Oslo

From July 19-22 I was in Oslo. I was really excited for this trip because I had always wanted to visit Norway because it seemed really beautiful, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it out there because I wasn't sure who I would go with  because no one else was really talking about visiting there, and it wasn't a place I wanted to go by myself because there didn't seem to be a whole lot to do there besides take in the scenery, which is sort of lame to do by yourself. So when the opportunity came up to go with Libby it was like uhhh duh of course I'll go. Also, I always heard that Norway was wicked expensive, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to go, but it all worked out thankfully, and yes, it is as expensive as they say it is.

We flew from Munich to Norway on the 19th at 1 and landed at 3, were at the hotel around 430. I was really excited to be here because Norway is so far north and gets so much daylight that I was just really excited to experience that. When we were there, the sun went down around 10pm and rose around 4am, but it was never truly dark there. Even around 2 and 3 am the sky is still blue and you can still see perfectly fine and there are people everywhere, even people in their 50's and 60's who you think should be in bed. So it was really cool to see and experience for myself. It doesn't ruin your sleep though because the hotel had really thick, good curtains.

This is the Royal Palace, taken at 11:30pm

This was taken at 4:24am. It looks like noon

Side note, this was the magazine on the place, which excited me because I love watching Million Dollar Listing NY with mom at home

Our hotel was right next to the royal palace, which was cool. We had to walk through the park that it is in to get to the hotel, so we saw a lot of the palace and the guards.

The Royal Palace

The guards. They are allowed to talk to you and move around a little

The main reason to go to Oslo is the beauty scenery, so we spent a lot of time just soaking that in, which was nice.

The path from the royal palace to the center of town

A cool fountain

The Hard Rock Cafe. Probably the coolest one I've seen. At night this thing turns into a nightclub basically, same with TGI Fridays, which there were at least three of in Oslo. Why... just why? But a lot of the restaurants and bars turn basically into clubs at night, which is cool

Some nice architecture

Norway's parliament

A really pretty park in Oslo

The main attraction was of course being down by the water, since Oslo is right on the North Sea. It is a big attraction for cruise ships and multi-million dollar yachts. It is so nice down there.

The Opera House

The view from the Opera House

A nice canal

I was a huge fan of these balconies

On Saturday we walked around a lot. There was a music festival going on and there was a ton of free food, so I gorged on that because Norway is amazingly expensive.

For example, each of these pizzas were $50

Norway uses the Norwegian Krone, which 1 Norwegian Krone is worth about 13 cents. the prices on the menus are normally about 200 krone, so around $25.

When you look at Norway from the water, the landscape is dominated by this fortress. It was built way back in the day (scientifically proven) to defend Oslo from attack. It now houses a few museums, such as the military museum, Norwegian Resistance to the Nazi Occupation Museum, and currently a special exhibition on the German attack of Norway during WWII. So that was really cool. The fortress has a neat old feel to it, and overlooks the harbor, so it is nice to just sit up there and take it all in.

Part of the fortress

Another part of the fortress

A view of the harbor from the fortress

We planned on going to get a nice seafood dinner one night since Oslo is right on the ocean. So on Saturday we went out to dinner and chose this place right on the water, which was really nice and we probably had no business being at. We were the youngest people there, and even the people a few years older than us there were with their parents, so they weren't paying. The host asked us where we we from but you sort of could tell it was more like "how can you afford to be here" and there was an American family at the table next to us who were clearly loaded and as we were leaving I heard the mom say "Are they just college students orrrrr?" 

But whatever we had a table right next to the water and it was a really nice meal. I had a glass of wine with scallops as an appetizer and whale as the main course. Wait what? Whale? Yes, whale, and it was wicked good. It looked like a giant steak and came with this cream that you dunked it in and it was delicious. Libby had the same thing, except seafood soup as the appetizer. We both agree that whale was wicked good. Whale is also expensive. Here is the dinner tab.

About $170 after the tip. Well worth it though, and would totally do it again

I was trying to discreetly take a photo from our dinner table, but it didn't go well. You can see the boats in the background. We were right next to the water, which was really nice.

Post dinner photo on the water

The next day we went out to the Viking ship museum, which I was really excited about because how could you not be. Its basically a museum that exhibits 4 viking ships that are like 1000 years old. They were first used normally as ships, but then were used as burial ships. So some rich people were buried in them and the ship was buried in blue clay, which helped preserve them really well. They were also buried with animals, food, and treasures, a lot of which was on display, which was cool.

One of the ships

Me with the ship

The next morning we had a flight out of Oslo at 7am. This is a Monday, and we landed at 9, and I had to be in class at 1030 for a test. So that was fun. But it all worked out well. Olso was a really beautiful city but incredibly expensive. It was definitely worth it though and I would totally do it again.

Finally, these little guys, cause why not?