Vigelands Park

Vigelandsparken is one of the biggest parks in Oslo. It was designed by Gustav Vigeland, one of Norway's most famous sculptors. (Nope I'd never heard of him before I moved here either.)  I suppose in some ways he is the equivalent of Gaudi in Barcelona. The park is filled with his sculptures:

The most famous sculpture is The Angry Child (Sinnataggen), which the locals have rubbed smooth over the years:

In the centre, a fountain falls from an enormous bowl that represents the burden of life:

A twenty-metre-high obelisk that depicts the cycle of life is the main focal point:

The figures on it fight, play, teach, love, eat, sleep and climb over each other as they try to reach the top. The locals are also very fond of climbing onto the sculptures that surround the obelisk.

The park is extremely popular in the summer. People barbecue, drink, and play traditional games like Kubb (two teams aim to knock over the other team's wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them, and then knocking over the King in the middle):

And given that we currently have lovely long days (or crazy long days if you're trying to sleep) where darkness doesn't really ever arrive, and the sun starts to rise at 3am, the park is used ALL the time. This is what people do at 11.30pm:

1. Walk their dogs (you might need to look closely)

2. Jog

I've also seen people playing frisbee.

Anyway it's a really pretty, tranquil space: