More Oslo

These are still pictures from Tues, Oct 11. My blogging is lagging behind real time, partly due to absolutely zeroing out my iPhone battery, which is where I blog, and partly I'm just too busy doing to take time to write.

It's nearly 1am here, Thommas has just made delicious blini (pancakes), good enough not to even need jam or syrup, just buttered and eaten out of hand. Susan Tedeschi is playing on his iPad and I've got my new sweater's ribbing underway finally.

Anyway, we left the museum by bus, and went to the Munch Museum. The security to get in was stricter than the airport's. Heidi at the Folkemuseum had mentioned that they had added layers of security since the theft at the Munch, and that was nothing compared to what we found at the Munch. I was not allowed to even take my purse in, let alone my tote bag. Thommas kept his coat, so that had to be x-rayed, plus we had to walk through the same metal detector as airports have.

Cameras were allowed but iPhones were not. Mine was dead by then anyway, so we just enjoyed the exhibit. It was showing the working sketches made by Munch in the competition for the murals to be installed in the University of Oslo's new building. We left there in time to visit a watercolor exhibit at a nearby gallery.

The pictures show:
The US Embassy, view from the bus. You can't see the tall wrought iron fence very well - it's as welcoming as it sounds
Inside an Oslo subway
Paving stones outside the University building where Munchs winning murals were installed
The very good restaurant, Lorry's, where we had an excellent fish soup, bottle of white wine, and tried a Nøgne Ø ale, brewed in Lunde (my grandma's maiden name!)
Sculpture in the intersection of Munchs Gate, St Olavs Gate and Univeritetsgate. The students meet there and can sit on benches next to the glass skylights that light the subterranean level.

Norsk Folkemuseum, part 2

OK, just so we're clear here, the date on this Bloggi says Friday, but I'm still writing about Tuesday at the Folkemuseum after I got to see their coverlets. All the pictures here are of traditional arts and crafts of Norway. There was a section at the end showing modern uses of traditional techniques, but since I still can't keep the uploads in a specific order I won't include these here.

First picture is a linen press, they do love their linen crisply pressed here. Next is a floor loom (often called a horizontal loom here). After that is a variety of Laundry Day tools, including a mangel board, the carved wood plank with a handle which was rolled back and forth (press hard!) on damp linens which had been rolled around a round stick - see the black and white photo.

There was a dollhouse, I show both sides here and have pictures of each room, if you want to see, email me.

The next picture is, I believe, a variation of Hardanger embroidery. The yellow building is one of many that are part of the museum. Like Colonial Williamsburg they have also moved buildings from other places.

The next picture is a warp weighted loom, (vertical loom) which is how many of the coverlets I've been studying were woven. After the woman using a mangel is a horse drawn wagon. One of two that hang out at the museum, giving the place an authentic 'air'.

Last is a bakehouse, brewery, laundry. Might as well have a brew while you wait for the laundry to boil, I guess.

Oslo Coverlets

At 10 we met with Heidi Uleberg, who could not have been nicer. She had 3 coverlets to show me,

The first was red and black, with the date1828 and No. 279 woven in along with some initials. I have learned that it was unlikely that home weavers were weaving these coverlets. Besides that they probably lacked the skills, a good day of weaving was considered 6", so it would have taken nearly 3 weeks of solid weaving to complete, not counting setting up the loom and seeing the 2 panels together. Even assuming the home weaver could escape her (she was almost certainly a woman), to have the household loom unavailable for that amount of time was not possible. Too much other goods needed to be produced.

So who wove these? There was one quite well-known weaver who was widowed early in life and she travelled from farm to farm, weaving. She was the first to number her coverlets, but other women she taught probably did, too.

The second coverlet unwrapped for us (this time Thommas stayed with me, so I have a second set of photos, better resolution than with my iPhone) was also numbered, but I got the feeling it was by a different weaver. Although with the date 1835 and number 428, she could be the same.

This one has a black and white warp with light brown, white and red in the filling. What we speculated on was why the two panels did not have the same red stripes. Did she run out of red? Was the dye improperly set so it looked correct when she wove it and later changed?? Lots of questions, few answers. Though this is the first I've seen with the N in No not backwards.

The last was my favorite so far. It has red and black in the warp and red and black or blue in the weft. What's unusual is that it was woven full width, about 60", instead of the 2 panels one usually finds. What's more unusual is the overall pattern of alternating lions and roosters. The offset progression of the animals creates a wonderful movement in the pattern, which is heightened by the alternating bands of black and blue in the weft. We had been photographing and studying (a few of the roosters only have one foot - most likely weaver's brain cramp) when I flipped the top end up on the table. There were the cutest ducks lined up in the border! The examination table was 59" long, and while the first two coverlets only overhung the table a few inches, this one was 8" or so too long at both ends.

Like the first coverlet, it had been rolled up with the face out, so it ended up on the table wrong side up. I was able to use my gloved hands to turn back the last 10" of each coverlet to see the reverse, but flipping one entirely was out of the question. And not really necessary, either.

The museum owns a fourth doublecloth coverlet but it was on display. When we said thanks and goodbye to Heidi, she led us to the display floors of the museum and we tracked it down as well. We obviously couldn't examine that one, but Thommas did manage some good pictures anyway.

Norsk Folkemuseum

After leaving the city hall, we took a bus from in front of the National Theater to the Folkemuseum. On the way we passed one of the many tiny cars that can nose into half (or less) of a parking place.

We also passed a good-sized marina, an affluent neighborhood, and the place where the prince lives (THE prince, not the formerly known as...) which is also a farm.

When we got to the museum a bit early, we walked around the still-closed museum grounds and discovered a film crew in full action. They were in the city area of the outdoor area, near a 30's vintage gas station. Before I could get any autographs or even find out what was up, it was time for my appointment.

Oslo City Hall

After a quite good buffet breakfast (the Rica in Bergen last week set the bar very high) we set out to see some of Oslo before going to the Norsk Folkemuseum. We went to see the City Hall.

It is quite amazing. The style is late art deco/early functionalist, with tapestries and paintings and carved ceilings, just fabulous.

We arrive in Oslo

The train arrived at the National Theater stop just before 7pm. It was a short walk on Karl Johans Gata (the main street that runs from the Castle to Central Station) where we had reservations at the Best Western.

On the way there was a tribute to Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen live on stage. It was all in Norwegian so Thommas had pity on me and we didn't stay to watch.

We checked in and after a short rest, headed out to see some of Oslo and get something to eat.

The rooms were quite nice, mine was facing a large airshaft, Thommas' faced the side street. Mine was always quiet, his was okay until the truck delivered a dumpster for 20 mins at 5am....

Most all the shops were closed and I wasn't so hungry so we headed off to Cafe Bacchus. It's a charming place Thommas knew, and we had Aass (brand) beer and chips with chive/onion dip. Real chips, not British chips.

It should have been an early night since I had a 10 o'clock appointment in the morning, but after I said good night to Thommas I stayed up until 1am watching 2 episodes of "Damages" with Glenn Close. It was in English with Norwegian subtitles so it might count as research???