A (warm) weekend in Oslo

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10 January - London to Oslo and Vigeland Park

I don't know who was booking my flights for Oslo, but they must have been insane. My flight was at 6:30am on a Saturday morning from Stansted. This means that after just a few hours sleep, I was up at 2am and in a taxi by 2:30am to London Victoria bus station, to get the bus to Stansted Airport at 3:30am. I actually got there slightly early and managed to get the 3am bus. Had a nap on the hour and a half bus trip which was good.

Checked in (only had hand luggage which makes it a lot easier) and, as I went through security, got patted down yet again. I swear I must look like I am up to something - I was never able to go through an Aussie airport without being swabbed for explosives - not if I don't get a frisk search I get the wand run over me.

Flight to Oslo was about an hour and a half so I managed to have another nap. Got to Oslo Torp Airport and found the bus to Oslo and then had another nap on that (2 hour bus trip). Found my hostel in Oslo easily before heading out to do a bit of a walking tour.

My plan was to do a 3pm Winter Walk of the sculpture park, so since I had a few hours to spare I walked up there, on my way walking past the cathedral (covered in scaffolding), Parliament, Oslo University, the main shopping drag, the Royal Palace, Nobel Institute. Quite a lovely city and despite the tourist information place telling me it wasn't really walking distance to the sculpture park, I got there. Apparently half hour to 40 minutes isn't walking distance.

So I wandered briefly around Vigeland Park before the tour started. It was covered in a light layer of snow so was unlike anything I have really ever seen before. Was nice snow too, unlike the snow that we had had in London just the week before.

When the tour started we had a tour of the Vigeland Museum - where we heard about how it came to be that the sculpturer had been given all this land by the city council and how he in turn had agreed to donate all of his work to the city of Oslo. The park itself when we finally got there is full of 200 naked sculptures. The guide was really good and knew what she was talking about and showed us all the main bits, including the giant bowl and the circle of life. By the time she had shown us everything it was getting quite cold and dark, the tour finished at 5pm.

I decided to walk back again as the next tram wasn't for 10 minutes and I figured it wasn't that far. Also gave me the opportunity to see the city at night and take some photos. On the way past Parliament I saw some illegal fireworks being set off and din't think much of anything. I kept wandering around and kept heading groups of youths yelling and shouting. It wasn't until the sirens started that I got slightly concerned but just kept wandering round the city trying to steer clear of trouble. Then I started seeing all of the shops with broken windows and then all the police riot vans started showing up - although most of the police just stayed in their cars. I just kept wandering back to my hostel steering clear as much as I could. Turns out it was all Israel/ Gaza protests. Needless to say, once I got back to the hostel at around 7pm I decided not to stray very far in case I got caught up in it again.

11 January - around Oslo (Holocaust Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Akershus Fortress and Castle)

Up at an ordinary hour of 9am this morning and headed with one of the girls from the hostel (Aussie living in London by the name of Kat) out for the day. First stop was Akershus Fortress and Castle where we got some great views over the fjord and the city. The river was pretty much all iced up which was a sight to see!! All the boats were kind of stranded. Had a good wander around the area but because it was a Sunday in winter, we couldn't go into anything as it was all closed up.

Then it was a short bus trip round to the end of the penninsula. First stop was a little cafe for lunch and then it was onto the Holocaust Museum. We did however had a little problem finding it and first stumbled across a freezing cold beach (Huk Beach). After asking a local who didn't speak much English we discovered we were right around the corner from the Holocaust Museum. Spent about an hour there with audio guides wandering round before grabbing quick snack in the cafe and wandering to the Viking Ship Museum. After that we kept wandering back into town rather than taking the bus - ended up being about an hours walk but quite pleasant and it was only getting dark by the time we were pretty much back in town.

Managed to find a nice little bar for an early dinner and a few drinks before having an early night at the hostel.

12 January - Botanical Gardens and shopping

Didn't have too early a start again, but at around 10am Kat and I headed into the city to grab some breakfast (pastries at a cafe) before heading out to the Botanical Gardens which were quite disappointing and was really just a park. Didn't end up spending much time there before wandering back into town. On the way we passed this basketball court that was completely iced up, not sure whether that was intentionally or otherwise, but we had a bit of a slide around which was a good laugh. Then it was back to the city where we did some shopping before Kat grabbed her bus back to Torp airport. After that I grabbed some lunch and some snacks for the trip back, wandered round the shops some more, and eventually got the 6pm bus back to Torp airport. By the time I got my 10:30pm flight, then a bus from Stansted to Victoria, then a night bus home, it was 2am and I was exhausted.

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Comments

[Luke]

Great blog
Thinking of doing something similar in April. Got the flights booked. Out of interest what hostel did you stay in? Thanks.

[Mandaz]

Reply to comment
About the only hostel I could find - it was called Anker Hostel - right next door to a hotel of the same name. Bit of a walk out of the centre; but nothing too bad!