart of Bryggen, the historic center of the city, now preserved as a UNESCO Heritage site. 

Historic buildings of Bryggen. View from our room at our hotel.

From medieval times through the late 1800s, Bergen was the focus of trade on Norway’s west coast. Colorful storefronts facing the waterfront were once busy offices and warehouses and other buildings connected to the shipping business. Today they are restaurants and souvenir shops.

Entrance to the Bergen Castle.

Just beyond the warehouse district is the entrance to the old castle/fort and its large ceremonial hall, the Hakenshallen, a structure dating back to the 1200s. The opening reception of Art’s conference was held there and we were greeted by the mayor. It was not hard to imagine knights in armor dining in the magnificent room long ago.

Hakonshallen (ceremonial hall)

My first job after arriving in Bergen was finding a laundromat to do our laundry. I learned that, like virtually everything else, all the machines were operated by credit card. We had gone to an ATM machine when we arrived in Norway and gotten cash (Norwegian kroners), but almost never used it. Even the smallest purchases (like a cinnamon roll at the local bakery or the toilets at the train station) was paid for with a tap of a credit card. 

Spring flowers in the Bergen city park.

Armed with a map picked up at the hotel, I took a self-guided walking tour through the streets of Bryggen, then circling the city park, where strollers ambled down flowered paths and swans floated past a fountain in the center of lake. 

Swan in the lake at the Bergen city park.

Bandstand at the Festplaza.

Tulips, rhododendrons, and all kinds of flowers were in the glory of the spring bloom, brightening the overcast weather. At one end of the park a bandstand was ready for summer concerts.

Sample piece (from Brazil) in the Indigenous Histories exhibit at the Kode art museum in Bergen.

Facing the park on one side are three of Bergen’s art museums. One afternoon I met a friend for a visit to a fascinating exhibit called Indigenous Histories. (For a virtual tour of some of the pieces in the exhibit, go to my June 22, 2024 post my Art and Books blog.)

At the main shopping plaza in downtown Bergen, a modern portico has been added to provide protection from rain or snow. Look carefully at the metal column and you can see multiple images of me with my camera.

I then returned to the waterfront by walking through the business district of downtown Bergen. There a wide plaza with memorial sculptures is flanked by commercial buildings dating from the 19^th Century.

A food stand at the fish market offered burgers made of salmon, whale, elk, and reindeer meat.

In the fish market along the waterfront stalls were filled with artfully arranged fish, caviar, and sausages made from reindeer, whale, elk. There were also stalls with various cooked foods to go. (I didn't try any.) The fish market seemed to be more of a tourist draw than a place where locals went to purchase seafood to cook at home.

White building at end of the street is the beginning of the Floibanen Funicular.

A popular attraction in Bergen is the funicular, a skyride that whisks you up from town to the mountain overlooking the city for a spectacular view. But on the day I planned to do it, it was raining and the clouds were so thick that I knew it would be impossible to see anything from the viewpoint. So, instead, I went to the archeology museum next to our hotel and joined a one hour tour.

Trade routes from Bergen in the Middle Ages.

In the Middle Ages, Bergen was a transportation hub, sending ships to ports in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

Layers of history revealed in the archeology museum.

Over the centuries the wooden buildings of Bryggen burned many times and were rebuilt many times. As archeologists dig through the layers of remains they have uncovered evidence of life going back to medieval times. In the museum there were displays of ancient shoes, combs, tools, knitting needles and more--even a communal wooden toilet seat! I was particularly fascinated by the display of wooden sticks covered in runic writing.

The Futhark are ancient writing systems used by the Old Norse people of Northern Europe.

Both sides are carved with Runic inscriptions. "Hakon carved me, but the boy owns me." and "Bard owns me. He found much to object to in the person who carved me."

And on our last morning, after the conference was over Art and I did a tour of another museum in Bryggen, which introduced us to life in Hanseatic times. (Bergen was a member of the Hanseatic League, a confederation of German city/states involved in trade in the 14th to 16th centuries. Norway did not become an independent country until 1905.) We then checked out of our hotel and made our way to the ferry building to board the ship for our overnight trip to Alesund. As the ship steamed out of the harbor, the sky cleared and the sun came out as we said good-bye to Bergen. We no longer needed our umbrellas.

Leaving the harbor and the cloudy skies of Bergen.

For more about our ferry trip from Bergen to Alesund go to my post of May 27, 2024, Two Weeks in Norway: Trains, Planes, and Automobiles, and a Few Ferries, Too.

And for an overview of our three days in Oslo, go to my post of June 17, 2024, Oslo, Three Days in May: Opera, Art, History and Sunshine. 

 

The Bryggen waterfront, historic buildings, with the addition of a modern Ferris Wheel, constructed while we were there, perhaps in preparation for the summer tourist season.

 

 

 

OSLO, THREE DAYS IN MAY: Art, Opera, History and Sunshine

View of Oslo from inside the Opera House.

We landed in Oslo on May 1^st, our first stop on a two-week trip to Norway. We had three days to get over jet lag before traveling to Bergen, where my husband would attend a professional meeting. We wanted to see as much as we could of Oslo, knowing that in our short time there we would have to pick and choose. 

Pansies in a sidewalk planter in front of our hotel in Oslo.

Our hotel, the Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz, was located in the center of town within walking distance of most things we wanted to do.

Boat in the harbor, Oslo fjord.

On our first evening, after dinner in the excellent Italian restaurant in our hotel, we walked to the harbor on the Oslo Fjord, enjoying the evening sunshine of the far north spring. (Because it was close to midsummer, the sun didn’t set until nearly 10pm and rose again early in the morning!) 

Family of Four, Sculpture by Gustav Vigeland, Oslo.

In the plaza by the harbor stood “Family of Four,” by Gustav Vigeland, Norway's most famous sculptor. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see the museum and park in Oslo that features so much of Vigeland’s work. 

A tiny painter puts dots on the side of a storage building at the harbor.

But we saw lots of other public art everywhere we went, including this whimsical painting on the side of a building alongside the harbor.

Nobel Peace Center, Oslo.

The next morning, we visited the Nobel Peace Center. (Gustav Vigeland is the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize Medal.) At the Peace Center we learned about Alfred Nobel (Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite) and about the history of the Peace Prize and all the individuals who have received the award. I was reminded that Jane Addams, social activist and founder of Hull House in Chicago, was one of the early recipients.

Astrup Fearnley Museum.

All along the waterfront people were enjoying the warm weather, walking, sitting on benches, and eating at the many outdoor restaurants. Further along the Oslo Fjord we came to the Astrup FearnleyMuseum, one of Scandinavia’s most notable museums for contemporary art. The museum, designed by Renzo Piano, spans two buildings bisected by a canal. We walked over a bridge from one to the other. In one building, selected items from the Astrup Fearnley collection are displayed. They include paintings, textiles, sculpture, and other works by a wide variety of artists from around the world. There is also a room for children and families to create their own art.

Looking at Art Institute of Chicago 2, photograph by Thomas Struth at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, 2024.

Looking at Paris Street Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2022.

We were particularly engaged by a photograph entitled ­­Art Institute of Chicago 2 by Thomas Struth. In 2022 we were with our family in Chicago in front of the very same painting depicted in the photo, taking our own picture! (See the second photo above.) Our photo in Oslo (with me in the foreground) adds another layer of reality.

Bird Cabinet by Leonard Rickhard.

On the other side of the canal, the Astrup Fearnley Museum building features rotating temporary exhibits. We chose to see the retrospective of the work of Norwegian artist Leonard Rickhard. (It ended on May 19. ) The exhibit was organized around repeating themes in Rickhard's work—a bird cabinet, the night painter, the model table, the birch forest, deserted barracks, workers sheds—often in combination. I was struck by the contemporary look of his paintings, even those done fifty years ago. (For more samples of items at the Astrup Fearnley Museum, see my June 17 post at my Art and Books blog.)

Inside the Oslo Opera House on the ground floor.

That evening we had tickets for the opera, performed at the spectacular new opera house, where the roof is also a giant patio. 

From the roof of the Oslo Opera House your can see the Munch Museum next door. It is dedicated to the work of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch and has three versions of his famous painting The Scream. 

The opera we saw was Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini. The production was lively and humorous and easy to understand—a small screen at our seats followed the libretto translated into either Norwegian or English. (We chose, English, of course. Throughout Norway, at least in areas frequented by tourists, we found that almost everyone speaks English.) At intermission, as we stood on the balcony and gazed out the windows, the sun was just setting over the Oslo skyline.

At Henrik Ibsen's grave in the Memorial Cemetery.

On our second full day in Oslo we had arranged to meet an American friend who has lived in Oslo most of her life. It was wonderful to have a personal guide and insight on what it is like to live and raise a family in Norway. On the way to her apartment she took us through the Memorial Cemetery, a beautiful park-like area open to the public. It is the burial place of both ordinary citizens and Norwegian notables like Henrik Ibsen and Edgar Munch. 

Old Aker Church was built as a three-naved Romanesque style basilica.

From the cemetery we walked to the Gamle Aker Church, the oldest church in Oslo. It dates back to the 12^th Century and continues as an active congregation. The next day, on our visit to the Folk Museum in Bygdoy, we saw a 19th Century painting of the church. 

Our guide for our tour of the Folk Museum.

Our last full day in Oslo was devoted to a visit to the Folk Museum, a large park-like complex with museums and historical buildings from rural parts of Norway. Interpreters are dressed in traditional costumes. With a little imagination you almost feel as if you have taken a trip back in time. We took a one-hour English language tour that ended at the famous stave church, dating from the 13th century.

Stave Church at the Folk Museum. It is built entirely of wood.

We then wandered on our own, visiting a traditional farm kitchen, where young women in period clothes were baking lefse (a slightly sweet soft flat bread) on a griddle over hot coals. We bought two slices, served hot and slathered with melted butter. They were delicious!

The next morning we headed for the train station for the next part of our trip—a train ride over the mountains to Bergen. For a report of that journey and more about Oslo, see my post of May 27. We enjoyed our three days in Oslo, had beautiful sunny weather, made progress on adjusting to the time change, and felt we got a taste of the city. Someday we’ll have to go back and explore more.

At the Folk Museum with our two slices of freshly baked lefse.

EXPERIENCE AMERICA at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Baseball at Night, by Morris Kantor 1934, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.

In Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian American Art Museum(SAAM) shares a building with the National Portrait Gallery (to be discussed in another post). For museum goers, it’s a two-fer. And it’s free, just like other Smithsonian museums! As in many places elsewhere in Washington, this is a repurposed federal building, originally the national patent office. 

Third Floor Gallery

The four floors are packed with art, displayed in what were once offices and meeting rooms. On the third floor is a long gallery, in all its Victorian splendor, where patent applicants once displayed models of their inventions. Today, portraits of famous sports figures line the upper walls. 

Vaquero by Luis Jimenez. Modeled 1980, cast 1990.

Outside, at the G Street entrance, one is greeted by a large blue horse sculpture. Both entrances to the building lead from the street to a large covered atrium, where there are benches to sit, tables where you can sit and eat snacks from the Courtyard Café, and colorful displays of orchids from the Smithsonian plant collections. 

Orchids in the Atrium of the Museum.

I chose to start in the SAAM gallery at the west end of the first floor, which, is devoted to art from the years of the Great Depression, a time when artists enjoyed public support unlike any time before or since. The title of the exhibit: Experience America.

Entrance to the six rooms of Experience America. Valley Farms by Floss Dickinson, 1934, on left; Baseball at Night by Morris Kantor, 1934 on right.

“Many of the paintings in Experience America were created in 1934 for a pilot program designed to put artists to work; others were produced under the auspices of the WPA, which followed. The thousands of paintings, sculptures, and murals placed in schools, post offices, and other public buildings stand as a testimony to the resilience of Americans during one of the most difficult periods in our history.”

Scenes from American Life: Beach by Gertrude Goodrich, 1941-1947. Mural for Cafeteria of the old Social Security Building.

Although there are a few sculptures in the exhibit, most of the pieces are representational paintings revealing a picture of life in America at that time—from hometown baseball games and barber shop scenes, to farms, city life, and cotton pickers in the South. Here is a sample of paintings in the exhibit.

Ryder's House, by Edward Hopper, 1933.

Orilla Verde at the Rio Grande by Kay Walkingstick, 1935.

Skating in Central Park by Agnes Tait, 1934.

Grandma Moses Goes to the Big City (detail) by Grandma Moses 1946. She lived to be 101 and was 86 when she painted this..

 

In His Barbershop by Ilya Bululowsky 1934.

Sunlight and Shadow by Alan Rohan Crite, 1941.

The Experience America exhibit at SAAM is ongoing. The permanent exhibitions of SAAM feature American art from the time of the Early Republic to Modernism. I did a quick walk through the Folk and Self-Taught Art section, and the Modern and Contemporary Art on the third floor, but ran out of time and energy to see everything. I’ll have to go back to see the rest.

Suburban Post in Winter by William Gropper, 1936-37. Mural study for Freeport, New York, Post Office.

MAGNIFICENT CACTI AND SUCCULENTS: The Desert Garden at the Huntington, San Marino, CA

Desert Garden at the Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, CA.

When “June Gloom” blankets the Pacific coast on the west side of Los Angeles where we live, we go inland to get a little sunshine. We don’t have to go far—one of our favorite places is the Huntington  (located in San Marino just a 40 minute drive way) with its Library, Art Museums and huge Botanical Garden. We enjoy all the themed gardens—the rose garden, herb garden, Japanese garden, Chinese garden and more—but our favorite is the desert garden with its plethora of cactus, succulents and other drought resistant plants. It is always our first stop as we make our way around the 207-acre grounds of the Huntington estate. Here are a few photos of the desert garden from a recent visit.

In one section of the garden, dozens of barrel cacti seem scattered like spiny bowling balls across the sandy soil. It is hard to resist taking photographs in the desert garden--close-ups that reveal the complex shapes of each species and broader views showing the wide range of colors and shapes of the plants.

 

In other parts of the garden the plants are tucked among chunks of volcanic rock that become hiding places for small lizards. After pausing for a few seconds for its picture to be taken, this lizard scampered away.

The range of colors in succulents is amazing--from yellow, orange and red, to multiple shades of green, blue and grey.

Some of the plants have delicate blooms. This past winter Southern California had record setting rains, which may explain some of the lushness of the desert garden on our visit.

These herbaceous plants known as "towers of jewels", have an other-worldly appearance, resembling spiny multi-colored spaceships. They are endemic to the Canary Islands.

Little cacti next to big cacti illustrate the range of sizes in the cactus world.

While cacti are armed with sharp spines, this succulent has a leaf-like covering and "arms" that end in delicate clusters of blooms. Alluaudia procera comes from Madagascar.

The branches of this white flowering floss silk tree is covered with white flowers. The bulging trunk is armed with sharp thorns.

Gravel paths wind through the desert garden providing visitors with close-up views..

Everywhere you look, there is something to marvel at--the variety of shapes and colors, the wonderful symmetry of nature, the repetition of patterns, the remarkable way that desert plants have adapted to the stresses of extreme heat and lack of water.. 

The Huntington Library, Art Museums, and Botanical Garden is a collections-based research and educational institution founded in 1919 by Henry E. and Arabella Huntington. Henry Huntington was a businessman who built a financial empire in Southern California. The former residence of the Huntingtons is now the Art Gallery. You can see their portraits displayed near the entrance.

Visiting the Huntington

Tickets for visiting the Huntington can be purchased online, where you are asked to choose an entry time. Reservations are required for most days.  For prices and details check the Huntington website. The website also has a map and directions. Parking is free.

There are several places to eat at the Huntington ranging from cafes and a coffee shop to the Rose Garden Tea Room (for which you need reservations weeks in advance.) On our recent visit we ate lunch at the Jade Court Café where we enjoyed delicious Chinese food, sitting outdoors at a shaded table.

The Huntington also has an excellent gift shop, located near the entrance.

There is much to see at the Huntington. For an earlier post at The Intrepid Tourist about a visit to the Chinese Garden, click HERE.