Olso, Norway

Norway had some appeal because Jay’s actually Norwegian. Oslo also a “winter city” so a March visit seemed appropriate. Snow was still on the ground and temperatures hovered around and below freezing.

We were warned about how expensive it might be. Norway's currency is the Norwegian Kroner and exchange rates with the US dollar were absurd! For example, a baked potato in a pub cost $16 USD!!

Despite the cost, we thoroughly enjoyed Oslo and its surroundings. They're big on nature there which suited us just fine! Oslo is itself situated right on the cost, and is made up of a number of fjords, peninsulas, and little islands. Unfortunately, our first day was taken up mostly by travel. We flew into Torp airport, 70 miles from the city. We did get a chance to look around the city before it got too dark. The next day was kind of a bust, since all we did was walk around, did some window shopping for stuff we couldn’t afford, and didn’t see too much.

Our second full day was way better! We decided to head up to Holmenkollen, site of the 1952 Olympic ski jump in the mountains a 20 min. train ride North of Olso. The thing is huge!

It just so happened that we were in town for the 2007 World Cup Biathlon. I’ve never been much of a spectator sport person, but this was cool!! We found a place to stand next to some really tall Scandinavians.

 
We got a great view of the start. The pregnant pause before the start was tension-filled! Click here for a link to the video of the womens start.

The athletes were world-class alright—they made it seem so easy as they sped by. It was so cool when a Norwegian skiied by. The crowd erupted with support... check out the flags!

After all that adrenaline, we headed back to the city for a $25 lunch at McDonald’s and Vigeland Sculpture Park, famous for its statues by Gustav Vigeland. There are many many statues here, all of modern, artistic, and unclothed nature, which we will admit we did not always “get”. The statues date between 1926 and 1942.

Here are some interesting shots—we appreciated that the overcast sky let up just a little bit to allow us some nice pictures.

And here is the most famous sculpture in the park, The Monolith. It's over 14 meters tall and is made from one piece of rock. There are bodies all intertwined into and surrounded by shorter sculptures of groups of people engaged in various activities. After seeing so many statues, we started to see them in the trees around us! The next day we took a bus to the Norsk Folkemuseum, Oslo’s outdoor folk museum. It's like colonial Williamsburg, except that it represented many more centuries of life in Norway. During the summer there are actors who play townspeople dressed in traditional clothes—we unfortunately did not experience that, but we did have the park virtually to ourselves. Here is the Gol stave church dendrochronologically dated to 1212, a house, and a village:

 

After that, we headed to Akershus Fortress, a historical landmark in Oslo. It was built in the 1290s by King Håkon V, but played quite a role during WWII. There are a number of museums in the compound, but we visited the Resistence Museum built in 1966. Nothing in the history books compares to going through this place. They did a great job of depicting the experience of being invaded, occupied, and ultimately triumphing over oppression. All in all, a very educational trip.

We were told the economy is looking at a slow down and it might be a MUCH more affordable city this same time next year. Who knows!

-

The last thing I'd like to post is the Viking Code of Laws. Some of this seems to ring true with me.