March 15th 2019

Today we went to the Oslo Opera House – just to look around, we’re not that cultured. It’s a really fascinating building right on the Oslo sea(?)front.

The exterior is all glass, but a long sloping root allows you to walk right to the top of it and gives you wonderful views all over the Oslo sea(?)front.

Architecturally, it’s a hugely impressive and striking building from the outside, and on the inside it’s just as intricate. I’m sure someone smarter than me could explain how the building’s design is beneficial to the acoustics of the orchestral arrangements, or something like that, but to me it just looked cool.

We sat in the cafe for an hour with a (delightfully and surprisingly nice) coffee. You’re forced to whisper because anything louder carries your voice all around the building. And I guess that’s kind of the point.

The buildings are one of the most fascinating things about Oslo, with the opera house perhaps being the most interesting. In general, all of the buildings are very grand, classical, colourful, and symmetrical, but the Opera House kind of goes against that.

Until tomorrow, that’s the closest I’ll ever get to going to the opera.

Jacn