One of the things that really struck me in Oslo was the shear volume of (re)development that was occuring - and not just around the Opera House, but to the West beyond the Royal Palace, and just in front of my hotel, the Government Plaza has also been under a long process of development since before the tragedy in 2011. There is also a new National Museum slated for opening in 2020, that is being constructed right next to the Nobel Peace Centre. It could just be that Oslo Sentrum/Centre is so compact (not much wider than the distance from Kent Uni to UCA iirc), that it has simply condensed the appearance of development. Granted, Oslo also has *many* districts, and I only wandered around maybe 3?

Vigeland Park is (in/near) the Majorstruen district (and for whatever particular reason, my inner voice goes full Geordie when saying Majorstruen); and it is named after a prolific sculptor - Gustav Vigeland - who signed a contract with Oslo municipality to provide him a studio, apartment & future museum; and in return the city would be provided almost all his works, past, current & future. Vigeland park was a major undertaking and was never completely finished (several planned gates are missing for instance), but the three key items were finished - the Wheel of Life, the Monolith & the Fountain.

Another structure I visited was the Villa Stenersen - one of the so called “Iconic Houses” (such as Villa Savoye”) that mark a key piece of international domestic architectural heritage. Unfortunately, I was unable to go inside as it is only open on Sundays (someone forgot to check ahead… *ahem*, whoops).

Ultimately, I ended up doing a long loop around from Vigeland Park, through the suburbs of Vinderen to Blindern & Oslo University (which I wanted to mosey around due to it being the location of a film I’ve seen - ‘Thelma’, as well as a friend’s old haunt), then hitched on the metro back through Majorstruen to Sentrum. That was a hot day.

I think I preferred Oslo to Copenhagen, but I would like to go back to both cities, although next time I think I’d prefer not to go alone. Visiting new places by yourself is a *lot* of fun, and I’ll still love to do so, but we’ll see ^_^.