Day 10-13: Oslo, Norway
We were lucky to land only slightly late at a foggy and
snowy Oslo airport where many other flights were being delayed. Half an hour on
the train had us in the centre of the city and making our first nervous steps
across the icy footpaths.
Through some local help we made it to Questie Anna(Goudha)’s
place, an impressive and large 3 bedroom apartment.
She lives with 2
friends, Kaya and Trine. You could probably describe it as a Bachelorette pad,
with lots of pretty art, books and cooking supplies laid out neatly throughout.
We put our thermals on, met up with Questie Tonje (a.k.a
horny torny / menace) and walked down to Frognerparken, a large park in the centre of the city.
The park is famous for its bizarre statues, portraying naked humans in a bizarre assortment of poses, most of them violent.
Our favourite was the man caught up in a vicious battle with
4 babies, punting one while taking on the others with his upper body. The
viking legacy clearly lives on strong in this nation.
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| take that, tiny infant! |
On the topic of strange, the city is also scattered with
tiny electric cars called ‘Buddy’. They’re even smaller than a smart car and
can be recharged at specific car parks. From the right angle, they kinda look
like lamborghinis!
We continued on past the royal palace and through the town centre.
We then passed by some sort of brick
monstrosity that looked like a 1970s youth centre on steroids, which the locals
compare to their famous (and delicious) brown cheese.
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| The resemblence is uncanny! |
Our final touring stop, Aker Brygge, gave us some nicer
architecture and a polar bear statue to defile.
We finished the night with a full house and a traditional
Norweigan supper of Tacos and burritos.
Like most mornings in Australia, we woke up when a welcome
burst of sun came streaming in the windows. Unfortunately during winter in
Northern Europe, that means that it’s almost midday. We had a quick breakfast
and were picked up by Tonje to head up to Holmenkollen, a huge Olympic size ski
jump facility overlooking the city.
The stunted and exaggerated version of modern Norweigan
history we had been hearing from the girls was remedied at the ski museum on
site, which hosted an impressive collection of skis going back thousands of
years.
The view from the top was what we came for though, and we
weren’t disappointed, catching Oslo under a bright sun and slow rolling fog.
We descended back into the mist, looking like 3 years olds
learning to roller blade on some frozen stairs on the way.
The scene was completely different for our last stop of the
day at Bygdøy, a popular summer spot for swimming and sunbaking. Safe to say we
didn’t indulge in any of that, but we had another nice walk and threw some
snowballs as well.
Our tourist behaviour finally gave way to a planned night
out with the girls and some of Tonje’s uni friends. We battled through a
drinking game, and had a snus each(Scandinavian tobacco pouch placed under your
gums).
According to memory, that was pretty much it for the 8th of January.. but our
cameras seem to tell a different story.
Anna also treated us to a showing of the traditional Norweigan outfit, a Bunad.
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| oh, ja! |
The next morning we woke at the bloody crack of dawn (10am)
to do some final sightseeing before our afternoon flight out.
We walked for
nearly 3 hours past the Opera house and through Akershus Castle with Anna’s
beau chien Kimbu in tow, loving the cold much more than we were.
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| making snow angels |
And just like that it was time to leave again. With each
stay, we are becoming more and more grateful to have such amazing friends
hosting and showing us around their city.
It’s off to Bergen now for almost a week, our final stop
before we hit the Arctic Circle. We’re hoping we can catch up with all of the
50 thouwsand questies who live and study there, see you soon!
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