So Thursday we had a long day!!! My roommate Jessica and I woke up and went to the bus station at 6 in the morning, went to the airport, flew to Norway, and then took a bus to Asker. When we got to Asker we met my friend Gustav at the bus station and he took us to Jenny's place since that is where we were going to be staying for the weekend. When we got there Jenny was making a traditional Norwegian meal, kjøttkaker (which so happens to be my favourite). That night we didn't go out but it was still great. It was a long day anyway so we were perfectly content with staying and getting a good nights sleep. That night Jenny and Gustav were telling us how since Norway is a pretty small country it's not uncommon to see Norwegian celebrities. So I kept a look out for anyone I recognized, but no luck...
Kjøttkaker-norwegian meatballs
(also potatoes, cabbage and carrots)
The next day Gustav took Jessica and I into Oslo. It was a beautiful day so we spent most of the day outdoors exploring the city. We first went and saw Oslo from above, near Holmenkollen. It was a great view.
We spent a bit of time in that area and saw a Stave church and Holmenkollen. We also watched people ski jumping. And skiing. I think the ski jumpers were on a type of plastic but there were also people skiing with roller skis. Which is pretty fantastic (but quite the workout)
That was all in the same area. After we saw that we went to the Vigeland park, which is basically a park full of naked statues...it's interesting... After we did that we decided to go into the city centre because I really wanted to see some stuff in there. We got to see the castle where the king lives, the parliament building, where the nobel peace prize is given out, and the University of Oslo (well kinda...it was covered in plastic, i guess for repairs).
Then we went to Aker Brygge, the picture above. It is the main pier in Oslo with a lot of shops and restaurants. It's a nice place to walk around. We walked there a bit and got a snack (it was really good but I can't remember what it was called, but it was a type of bun) It was pretty close to Akershus, a fortress so after a bit we went there and walked around a bit. There are a couple museums there. I kinda wanted to go to the Norwegian Resistance Museum, but we were too late. It was fine just walking around, besides walking around is free... There were some memorials outside the Norwegian Resistance Museum from WWII because outside was where many Norwegians who participated in the Resistance movement were executed. If I go back that museum will probably be on the top of my list of things to do.
Here's Akershus fortress
After that we went to the Oslo Cathedral. It's not a super magnificent cathedral compared to others but it was still pretty. The roof was covered with colorful artworks. We also saw the box where the king sits. There was a small communion service going on so we watched. Outside the cathedral there was a small memorial for the victims of the 22nd of July last year. After the bombing and shooting last year the cathedral was covered with flowers and candles to honour the victims. Now there was just a little spot but there may be plans for a more permanent memorial. We also saw where the bombing happened. They are working to repair the damaged buildings.
Oslo Cathedral
After Jenny got off work we went to Grunerløkka and went to a park until she could meet us for dinner. We just found a random restaurant but it was good. After we ate we took the Tram down to the Oslo Opera House. You can go walk on the roof of the opera house. We went after dark so there weren't many people there. We just walked on the roof for a bit. It was really neat. We also got to go inside.
We went home that night and watched some TV. That first day was the day when we did most of the tourist stuff. The next morning we slept in a bit later. It was rainy that day. We decided to go to a movie because there was one I wanted to see. It was Kon Tiki. The Kon Tiki museum is in Oslo and I didn't go in but I saw the outside of the museum... Basically the movie is based on a guy who sailed from Peru to Polynesia to prove that the islanders came from Peru and not Asia. It was made by the same people who made another movie (Max Manus) that I had really liked so I was very interested in seeing it. And it had English subtitles (until the end when it said what had happened to the men who were in the movie after they sailed the pacific, then I just had to guess) It was a good movie! I really enjoyed it. After the movie we went a grabbed a bite to eat, saw a famous Norwegian actor who I didn't know) and also saw a lot of tired looking people who had just run in the Oslo Marathon. We went to see the Munch part. Basically the reason I wanted to go is because I wanted to see "The Scream" and I didn't really care about anything else. But the rest was really cool. There was this Norwegian artist who had a lot of his works of landscapes around Norway there and those were my favourite! I can't remember his name though...Johan something...When it was about to close we thought, "Oh we better go see Munch before it closes. But it was too late, they started kicking us out about 5 minutes before closing time...I did get to see it at a glance. It was still a really great museum with beautiful art and I enjoyed it very much. After the National Gallery most things had closed or were about to close and besides we were going somewhere in an hour. We didn't have enough time to go to Jenny's flat except to just walk in and back out so we drove around a bit. We went to a peninsula called Bygdøy. We saw some of the king's farm. There are other museums at Bygdøy, (like the Kon-Tiki Museum, Maritime Museum, the Folk Museum, the Viking Ship Museum and Fram) but of course they were closed so we just walked around a bit by the water and got to see a different view of Oslo.
After we spent a few minutes at Bygdøy, we went to Gustav's brother's place and had another traditional Norwegian food. This one is a type of stew with lamb and cabbage. It is the national dish of Norway! It was good! Well that night we just hung out there. We got to talk to several people. On TV that night there was this show where Norwegian singers would compete each week singing a certain style of music, that probably wasn't their own. I'm sure it would have been a bit more entertaining if I would have understood Norwegian, or known most of the artist before. I only knew Alejandro Fuentes and he did a good job! I also tested out my Norwegian that night, which was interesting...I mean fun but I do tend to embarrass myself when I try to speak Norwegian...I still really want to learn it! It's a beautiful language and it was really neat to hear it spoken more naturally and not just in movies and songs. I would listen to see if there were any words or phrases I could pick out, most of the time without luck. That night was probably one of my favourite parts of that trip. It was nice to have a trip where I didn't just experience the tourism and tourist stuff and instead got to talk with people and experience Norway in a way that I wanted to. I mean the things to see are great but the people are even better!
Sunday Morning we didn't go into Oslo. We had a bus to catch at 2 to get back to the airport. That morning we went to church. I always love going to church in other countries because I love having the opportunity to worship with brothers and sisters from around the world and it's very cool to experience that. I mean there was a bit of a language barrier but the sermon was translated into English and some of the songs are in English. I was hoping they would sing a worship song in Norwegian that I knew, since I do know a few, but I didn't recognize any of them. After the service, we had lunch at the church and then headed to the bus station and said goodbye to Gustav and Jenny! It was a great trip and I was sad to leave. I think I'm just going to have to go back. I had high expectations since I have dreamed of going to Norway for years and my expectations were definitely met. Hopefully I'll get to go back soon.
One of the guards
I'm back in Oxford now and back to class and homework. I'm excited for the rest of my time here and my other trips but Norway will always have a special place in my heart and I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to go!
Hi Kaley!
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad you had a good time here in Norway! It was a pleasure to host you and Jessica :)
And yes, I guess you just have to come back and see some more!
Jenny.