Did the Vikings Wear Red Pants?

Stave church & carved pillar, fjord edge cafe, Vigeland statues, and passed out students

Oslo....land of gravlax, icebergs, and the $6 cup of coffee. Two days here just about broke the bank, but was definitely worth it. More dramatic and geographically varied than Copenhagen, Oslo offered the same wonderful mix of beautiful old buildings and mind-blowing contemporary design. At the outdoor Folk Museum we wandered through a stave church built in the 1200s and then ate mussels and people-watched at the Aker Brugge waterfront that's bursting with new development. Unlike Portland, Norwegians feel nature is something to be conquered and have no qualms about putting cafes and imposing structures (like the amazing new Opera House) abutting the water. (In the case of the Opera House, the fjord laps at the edge of the building and the steeply sloping roof is an invitation to slide into the water.) At the other end of town, we visited Frogner Park, which boasts 192 bronze and stone sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. (Japanese tourists were enjoying themselves shedding their shirts and mimicking the statues' poses--luckily they kept their pants on!) We also observed the strange "brotherhood of the traveling red pants." Apparently high school seniors mark their impending graduation by donning red overalls and getting crazy drunk for the three weeks between the end of classes and their final exams. The pants are like walking yearbooks, covered with signatures and mementos. Mick, our friends' son (and part-time guide) who is going to grad school in Oslo, told us that the red pants also serve as an early warning device of crowds to avoid!

Oslo's dramatic new opera house, an iceberg of white marble moored in the city's harbor