Norway Day 1 - Olso
When I sit down to write these entries, usually the first thing I do is survey the pictures I took of that day and think about which stories from the day are interesting enough to put down on paper. I do lots of things that I find interesting on my travels that are pretty boring to convey to other people - I like surveying the public transport systems, I find advertising from other countries interesting, going to supermarkets both for supplies and just to see what the differences are, ect. However, I have to tell you about the Flytoget, the train to and from the airport, because it puts all other versions of this service to shame. I bought my ticket on an app, walked through an automated turnstile (that was the nicest looking turnstile I’ve ever seen), and jumped on on of the most modern trains I’ve ever seen, with automated glass doors and massive screens in the middle of every train that had daily news, weather and stop information. In about 20 minutes of sailing down the smooth track, we arrived at the city center at the transportation complex. I’m sure it cost 2x-3x more than the new airport light rail track that we’ve just built in Denver, but it shows. I think this is what I noticed most about Oslo, everything is just nice.
Nice also translates into expensive, and for just about the same price as I had been staying at hotels and B&Bs the rest of my trip, I was able to secure a room in the ‘Smarthotel Olso’. I had a twin bed, with a TV adorned above it, a desk that folded out of the wall (a necessity as you could not stand next to the bed with the desk pulled out), and a bathroom that had a toilet and a shower, basically occupying the same 2.5 square feet. (My door also opened directly out to the elevator, but I think that was likely bad luck rather than bargain shopping).
I only had 24 hours in Oslo, as in reality, it is just a layover on my way to Tromsø, but I wanted to get out and explore as much as I could. It was snowing when I arrived late the night before, and I woke up to the city covered in a beautiful, albeit icy, snow. I walked down towards the pier area, where I would walk past the royal palace, through a lovely sculpture park, and into a park where there is an old fort/castle overlooking the port. The palace is a cool building up on a hill, and is guarded by soldiers carrying some pretty heavy weaponry, but were extremely nice, talking with tourists and smiling for pictures. With a Christmas tree up in front, and surrounded by snow, it was pretty festive looking, but otherwise not a lot was happening around the palace, so I wandered down to the fort. On the way I passed through a pretty awesome Christmas market (!) where on the way back I would grab an elk burger for dinner, and slip and fall and make a fool of myself.
I wasn’t really sure what I was going to find at the fort, but it was neat to walk around, and it was surprisingly accessible to the public, not much was closed off. One of the buildings had a museum called the “Norwegian Resistance Museum” that I figured I’d check out as it was included in the Olso Pass I had purchased. I am so glad I did as it may have been my favorite museum I’ve visited so far on my trip. Likely because the US was not really involved in any of the Norwegian WWII battles, I did not realize that Norway had been taken over by Hitlers forces in WWII, and that Hitler considered Norway to be of strategic importance due it its proximity to the UK. As the name of the museum may suggest, Norwegians themselves were pretty resistant to the Germans, and the museum documented their resistance movement. There were a lot of really cool pieces in the exhibit, and I learned a lot about a part of WWII I had no exposure to prior - would highly recommend if you find yourself in Olso with an hour or two to kill .
On the other side of the port area from the fort is the Nobel Peace center, which was incredibly moving. The main exhibit currently is a photo gallery of over 100 photos from different types of oppressed people from around the globe. I’m actually not sure oppressed is the correct word here, maybe maligned? Either way, it told stories of peoples in bombed out villages in Syria, rape victims in Africa, prison row inmates in the US, Edward Snowden, ect. Fascinating for sure. Upstairs in the center there was an exhibit on the two current Nobel Peace Prize winners, as well as an exhibit on the history of Nobel, the Peace prize, and an exhibit where you can learn all about past winners. This was also an excellent use of time, and I’m incredibly glad I made it here. Across the street is city hall, where the ceremony takes place every year, so I went over to poke my head in, and was treated to a children’s Christmas concert on the steps.
From there I ventured out to the ‘Viking Ship’ museum that was also included on my pass, and I was determined to get the most out of my day in Olso. The Viking ship museum was definitely interesting, but I’m glad I didn’t buy a ticket specifically for it. Housed in a large barn type building, there are 3 ships that are on display, as well as exhibits on the history of those specific ships and the archeological finds within them. Seeing the ships was definitely cool, but there was a certain amount of “ok, cool, now what?” to the experience. That may also have been my museum fatigue after looking at exhibits all day elsewhere.
Olso is definitely a place I want to return to. It’s very modern, very polished, and incredibly environmentally conscious. I was able to do a lot in 24 hours, but I didn’t really get to experience Olso as much as I would have liked. That will have to be a job for next time!
