Oslo has a population larger than the next four cities in Norway combined. The “crowds” and larger buildings were immediately apparent at the new train station. Our hotel was created out of a portion of the old train station. While quiet and adequate, the color choices for the hotel rooms and corridors were drab in a country where colorful buildings seem more the norm.

The modern Opera House is next to the harbor; advertised on the window was its current production of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” with a huge “WAR” pasted on one side. This is a stark complement to the Nobel Peace Center located next to another part of the fjord harbor. The principal exhibit was “The Dangerous Prize,” about the whistleblower Carl von Ossietzky, a German journalist who exposed German rearmament after World War I.

We took a ferry to visit an array of other museums: Fram (Polar Ships), Kon-Tiki, Norsk Folkemuseum, and the The Center for Studies of the Holocaust and Religious Minorities, housed in the former villa of Vidkun Quisling, a Norwegian collaborator with the Nazis. The Munch Museum is this year featuring a series of exhibitions of the influence of Munch on modern artists. We were there for Jasper Johns and Edvard Munch, but were disappointed to not have access to the thousands of Munch works in the larger collection. However, we watched an excellent documentary, “Let the Scream Be Heard,” by Dheeraj Akolkar in the screening room of the museum. Oslo has many sculptures throughout the city; the largest collection is at Vigeland Park. The Akershus Fortress had a temporary exhibit of sculptures by Laura Ford.

A highlight of our visit to Oslo was dinner at the home of Audrey and Øystein, where we were joined by their daughter. We took the commuter train and bus, then walked a short distance through the woods (sometimes there are reindeer and moose) to their home, on the edge of Oslo. After a delicious dinner and interesting conversation, they drove us to two overviews of the city at night. The next day we went to the Holmenkollen Ski Museum & Tower (Ski Jump) for a daytime view.