I'll get to the Oslo Observations in a moment, but first I need to tell you about the plane ride here.
So I get myself all settled into my seat, we take off, they serve food, dim the lights, and I put my headphones in for a little nappy. Well, about 10 minutes into dozing, I open my eyes and there's this guy (learned later his name is Frank) talking to a couple of the flight attendants, so I pause my music out of curiosity. Let me paint you a picture: Frank has shoulder-length, stringy black hair heavily laced with grey and a 5 o'clock shadow. He's wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a dingy, tan sports coat, cowboy boots and aviators (even though it's dark on the plane). I missed what he asked, but the flight attendant's response of "no, we will not bring you a gin and tonic, please take your seat, sir" told me enough—Frank had been cut off and was none too happy about it. After going back and forth for a few minutes, he finally returns to his seat in the back of the plane (I was seated closer to the front). I doze again, but am awoken by the flight attendants once again ushering Frank ("okay, I'll relax!") to his seat and then I overhear parts of their conversation with each other. Words like "divert the aircraft" and "handcuffs" come up, but since Frank has been seated again, all seems OK. A few Frank-free hours pass and I get an hour or so of solid sleep before the sky outside begins to show off the Atlantic and I come to terms with my body choosing not to sleep anymore now that it's light out. As we near Oslo, Frank returns to the front of the plane for unknown reasons, but clearly the flight attendants are extremely frustrated with babysitting this man-child and once again usher him back to his seat. As we start our descent into Oslo, Frank decides that's a great time to leave his seat again (this is during landing, mind you), so there were a couple of tense moments as one of the flight attendants had to physically put him back in his seat. We landed and Frank makes his way to the front, but the flight attendants won't let him stand near the door. About 10 minutes pass until the flight attendant opens the door to let security apprehend Frank. During this time, he pulls out a prescription pill bottle and downs at least 2 unknown pills that I noticed and tries to push through the flight attendants to get at the door (which hadn't opened yet because they were waiting on security). All in all, one of the more interesting flights I've ever been on. Luckily, Frank wasn't super rowdy and didn't harm anyone or himself during the flight (for which I am extremely grateful), but I feel for the flight attendants that had to deal with him. I'm just glad we all made it safe and sound!
Alrighty, now that I've given my mother a heart attack, I'll get into the fun stuff!
Norway is fantastic!
Day ONE
I arrived at my hostel before check-in time, so I stowed my luggage in their complimentary storage room and headed out. I wasn't at the Opera House 5 minutes before someone asked me to take a picture for her and we struck up a conversation. Salma (I hope I'm spelling that correctly) is another solo traveller. She's from Morocco, but currently studying in France and decided to visit Norway and Iceland on a school break--how cool is that?? We chatted for a few minutes and then went our separate ways, but it was so nice to encounter such friendliness moments after my arrival.
I got a nice surprise when I checked into my hostel: instead of the 6-person dorm I had reserved, they put me in a 3-person dorm (but a third still never showed up and the other person only came in to sleep). I got myself settled at the hostel, and then went to the grocery. I decided to treat myself to a Norwegian dinner, so I had Reindeer Stew and the local beer, Hansa, in the cafe connected to the hostel. The rest of the evening was spent at a local bar, where I made friends with a gay Norwegian nurse, Erik. Again, it was really great to have someone to chat with in a city I've never been to.
Day TWO
I decided to get the Oslo Pass, which I absolutely recommend if you’re in Oslo for 3 days or less (comes in 24, 48 and 72 hour options). It includes entrance into over 30 museums and attractions and offers discounts on many others, as well as unlimited use of public transit (buses, trams, metro). Anyway, I did a lot of exploring and had a wonderful day.
-Munch Museum: Of course has Edvard Munch’s work, but also currently displaying photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. Some of Mapplethorpe’s photos are not for the faint of heart, but most were absolutely beautiful.
-National Gallery: Loved this one. The rooms are numbered and offer a nice path from one room to the next so that you see everything. The highlight was Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Also fell in love with a new painting: Eugéne Jansson’s Storm, Evening, 1898.
-Royal Palace: Didn’t go inside (not actually sure if you can), but walked around and took some pictures—pretty neat!
-Akershus Fortress: I love when audio guides are included in museum entrances! Really neat to walk through the fortress and see the dungeons, crypt, kitchen, ball room, personal chambers, keep and tower.
-Vigeland Sculptures at Frogner Park: 212 bronze and granite sculptures by Gustav Vigeland covering 80 acres of Frogner Park. Good stuff.
-Nobel Peace Center: Powerful. Current exhibitions are Targets and The Tunisian Method. Look them up. Favorite part was the room filled with digital signs of all of the Nobel Peace Prize winners and would randomly play one of their acceptance speeches or other inspirational sound bites.
Day THREE
-Viking Ship Museum: Super cool!!! Ships from 800 AD. The carvings on the Oseberg ship are so intricate (ship built around 800 AD or earlier). The Gokstad ship was built for travel and trade, so quite different from the Oseberg ship, which was more likely used as a pleasure barge. There were a lot of other artifacts throughout the museum, as both ships were found in burial mounds—nothing like jewelry or fine goods, as it is thought the burial sites were plundered in ancient times.
-Kon-Tiki Museum: I had never heard of the Kon-Tiki rafting expedition, but it was pretty neat! Thor Heyerdahl built a raft out of balsawood and rope and sailed with 5 other men from Peru to the Polynesian islands, proving his theory that it was possible for South Americans to have had contact with Polynesians or that South Americans had settled the Polynesian islands in pre-Columbian times. They spent 101 days on the Kon-Tiki raft. Incredible.
-Fram Museum: Absolutely lives up to its reputation as Norway’s best museum. Some crazy guys built this super sturdy ship to travel through the Arctic—originally planned to house the crew and hold supplies for up to 5 years. CRAZY! I could have spent an entire day in this museum, as every wall is covered with information with cutouts holding all kinds of artifacts. You can even walk around the actual Fram ship (above and below deck) and there’s a room/walkthrough that simulates the temperatures and conditions of being on the ship—reminded me of a Disney ride :-)
-Norwegian Folk Museum: Open-air museum with over 150 structures from all over Norwegian towns and rural districts. The highlight was the Gol Stave Church from the 13th century.
-Holmenkollen Ski Jump: Didn’t make it here in time to go to the ski museum (everything closes at 4pm and it was a 45 minute trek on the metro to get there), but I walked around and got a few good pictures, as well as an awesome view of Oslo.
General observations:
-Everyone is always dressed well—no sweatpants at the bar, which I always appreciate haha
-Most everyone speaks English, which has been nice, but also makes me feel kind of like a jerk for being in their home-country but asking them to speak my native tongue.
-You can easily get to the winter park from public transit, so it is not uncommon to see locals and tourists alike dressed for skiing/snowboarding and carrying their skiis/snowboards on the train.
-Most children I saw walking around with their families were dressed in what I’ll call a “winter onesie” …basically a snow costume/jumper that zips up from toes to neck. Some made out of waterproof material, others in fleece, all in all adorable!
-Oslo is under a LOT of construction
-Small rocks are used instead of salt on the walkways
I am currently on the train to Stockholm from Oslo. Met a group of Georgia Tech college students, so excited to have some travel companions for the next couple of days!
