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Published: September 19th 2005
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Oslo, hmm, a very very beautiful city, but not very exciting. But generally I have found that how much fun you have in a place often depends on the people you spend time with while there. I never got too friendly with anyone at the hostel here, so my time was alone to myself. I still made the best of it though.
The trainride here from Copenhagen was a long one, 9 hours, But comfortable enough since the trains were all of an extremely high standard of quality. The Scandanavians don't let things get run down too much it seems.
Oslo is very far north, it barely got dark the whole time I was here, and I found myself sitting outdoors reading a book when it was almost midnight yesterday without even realising it. Oslo is also extremely expensive, and simple things like a small bottle of Coke will cost you about $3 cdn, ouch. Food is a rip too, and I have been settling for fast food and such, saving my money for Sweden where I will sample from real food. Luckily my hostel was only about €17 a night, which is pretty cheap, and it was a
King Haakan VII
The first King of Norway after they separated from Sweden in the early 1900's. really nice place too.
One of my days here was spent just wandering around Oslo, strolling along the waterfront, through parks, and generally exploring. I didn't see too much though, just the Royal Palace, a bunch of statues, and not much else. The waterfront was very pretty though, and I wish I had the time and money to explore further into Norway so I could see the real fjords and such. No matter, I have a few years left in me to come do that later on perhaps.
I also saw one museum, the Munch museum. It is a museum built to house the massive collection of artwork Edvard Munch, the famous Norwegian painter, left to the city on his death. He was another expressionist, similar to Van Gogh. But unlike Van Gogh, I really took to this guys work, it was brilliant. I saw two versions of his most universally known piece, "The Scream", as well as numerous self portraits and other works. My favourite would probably have been his own "self portrait in hell", it was a very striking painting.
Sadly my two full days in Oslo were a Sunday and a Monday. Why is
this sad? because practically everything is closed on a Sunday here, and on Mondays all the museums are closed, ugh. Not a good deal that, and I spent a lot of time with nothing much to do, and you can only wander the city so much before having to stop.
With not a whole lot else to do on Monday, and the desire not to spend too much moolah here, I took the long walk up to a park called "Vigelandsparken". It is a very pretty park, but those are a dime a dozen in any city; what makes this park special at the 200 sculptures placed in it, carved by Gustav Vigeland. The statues in general we pretty nice to look at, but the centerpiece was simply stunning. A huge pillar of granite in which many bodies have been carved into, lining every available inch. It's an incredible thing to look at, and its title is simply "Monolith". I liked it very much.
I chilled in the shade of some tree's and relaxed at the park for a while before strolling back down to the harbour area for some dinner, and to relax some more. The harbour
area is always bustling with people, and boats coming and going. It's fun just to watch the world going by.
I didn't do much else during my time in Oslo, but it still enjoyable, if a little uneventful. By this point in my trip I am tiring out anyway, so it was good to rest up and get ready for the next stop.
Oslo was interesting in one additional aspect that I noticed. Apparently the Norwegian Government welcomed a huge wave of immigrant workers to the city back in the 1970's, and it really shows. I expected to see nothing but blonde Norwegians here, but found that Oslo was a city of two halves. In the area by my hostel I could walk down the street and maybe see 5 obvious Norwegians (I mean the traditional stereotype), and then the other 95 would be a mix of people with a background from Turkey, Pakistan, or somewhere in Asia. Yet around the Harbour area, this was reversed and I saw almost nothing but the traditional Norwegians. A segregated population? Or maybe people just keep to their own area's, not mixing too well. Whatever works I guess, I just found
The Scream
By Munch. I prefer the Norsk name, "shrike". This is the drawn version. it to be a little odd since back in Canada everyone seems to mix a lot more.
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Jon
non-member comment
corrections
The King was called Haakon not Haakan and Rådhus does not mean red house it means advice/council house literally. Red house would be Rødhus or Raudhus.