Just before the end of my school year I
had a long weekend. I took advantage of the extra days to travel to
Oslo, Norway. As far as I know, this was my first visit to the city
and to the country. I'm 1/8 Norweigan, I have no idea why it took me so long to visit the country.
My flight left Kyiv at 2030 on a Friday
evening, landing in Riga. I tried to sleep in the airport in Riga,
though it didn't really work. Since I didn't sleep I found a row of
seats without armrests, (at least I could lay down,) and a couple of
plugs.
My connection to Oslo from Riga went
smoothly, I landed around 0900.
The plane was small, so small that it
didn't connect to the terminal by walkway. Instead we all walked off
the plane, and onto a bus. Getting through customs and passport
control was easy, yahoo.
Almost as soon as I stepped into the arrivals hall I realized that this
was going to be an expensive trip, no matter how hard I tried to
budget. As I walked past the Starbucks in the airport terminal I did
the math on the prices I saw and was shocked. Starbucks isn't known
for being cheap, but WHOA.
The ATM I saw gave me the option of
withdrawing Norweigen Kroner, Euro, or US Dollars. I wonder if all
three were actually possible. I withdrew Kroner since I was in
Norway.
I had a few options for getting into
the city center, with a range of prices. I opted for the cheaper
train option. I had the choice of a fast train, or a regular train,
though the time difference wasn't all that much. The train I chose
ended up being around 25 minutes, whereas the fast train was said to
be 19 minutes. Why would anyone pay 3x the price for 6 minutes less
on a train?
Oslo central station isn't as big or
impressive as I'd expected. Maybe I'm just too used to the grand
central stations in other areas of Europe. Regardless, it was
central, and easy to exit. There was a second hand market set up just
outside the station, on a small platz. From what I saw, most of what
was for sale were clothes of various types.
I walked in the general direction of my
accommodation, seeing what I could see along the way. Almost
immediately I came close to a church. A very tall church, though I
wouldn't call it grand. My travel app told me this was the Oslo
Domkirche. Basically the Oslo Cathedral.
I really liked the front door, though I
didn't love the beggar lady sitting in front of it. I always feel a
bit guilty when I see beggars, as I rarely give them anything. At the
same time, if I gave something to every beggar I saw while traveling
my trips would be shorter and more expensive.
As I walked through I remembered to
look up, and enjoyed the decoration of the ceiling. Very colourful,
but not very complicated. Most of the walls of the church were white,
or cream, and not otherwise decorated.
As I walked through I listened to the
music of the organ. I think there was an organ concert later that
day, and this was just practice. It was beautiful. I love listening
to someone playing an organ. The music is powerful, and carries
feeling really well. I wish I'd remembered to go back for the concert
itself, or had been able to listen to the entire practice time. Oh
well.
There was no entry fee for this church,
though I suspect it was the 'main' church in the city. Yippee. Off to
the side of the church was a small garden area, very charming.
Across the street from the church was a
flower market. I loved the flowers, all the colours and variety.
From there I headed more directly
toward my hostel. When I got there I wasn't allowed to check in
early, though I was able to drop my bag off. There was a nice
community area in the lobby, with plenty of people sitting around.
Most everyone was looking at a smart phone, or tablet, or laptop,
there wasn't so much talking going on.
I used one of my travel apps to create
a map of the places I hoped to see that day. My first stop was St
Edmunds church. Unfortunately, it wasn't open. It wasn't a grand
church, but the outside looked very typical to what I'd expected all
over the country.
The church a block over wasn't open
either. I think this one was Lutheran, as are many churches in
Norway. I wish they'd been open, as the Domkirche seems to be most
days.
My third stop was yet another church,
also not open. This one had a grand set of steps nearby, leading to a
massive set of arches/columns/gate of some sort. I don't think the
church was part of the steps or gate, they were just next to each
other. I took a few timed photos in front of the columns, just
because I could.
Behind the columns was a cemetery,
which I think belonged to church number 2 that wasn't open. I did not
go in, as the area was rather small and I didn't see an open gate.
Surprise, stop number 4 was another
church. This one was open for visitors, yahoo!! A simple interior
with a few stained glass windows. I love colourful windows. I don't
know how most people feel, but I always feel more welcome in a
church/synagogue/temple/mosque when there are stained glass windows.
Something about colour and warmth and welcome.
I moved from there to a main street.
This one had a whole lot of people out walking around. I looked into
a few of the shops along the way, but they were nothing special, and
I most definitely could not afford most of what I saw. Remember what
I said about Norway being expensive? This goes for just about
everything in every store. Crazy.
My fifth stop of the day was NOT a
church. It was a museum. Called the transport museum, though it
mostly focused on trams, trolleys, and buses. It was relatively
small, just one large room. A small warehouse sort of space.
The
entire area was packed full with old buses, trams and trolleys. I
loved it. Most of them were open for visitors to walk through.
Back in the day, most citizens of the
town relied on public transport to get around, and Oslo has a good
system set up. I particularly liked the tram that took skiers, and
their gear around. There were also heaps of route signs, you know the
ones that list the starting and ending point of where the bus, tram,
or trolley goes. I love this kind of history (daily life history) as
much as learning who was involved in governing different
countries/areas at different times.
I bought postcards here, they ended up
being the cheapest postcards I found in the entire city. By a lot.
The man at the cash register was surprised at how many I bought, I
suppose most people are surprised when they see how many postcards I
typically buy.
Back on the main street I walked back
toward where I'd come from. I passed a couple bakeries, and ended up
buying a scone at one of them. Expensive, just like everything else
in the city. The sign said it was raspberry, but that really meant
just a little bit of jam on top for flavour.
My next stop was the Royal Palace and
gardens. The gardens are mostly to the back of the palace, I wasn't
immediately aware they were connected to the palace when I entered.
These gardens had a small pond with a bridge going over the middle,
but not much else was very landscaped. Nice grassy areas, a few
benches scattered here and there. It didn't feel organized, which I
really liked.
As I got to the palace itself I found
out I was visiting just before the palace opened to visitors for
summer tours. My last day in the city was the day before the tours
started for the summer. Argh.
Standing in front of the palace was a
guard. I arrived just at the start of a changing of the guard
ceremony, which was nice to watch. It wasn't anything super fancy,
but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Lots of people had their photos taken
with the guard, I was one of them. (You know, the whole "I'll
take your photo if you take mine" switch.) I managed to get a
photo of the palace without anyone else in front by waiting for a
while and hoping no other visitors would wander across the front
facade.
The area in front of the palace was a
platz of sorts. It was hard packed dirt, covered with very very fine
gravel. I'm guessing it is a sort of parade ground from time to time.
The palace itself is rather boring, very bland. Just a big building
painted dark-ish yellow. Toward the front of the platz, in the middle
was a statue of a guy on a horse. There were all sorts of people
sitting around the base of the statue, relaxing and enjoying the day.
The palace is sortof on a hill, I went
down the hill toward the national theatre. I'm used to seeing
fountains in front of theaters, in a place of pride. The fountain for
this theater was off to the side in the back. I don't know why.
Since
it was a nice fountain, heaps of people were taking photos with the
water. I didn't join in this time.
There was a strip of landscaping on the
side of the theater, complete with flowers and a few statues. More
people taking photos, of course.
Around the front of the theater I was
rather surprised by how normal it looked. That is, it looked like a
theater, but wasn't anything special. Maybe I'm crazy but I expect
more from a national theater. I tried to go inside and take a peek,
but all I was able to do was go up to the lobby on the second floor.
It was nice, but I wish I'd been able to see inside the theater
itself.
In front of the theater is a platz, and
a sortof garden area. Nothing exciting. I wanted to know the name of
the building on the other side of this platz. The backside of whateva
this building is is somewhat photogenic. It was not open to visitors.
I made my way to the waterfront area
next. I saw city hall, and was less than impressed. A large, brick
building, I was not a fan. (I don't really like brick buildings,
though I couldn't really say why. The exterior was ugly. The only
nice part of the building was the small garden area off to one side.
My next visit was the Nobel Peace
Center. Yup, the place that awards the Nobel Peace Prize every year.
There is an entrance fee, (not cheap of course,) and you have to put
your bag in a storage locker. You're allowed to take a camera through
with you, but you are not allowed to have any bags, not even a purse.
The first floor of the center was
atemporary (I think) exhibition about one of the winners. He won in
1935, and was a journalist, who wrote articles describing what was
going on in Germany, and also basically said it wasn't a good country
at the time. Not surprisingly, the entire German government didn't
like the idea or reality of Carl von Ossietzky being awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. He was the only winner of in the entirety of the
prize who did not have a member of the Norweigen Royal Family in
attendance at the awarding of the prize.
The royals didn't show up
because of the political situation at the time, they were trying to
avoid conflict with Germany and the upcoming Nazi party. (Lot of good that did, given what happened in/to Norway, just a few years later.)
The first floor also has an area where
you can sign postcards to send to countries imprisoning dissidents
around the world. The second floor has displays about the various
winners over the years. One room has a tablet dedicated to each
winner. Another room goes into deeper detail with a few of the
winners. A painting of the Chinese winner in 2010, Liu Xiao Bo
mentions that he is the only winner of the prize who is currently
incarcerated.
I happened to be in the room at the
same time as some Buddhist monks who were taking a whole lot of
photos at the area dedicated to the Dalai Lama. I'm not sure why, but
I sometimes think of Buddhist monks as people who eschew a lot of
modern technology, so seeing these guys so excited to take photos of
and with the photo of the Dalai Lama display struck me as totally
awesome.
I left the Peace Museum as it was
closing. Since I wanted to take a photo of the front of the building
I waited around for a while so the people skateboarding in front
wouldn't be in my photo.
I wanted to visit another museum in
Oslo that day, but by the time I left the Peace Museum it was too
late. Instead, I walked back to my hostel, and finally checked in.
I'd reserved a bed in a 4 bed dorm room (single rooms in Oslo were
WAY too expensive for me,) and I got lucky. No one else had a
reservation there for that night, I had the room to myself. Yippee!!
I realized I'd been walking around most
of the day and hadn't eaten much. Instead of staying in for the
night, I went back outside. Not too far down the road, I chose a
falafel place. My meal was just over $10, which I'd already realized
was 'budget' pricing in Oslo.
On the way back to my hostel I stopped
in a supermarket for breakfast food and snacks.
I turned out the lights that night
after 2300, there was still some light in the sky even though the sun
had officially set. This is a great time of year to visit northern
countries, as it feels like it is light ALL THE TIME.
Since it was already light, I wasn't
surprised I woke up pretty early the next morning. Waking up early
didn't mean I got moving any earlier than usual. I really need to
work on this.
I used one of my travel apps to create
a walking route for the day, my first stop was a place called
Vigeland Park. I'd never heard of it before arriving in Oslo, though
apparently every other visitor to the city had. I definitely wasn't
the only one there. My walk there took me through quiet
neighborhoods, which I loved. It also took me past a church in the
middle of a service. As I walked past I heard music, so I stopped for
a moment. I realized it was Amazing Grace, a song that always evokes
emotion when I hear it. I stayed there for the rest of the song.
Vigeland Park is full of naked statues.
There are a LOT of statues. Most people enter the park near a bridge
with plenty of these statues along the railings. I took photos of a
few of the statues, but no photos of me with any of the statues.
Plenty of other visitors seemed to be taking photos with all the
statues. Am I weird for not wanting photos of me with these naked
statues?
After the bridge there is a fountain
surrounded by more of these statues. More photos of course. I asked
someone to take a photo of me with the fountain, so I guess I wanted
one of these photos after all.
After the fountain was a set of steps,
and an obelisk of sorts surrounded by heaps of naked statues somewhat
entertwined with each other. As the weather was absolutely lovely,
there were a lot of people hanging out on these steps, soaking up the
sun. I sat down for a few minutes too.
There was still another area behind the
obelisk. This area had two statues, and no nakedness. There was a big
sundial, and another thing that looked like a memorial. (I didn't
take a photo of the sign, argh.) My way back out of the park took me
along a sidewalk lined with trees. Absolutely lovely; and
surprisingly quiet considering it was right next to a parkplatz.
I had a calzone for lunch from a nearby
7-11. That's not exactly a great place, or healthy, but I really
needed food at that point, and I didn't want sweets.
I walked quite a while to get to my
next sight. My walk took me past a small marina, and past a small
pasture area where a few cows stared at me. I walked along a
sidewalk/trail through trees, it was really really quiet.
I arrived at Oscarshall, and took it in
for a moment. It is a small palace, but definitely eye catching. Much
more so than the national theater or the royal palace.
The sign said
there are guided tours every hour, but I arrived at 15 past the hour
and didn't want to hang out for 45 minutes. Oscarshall was the summer
palace, back in the day. I took a few photos, and moved on. My photos
were of the backside of Oscarshall, since the front side was backlit
at the time. The front side is more impressive, especially since the
front steps are approached by a small marina. How cool to arrive at
your summer home on a boat!
I walked to the Viking Museum, which is
not huge, but is definitely impressive. There are remains of three
viking ships on display, they take up a lot of space. There are
descriptions of what was found in the ships when they were
discovered, as well as other descriptions of what has been found in
other ships. All three ships on display were found while buried, and
were used as burial places for important people. Very very cool.
There were maps showing how large the
Viking 'empire' was, or at least how far the ships traveled for
trade. They went a lot further than I knew.
My next stop was the Fram Museum, the
self declared best museum in the world. I don't know if that's true,
or even if it is measureable, but it is quite impressive. The Fram
Museum is all about the exploration of the polar regions done by
Norweigans.
There is an orientation video for this
museum, they show it every 15 minutes in a small theater. The video
gives brief descriptions of a few of the explorers described in the
museum. Since I knew nothing of polar exploration, all these names
and the information was a bit overwhelming.
There are two huge areas of the Fram
Museum. In one of the rooms is the ship used by Roald Amundsen and
his crew as they tried to travel the length of the socalled Northwest
Passage. Since the ship is tall, there are levels of displays, which
you can reach by climbing the stairs. Visitors are not able to go in
the ship itself, darnit. The displays on the side walls have photos
and descriptions of what the voyage was like. Who was involved, what
they saw, what ship life was like.
In the other room the Fram is on
display. It is big. I suppose explorer ships are always big, but maybe it seemed big to me because it was displayed inside.
This ship was used by Arctic explorer Fridtjof (no idea how
to prounounce his name,) Nansen. This ship and its travels were
financed by monies coming from the Norweigian government. The Fram is
open to visitors. A gangway has been constructed to visitors can walk
through the ship, and imagine what life was like for Polar explorers
back in the day. There was a piano in one of the rooms, apparently
that was considered a necessity!
There were more displays and
descriptions on several levels of the walls of this area. A lot more
information. By the end of my time in this museum I was skimming the
information, and not really paying attention to all of it. The museum
is really well done, but I was overwhelmed with all the information.
After leaving the museum I walked
through the tiny park area next door. There was a display of a
'lighthouse' made from rubbish pulled from the sea. It made a
statement to me.
My original plan had been to walk back
around the long way, to the city hall area of Oslo. Then I thought
about how long that would take, and realized I didn't want to walk
that far at that time.
Instead, I walked a couple blocks over, and
found a ferry terminal. This ferry is considered public transport in
Oslo, and took me back to the port area in front of City Hall.
I followed a sidewalk and found a
souvenir shop selling all sorts of Oslo/Norway items. They even sold
bikinis made with the design of the flag of Norway. I asked the guy
behind the cash register if anyone bought those, he laughed. I bought
a bunch of Oslo postcards, and a magnet.
I kept walking and found the back
entrance of the Akershus fortress and castle. I was able to enter the
fortress walls, but discovered the castle was closed for the rest of
the day because of some ceremony. Darnit.
The Resistance Museum is
located within these walls, but I arrived too late to visit. Darnit.
The top of the fortress walls gives a
nice view of the port area. There are a couple canons on display, I
have no idea if they were ever used. If I remember correctly, this
fortress was never breached. The only time control was given up is
when the Nazi soldiers came into the country and tried to take over
the people.
I walked to the opera house, which is
really unique. I didn't go inside, but the outside was more than
enough to keep me interested for a while.
There are views into a
water area, and views over part of the city. You can walk up the
roof, as it slopes down to the ground. Like I said, really unique
architecture. My words don't come close to doing it justice.
On my way back to my hostel, I stopped
at a place called Los Tacos for dinner. My burrito was around $10,
and plenty of food for one meal. On the wall is a neon sign saying
'make tacos, not war.' Even better was the fact that the spicy salsa
they put on my burrito was actually spicy.
When I got back to my room I found
another girl in the room. In the end, we two were the only ones in
the 4 bed room. I was a little disappointed to lose my single room,
but sharing with just one other lady wasn't too bad either.
The next morning I woke up early again,
and basically skipped breakfast this time. Oops.
This day the weather wasn't nearly as
perfect as the day before. It was super windy, and felt much colder.
I walked to City Hall, circling around
the entire building before finding the main entrance. The main entry
side is more interesting aesthetically than the back side on the
marina/port. But I still found it ugly.
Entry into City Hall is free, and you
can walk around the building as you want. (Well, most of it anywho.)
There are tours you can join, including one in English, but the
timing on that didn't work well for me.
The entry hall is huge, and the walls
are covered in murals. It's an impressive room, from all angles. I
walked through all the open rooms, taking heaps of photos, because
each room is totally different, and totally awesome. I wished I'd had
time to join the tour, it would've been nice to learn more of the
history of each room.
I walked back to the castle area inside
the fortress walls. The castle wasn't open quite yet to the public,
so the gate was still being guarded by a soldier.
I went to the Resistance Museum,
waiting just a few minutes until it opened. I was the first one in,
yay. The entry fee was 50 kroner, the cheapest entry fee I paid
during this visit to Oslo. You can try to visit this city on a budget, but if you do, then you won't actually get to learn history of the city.
The museum describes the surprise
invasion by the Nazis, and tells all about life during those times.
There are descriptions and photos of all the different ways the Nazis
tried to control life in Norway. For the most part, these efforts
failed. Norweigians resisted in all kinds of ways, many of them
ingenious. They hid people wanted by the Nazis, they formed a
resistance, they refused to teach or preach Nazi ideals. It's a great
museum.
After I left the Resistance Museum, I
went to the castle area, and it's museum. I paid my entry fee,
grabbed the brochure, and went down the stairs. The tour of this
museum starts in the basement/dungeon of the castle, and winds up at
the top.
I got to see the dungeon area, a dining
area, the chapel, a throne room, and more. Each room had a
description plaque on the wall, which was better than the brochure.
There were also numbers indicating what to listen to if you'd rented
an audioguide.
I liked wandering around, and wished I had more time.
I loved seeing this history, and imagining how life used to be in
this country, years ago.
After leaving the castle, I walked back
to my hostel to pick up my backpack. Along the way I bought
sandwiches and another burrito to eat on the flights back to Kyiv.
I took the train back to the airport,
and got through security and passport control quickly.
I loved visiting Oslo, though it isn't
exactly a stunning city. I want to come back to the country, with a
LOT more money, and plenty more time. Norway is a country known more
for nature and natural beauty. I want to hike, kayak, camp, etc...
The new terminal was fancy shmancy, but efficient. I went through customs and passport control, (the passport stamp to exit Dubai was nowhere near the entry stamp in my passport. Argh.
