Jonatan Hildén
@jhilden
Information designer from Helsinki. Co-founder of Koponen+Hildén Co-author of the Data visualization handbook / Tieto näkyväksi (Finnish edition)
The next day: towards Stavanger, the inland route. No tolls, smaller roads. First break at the Heddal stave church, just outside of Notodden in Telemark. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heddal_... Note to readers: this is a somewhat insane drive to do in one day, highly recommending splitting it up. 30/
The Kon-Tiki museum is next to the Fram museum on Bygdøy. I was a huge Kon-Tiki-fan as a kid, but regrettably the museum is stuck in Heyerdahl’s exoticist pseudoarcheology views. Also the guy ”bought” nearly 1,000 Easter Island grave sculptures in 1955.😳 The raft and the reed boat Ra are on view 28/
The second Oslo day we started by visiting Bygdøy. If you know Stockholm or Helsinki, the Folkemuseum is like Skansen or Seurasaari, respectively. But much larger! Walking from Skøyen was a bit tedious though, recommending bus or ferry in hindsight. 25/
Oh, and each of the three Scream versions is on display for 30 min, as to not degrade from light exposure! The kids liked the ”connect the lines” expo, where you draw something that is then matched to an archive of 7,000 Munch drawings, returning something similar? 23/ www.munch.no/en/exhibitio...
The Munch museum. It looks like an airfield utility building, but the inside counts. Note that ”The Scream” is displayed in three versions on the fourth floor, but the most famous one is in Nasjonalmuseet! I am partial to Munch’s bizarre dog pictures 22/
The Oslo City Hall is jaw dropping. Had not visited it before. Doesn’t cost anything, but they take your pocket knife and give it back afterwards. The amount of art is staggering, especially as Norway wasn’t that wealthy in 1931, when construction started. The frescoes are by Alf Rolfsen 21/
First off, Viking Planet. A janky VR show, gimmicky, but decent effort at historical accuracy. Kids loved it; the 285NOK adult ticket would have felt expensive. There was a 3D capture of one of the ships & this is all the ships you’ll see in 2026 since the proper museum is under renovation! 20/
When you get high and order extra weird home delivery stuff from the supermarket, like… the former supreme leader www.hs.fi/maailma/art-...
After a lot of driving and some slightly stressful Oslo tunnel navigation we made our way to Scandic Formebu, just west of Oslo proper. It is the site of a former air field and now a subway extension is under construction. There are many large public sculptures and big futuristic tech offices 18/
From Örebro onwards to Norway. Swedish roads are amazingly good, as are the resting places: This one, ”Ristjärn” off the E18 near Karlskoga had toilets, warnings of African Swine fever (harmless for humans, but spreads via sausages?!), and picnic tables, in addition to the pretty little lake. 16/
Örebro itself is worth a visit. There is a small, walkable center and a famous castle. There are offices in the castle, including the county governor’s, and even classrooms. The museum seems kid-friendly but we didn’t go. A public art happening was on, with various installations around town. 15/
After Gotland we headed to Örebro, to stay at Gustavsvik camping. Main attraction: the Lost City water amusement park. The camping is large and very well equipped with public kitchens and lots of kid’s activities. EV charging right outside. Charging cars is not allowed on powered camp places. 13/
Gotland proving there being no risk of Ikea running out of bizarre place names to use
something feels off in this quill and nibs set… ”Log 039 I shoudumt haue eat...those [unintelligible] as the pain… Ihave no luck withmthe mishroom [unintelligible]ere.
Fårö: There is the Bergman center (small but nice), rauks (limestone formations), and Crêperie Tati that feels like something out of Fallout with all those 1950s car wrecks. The road to the ferry had waiting time markings from 1.5 hours, but we got on with no extra wait. So can get much busier! 12/
just some Lynchian personages from a 1980s Finnish game show called ”Hittimittari”, where ordinary people rated pop Songs. Popular meme content on the theme of ”people aged faster in the past” youtu.be/PhJwwqh10pc?...
When I was little, there was a dolphin swimming toy at my grandmother’s summer place that was inflated in the 1970s and still kept it’s shape. The seam on this damn ring broke after a year. Otherwise nice swimming at Tofta. See: a site for finding good, not bad Gotland bathing 👉 badgotland.se 10/
Parking is cheap and plentiful right outside the city walls. Conveniently Sweden and Finland are so consolidated that the same parking apps just work! But charging is more expensive. Cheapest Type2 I’ve found was 4.5kr, ~0.41€. A similar one in Helsinki is 0.27€ incl. free parking for 3 hours. 7/
After a smooth but crowded sea journey of 3h15min we arrived in Visby. Driving out was quick. You are not allowed to drive cars in Visby old town, except on relevant business. But having a hotel room counts, so we could drive our stuff right up to the place, even if there is no guest parking. 6/
They instructed drivers with a text message to disable the car alarm, as to not scare animals left in the vehicles on the car deck. Considerate! Had to search how that happens on the ID.3: you need to disable ”internal monitoring” from the menu shown at shutdown🙄 Fun location memory aide 5/
After some mild hazzle with the tunnels we got out of Stockholm and were on our way to Nynäshamn. Google maps said ”tolls”, but there were no tolls. Had some time to kill before the ferry, so we charged the car & got some groceries (not the sausages, just funny packaging) 3/
The road to Turku is good and fast, a way better option than sailing from Helsinki. However, getting the car out in Stockholm is not the quickest undertaking. The ferry docked at 6:30, but it took 45 minutes until we were out on the streets! Being able to run the a/c while standing is a blessing! 2/