Oslo, the gateway to Norway
I was at uni when I started travelling and I remember, travelling being the first thing on my mind day and night. I barely concentrated on lectures as I was always looking for the next place to travel to. Anyone who cared to listen knew I was crazy about travel. So my friend, Christian told me about where he was from. Norway. He showed me some of the pictures that he had taken from there and I was already planning when I was going to go there. Then I forgot about it...until he messaged me saying I was due a visit, at which point I quickly booked my flight and prepared myself for landscape love. And from the moment the plane began its descent, I knew I was not going to be disappointed.
After meeting up with Christian who had gladly agreed to be my host for the trip, we made our way to the first stop. Holmekollen where the famous ski jump resides. Have you watched Eddie the Eagle? This ski jump reminded me of the movie so much that I had to watch the movie a second time just to relive the moment. There's even a part in the movie, where the Norwegian team say to Eddie "Don't you know, you in Norway you start practicing when you are 5" and they weren't joking. Not only that but they practice even when there is no snow using roller skis. Look them up, they look... interesting. It's an area worth visiting there are some spots where you'll see great views of the city and they are a little bit high up, but so worth the climb 😃
After we had frozen ourselves a little, we headed over to the city centre. But I only had one thing on my mind the entire time. The Opera House. I have seen amazing Opera houses, the Vienna Opera house being at the top of the list, but now it's been booted out of that position by the Oslo Opera House. I mean how can you compete with a building that is not only by the Oslofjord, but it was designed in such a way that you can walk up it. Yep, you read that right, you can walk up the building. It was windy when we did it. Half of the time I was hoping to not fall or be blown away but when I made it to the top, I felt like I had conquered the world :P . From here, you can also see the group of buildings that have been nicknamed "The Barcode" because they look like a bar code when you are looking at them. Cool right !
All that walking to the Opera house got me hungry and besides it was dinner time. So we headed North towards Tjuvholmen where I was promised a good burger :). It gave me the perfect opportunity to see more of the city. We had burgers and I basically had an ice cream as a milkshake at Dognivill (I'm sorry i didn't take a picture, I was way too hungry).
After dinner it was time to head home but we missed the first tube and had to wait about 15 min for the next one so we used it as an opportunity to do a little bit more sightseeing. We walked to the Royal Palace and even though it was dark I still managed to get some great pictures. I managed to take a really nice on on my iPhone. Most of the pictures from this trip were taken on my phone, in fact I made sure to have this iPhone by the time my trip started so that I could take pictures. Talk about being a photo junkie.
We walked back to the tube station and made our way home and that was the end of the first day in Oslo.
The next day was a crisp autumn day and day to take a walk by the lake. So we headed out to Sognsvann Lake which is a lake in the city. I know you're thinking, "There's a lake in London as well, the Serpentine " but guys this is nothing like Serpentine. We walked around the entire lake and I was just amazed by the beauty and the accessibility. Sure we drove here, but it's just as easy to get the metro and get there as well. You don't need to go far to be amazed by the beauty in this city.
After completing the 2 mile (3.2km) walk around the lake, we headed into the city centre for some more sightseeing fun and the first on the hit list was Vigeland Sculpture Park. This park showcases the life work of artist and sculpture Gustav Vigeland and has more than 200 sculptures. Strangely, one of the most famous sculptures there is of a little angry boy (To be honest, even writing this I still don't understand why he is so popular...so if you know...please do tell me in the comments ). I found the Monolith the most interesting of all the sculptures because it’s very tall and the detail in the way that the people are on top of each other left me impressed with Gustav's skill.
After lunch we walked through the city centre making our way to Damstredet, which is the most charming street I have ever seen in my life. Christian didn't get what made it so beautiful to me, but for me it was everything. The cute house which were unique in terms of shape and colour and the fact that the road was cobbled. Ah ! I can't compare it to anywhere else because I haven't been to a place like that. For me, it made a fantastic end to my Oslo tour.
Oslo is an amazing city to start getting to know Norway. I mad e it as my base purely because I knew someone who lived here, but the city is full of friendly people just like Copenhagen, the other Scandinavian city that I have been to. I can assure you, you'll have a fantastic time there. Oh they also have a waterfall in the city 😛
Stay tuned for my next adventures in Norway.
Till next time x