Chillin' in Oslo

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First off, happy father’s day to all the dads out there - thank you for everything <3

Mmk, I started my day quite late because since I’m in a hotel I took advantage of prime sleeping time… ie. about 13hrs worth of prime sleeping time haha. By the time I headed off into town I was like “oh so much energy! Let’s go!” We’ll see how long that lasts haha.

Thankfully I had google map’d how to get to the Metro from my hotel because the instructions the front desk gave me were not only crap, but they were also wrong. He told me to take a path through the two office buildings and it goes straight there. Uhm, try you have to cut through the parking lot of 5 apartment buildings, turn up the street, cross a 6-lane highway, walk back down a block… but yeah, no… it’s CLEARLY just the one instruction he gave me. Pfft.

So began the adventure as I had to figure out which way was towards Oslo haha. Of course, none of the trains end in Oslo - that would’ve been too easy to look up and see “OSLO” somewhere. Thankfully I got on the right one, and made it to downtown without any problems. From the main station I ventured out towards the harbour which was lovely. Then again, anytime there’s water I seem to enjoy myself just watching the waves roll by and hearing them crash against the walls.

I wandered through a tourist area (where all the cruise ships come in - ah, so many rip-offs price wise, it makes me sad), and then came out near the public ferries… just in time to watch the one I wanted to take sail off haha. Okfine, no rush, so I continued on my way down along the harbour into the swanky shopping area - yeahhh, def coming here on my way back home when I do my serious shopping. So excited!

I passed by the Nobel Peace Centre, watched some of the street performers (there were two guys singing current songs that were REALLY good) and then hopped on the next ferry towards the museums which are pretty much all located on this one archipelago. I had planned on going to the Norwegian Folk/Culture Museum, but since it closes at 6pm and it was already almost 4pm I decided to wait until I come back. Instead, I went to the polar/arctic expedition museum haha. It was really cool! It was all about this Norwegian explorer who traveled to Greenland, and then the polar ice caps - it was all fully documented. Inside they also have the actual boat (“Fram”) they used! I def thought it would be a replica, but nope. Even cooler, you could actual go into it - you could walk around the deck, and then climb down into the actual boat to see what it was like when they traveled. Very cramped.

After the museum I headed back to downtown - again I just missed a ferry (bah), so I sat on the shoreline for about 20min. It’s fun watching people try to fish lol - some are really good at casting a line, others… not so much. When I headed back in line I met two brash American pilots… ah, that was a solid conversation we had. I also met a family of nice Americans - I much preferred that conversation.

Back in Oslo I walked around the City Hall (great architecture) and then headed off to Vigeland - a park with over 200 statues. I was in heaven! Haha, I’ll spare you pictures of all the statues… I spent forever in there taking photo after photo. It’s really neat because the statues tell the story of life - the journey from birth to death and everything in between. In the middle of the park there’s a giant totem-pole-esque statue at the top of some stairs and it’s surrounded by about 30 statues - these ones are also about life’s journey and are called “the circle of life” - very fitting. All in all, some statues made you chuckle (old man giving a younger man quite the look for what I could only assume had something to do with the older man’s daughter), others made you “aw” (mom and dad holding their newborn baby), while others made you sad (old married couple that were both sick).

I must admit, I couldn’t help but stop and think about everything that’s happened over the past two years… about all the changes, not just in my own life, but in the lives of those I care about too. The story of the statues hit home.

Ahem, anyway. After the statues I was totally beat (it was past 8pm at this point), so I called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow I’m headed off to Flam (which I think is pronounced Flom..? Haha) I take the train bright and early tomorrow to Mydral where I then switch to the famous Flam Railway - one of the steepest train rides in the world =)

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Photos

Oslo Harbour
So many boats

City Hall
Man, European City Halls are so much nicer than Canadian ones.

I'm on a boat!
Although it was cool, I'm more excited to be on one in the fjord... ;)

Fram
Ze boat.

Angry Boy!
One of the most famous statues in the park.

Happy boy!
I like this one better, personally.

Young family
So cute.

No idea what this one's supposed to be
I love that he isn't even holding the kids in his right hand haha. Floating babies!

"Circle of Life"
The last statue in the park, sums up the theme of life's journey

Comments

[Heather]

I enjoyed your Oslo post! The statues in the "circle of life" sound really interesting. Keep having fun, and enjoy Flam! Heather dirty-hippies.blogspot.com