Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-02-25

sweden, with which Norway was
united from 1914 to 1905.
Karl Johans Gade is a broad street
| extending from the chief railway sta
| ton near the waterfront to the royal
palace situated in a commanding po-
sition on an eminence. The palace is
set in spacious gardens and around
these extends the better residential
section of OSLO About half of Karl
JOhan's Gade is embelliShed with trees
and shrubs, but in the remainder brick
and cement buildings rise up sheerly
from the pavements. Just off this
main thorOughfare in parked places
are the university, the National thea
ter and the palace of the Storthing.
The little Eidsvalds place near the
StOrthing building is the center of the
afternoon and evening of Oslo, its
cafes and sidewalks being continually
crowded. In the park are interesting
Sinding statues.
Art and Clothing.
The Norwegian. respect for art, mu-
sic and literature is akin to that Of our
own New England; and in winter the
National theater's opera season is a
community, rather than a social, en-
terprise. An event which appeals es-
pecially to the travellers who arrive in
late summer is the August season of
Ibsen and BjOrnson plays.
The man who said that the sewing
machine has done more to break down
national distinctiveness than any other
invention would find proof of his as
sertiOn on OslO's streets. The cut Of
clothes is that of other cosmopolitan
European capitals. A vehicle survives,
however, which is Norway's own. That
is the carriole, sing!e-passenger af-
fair, mounted on two wheels with ex-
tremely long and flexible shafts.
The portion of Oslo devoted to bust
ness might be described as simple,
austere and clean. There is little Of
architectural value. The business
buildings are in the main somewhat
like those of American cities before
the advent of the skyscraper, and the
general appearance might indeed be
set down as a sort of cross between
that of an American and a German
town of similar size. There are nu-
merous little open spaces scattered
about the city which remind one of
Washington.
The social life of Oslo centers large
ly about the StOrthing, 'or parliament.
Another important factor in the city's
social life Is the faculty of the uni
versity, the only university in Norway.
That institution is we'll worth the
careful attention of the student of
Norway because of its work in the
field of letters and science. To the
casual visitor to Oslo, however, prob
ably the most interesting things about
the university are its exhibits of two
old Viking ships-nOt copies, but the
very galleys that these hardy old
Norsemen drove through the sea when
they were the scourge of the coast
lands of more southerly Europe.
Once a Viking Lair.
1t is fitting that such relics should
be preserved in Oslo, for Christiania
ford was probably the most famous of
Viking lairs. The boats are housed in
sheds in the university grounds. For
the preservation of these striking links
with the past moderns must thank
the custom of the old Vikings who,
like the Egyptians, Inferred a mans
property with his bones.
If the visitor would see Oslo at its
best he should not fail to make the
journey by electric tram to. Holmen-
kollern in the mountains that hang
over the city. He is lifted more than
1000 feet above the harbor, past at
tractive villas and through deep woods
and finally arrives at one of the prin-
cipal Scandinavian pleasure resorts
with excellent hotels. Norway's capi-
tai, with its island-studded waterway
winding off seward is spread before
him in a panorama of a great city.
sloping greenswards, forest, water.
islands and mountains that for beauty
and scenic variety is hardly to be ex-
ceeded anywhere in the world.
In the winter Holmenkollern draws
lovers Of winter sports from all over
northern Europe. 1t is the great CEN
ter of Norwegian skiing and toboggan-
iHg. There are held contests in ski
leaping to which the royal court and
the Storthing repair en- massp