Some trips develop an organic theme. In Paris it was Monet, Monet, Monet as we reveled all the places we found this quintessential artist’s art.

In Oslo, we got a case of the Munchies…as in the Norwegian Artist Edward Munch. I think Munch’s painting The Scream is the first “art  meme.” Everyone knows this iconic image of despair.  It has been copied, parodied, emojied and emblazoned on t-shirts and merch around the world. 

In Oslo, that one  painting is like Mona Lisa at the Louvre. .Everyone wants to see it, shoot it or selfie themselves next to it. At least the tourists do!  

In Oslo, Munch has rock star status. There’s his works in the National Museum where I found The Sleeping woman in my previous post. But Munch is not a one-hit wonder.

There was way more Munch to see and we became entranced by his art that far transcends his famous cri de couer.  In fact, one of the most sensational buildings in Oslo is the leaning tower of the Munch Musuem designed by Juan Herreros.

Inside, the museum  was all Munch, everywhere. I fell in love with his loose-limbed portraits and soft focus details.  I  loved seeing him return to themes years later with a completely different eye. His volume of work is staggering from giant wall murals to intimate wood cuts.

And, absolutely, The Scream, in three variations has pride of place in an enclosed area where the crowds congregate holding up their cellphones like Swifties on the Eras Tour!

Yeah, we got the Munchies and we got it bad!

But that’s not all we did, folks. We gloried in wandering next door to the dazzling new  Opera House designed by Snohetta Architects.  The building has become as much an iconic edifice as the Sidney Opera House.  However, here, you can walk up and all around the roof for spectacular city and fjord views. And across from that, is another architectural beauty, the cantilevered city library that, naturally, we checked out, too.

Of course, we couldn’t leave Oslo and its fjord setting without setting foot on the water. So we did.

We took a 10 minute ferry ride to Bygdoy Peninsula where we hiked over to the Fram Musum and learned all about—and sat inside— the boat that took explorers on the first Polar Expedition in the late 1800s. That was the age of discovery and this crew was led by a Norwegian.

We ended our action-packed last day in Oslo with a delicious seaside dinner at Seaport Restaurant.  This was the restaurant we were supposed to go to on our first, but way delayed, night in Oslo!

We had three perfect days  with perfect weather. And daily ice cream. and The Scream. What a way to start our vacay!