My favourite place in the whole world.

It astounds me that the city of Oslo had the foresight to create this most incredible place in the 1930s. When you think about what was happening in the world at that time, to support this artist and his vision seems to me a remarkable thing. Gustav Vigeland's vision blows me away. I find this an incredibly thought provoking and uplifting place. To me it is like a religious experience. His figures (rendered nude so they are timeless and represent us as we all are at the core) and their relationships with each other and life itself sing to me about what it is to live and love and ultimately to die.

I had decided that as soon as we had any decent weather that we would go to the Vigeland Parken, and Saturday surprised us with gorgeous blue skies (although still cool). We set out nice and early and I'm glad as we got there before all the tour buses arrived. When we went again the next day the place was packed, and in so many ways you need space and quiet to observe these statues...plus it's really hard to get photos when it's crawling with people.

The park is free and open all the time. It's clean and there's no graffiti. The bronze statues are up quite high, but I love how their feet have been polished by people rubbing their hands over them. I am drawn to sculpture as a medium because I see it as a tactile experience. And that's what makes this park so special. You can touch. And you can climb all over the granite sculptures. Ella climbed on nearly all of them...putting herself into the poses they had. To me that is magical; to be part of art like that.

Vigeland did not actually carve all these statues himself. He made them out of clay and then plaster moulds and had people carve them for him. He died before ever seeing the park completed. To me his life's work is as important and as amazing as Michelangelo. On Sunday we went to the museum which the city of Oslo provided for him as his house and studio on the condition that he left all his art to it on his death. It was fascinating to see his designs for the whole park in differing scales and his different designs for the monolith (which is carved out of a single piece of granite).


I could have stayed all day, but the tour groups were arriving en masse and Ella wanted to go and investigate this playground she'd seen at the entrance. I was quite happy to sit in the sun and listen to Norwegian around me while she played.