I am taking a little detour (again) from family history to share a few sights with you. Greetings from Oslo!

This first photo is from the suburb of Sandvika, just south of Oslo. Behind me is Løkke Bridge, which was the subject of an 1895 painting of Monet’s that I like. If you go to the homepage of my blog, you’ll see the painting. The original hangs in one of my favorite places — the Art Institute of Chicago.

The next few photos are from a special art and history exhibit at Roseslottet (Rose Castle) at Frognerseteren in Oslo. Big thanks to Morten and Linda Kittelsen (the family I visited in Øvrebø) for recommending this!

The exhibit is a deeply moving outdoor installation of paintings and sculpture that documents the resistance to the Nazis in Norway, the expulsion of Norway’s Jews, and the conditions for soldiers and ordinary people during the War. If you like to learn more, visit this site: https://roseslottet.no/en/visjonen/

Finally, I’m sharing a few scenes from around the Oslo city center — including a photo of me having a nonalcoholic beer at the London Pub. I visited this bar 10 years ago when we came to Norway the first time. Sadly, a shooting occurred here two weeks ago, which killed two and injured 21 people. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime by the police. The London Pub is a fixture in the gay community in Oslo, and the shooting sent a shockwave around the world. It also led to the canceling of gay pride festivities in Oslo this year.