We continued walking the Akerselva River towards central Oslo but then hopped on a Tram for the current Munch Museum. You can see the front of the Munch Museum in the first photo. But when Vicky and I got here, we changed our minds. Most of our fellow travelers went into the museum. The Munch Museum is right next door to the Oslo Botanic Garden and it was a beautiful May afternoon. Vicky and I opted to go and walk the botanic gardens.

The Botanic Garden is situated on the old Toyen Manor, a rich estate with the main wing probably the oldest wooden building in greater Oslo. The botanic garden was first established in 1814. Today, the botanic garden belongs to the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo. They do research, education, plant conservation, and seek to increase public awareness of the importance of plant diversity. The plant collection contains around 7,500 species of plants and 35,000 plants. We visited the Palm House from 1868, the Victoria House from 1876, the Scent Garden, the Rock Garden, the Herb Garden, the Viking Garden, and saw the woven sculptures of British artist Tom Hare around the park. The Natural History Museum and the Toyen Manor House were closed because it was Sunday and they close those on Sundays.

Tulips were in bloom several places in the park and it was a treat to see them. What blooms at home in January and February blooms here in May. You can see some tulips in the second photo.

Cherry trees and other trees were also in bloom though I think we missed their peak bloom by about a week.

You can see Vicky in the fourth photo and perhaps understand why we chose to walk the botanic garden.

The Viking Garden is in the last photo. It was very popular, especially with the kids. The Viking garden asks what did Vikings eat and how did the Vikings use natural resources. They had plants growing that the Vikings used and most of the Viking plants were very familiar to us in California.