Finally getting around to posting about our Norway trip from almost a year ago. Yeah, I know, I am not good with posting in a timely manner. Oh well, I don't think I will ever be timly with these posts. Now onto our first day in Oslo! I had been wanting to go to Norway for a while as it looks beautiful, and it was, but Oslo was just...there was nothing really special about it. Looking through my photos to post this it looks really nice, and it was, but it was just another city. There was nothing that made me think oh, you have to go to Oslo because of x. It was still fun, but I wouldn't make a special trip just to go there. Lots of photos ahead
We stayed out by the royal palace, got in late one night, and the next morning was sunny and beautiful. Though just a little chilly. Last year I did not do very well packing appropriately and this was one of those trips. I didn't have enough cold weather clothes for the cold wind that was always blowing so we did a little shopping this first day and picked up a few things.
We were up early, at some breakfast, then walked down to the main train station to go on the free tour of Oslo (what we do in every city if they have one).
National Theatre
The parliament building
The tour started but this big cat!
First up was a walk over to he Opera House
The roof is a gradual spiral that you can walk up
This is an iceberg sculpture that turns with the wind and the tide
Oslo Stock Exchange building
It is hard to tell, but the botton left two windows are not really windows - they are painted on!
The first town hall from 1641 - now a restaurant
A sculpture of a hand to represent the Danish-Norwegian king Christian IV who after the big town fire in 1624 decided to rebuild the town in this area and name it after himself. They say he supposedly pointed to this spot and said "The new town will lie here!" hence the statue of a hand.
Akershus Fortress - just a quick stop on the tour
City Hall
And the back of city hall
And inside city hall
We didn't know it at the time, but the Norwegian national day was while we were in Norway and they were getting ready for the celebrations
Raymond had fun taking some photos
Walking advertisements around the city!
Back to the Royal Palace
And ended the tour at Parliament
Getting some good reading done on the way to lunch
This looked like the Picasso from the building in Barcelona
We walked all over trying to find food, but there was a hotel and restaurant strike so our first option was closed. Then we found these giant, tasty burgers at Aye Aye club with homemade buns!
It was a lot of food, but we had worked up an appetite walking around all morning.
Spying on a flower market
Oslo Cathedral
And back to the Akershus Fortress which had lots of interesting sculptures
And a beautiful view over the water
These were my favorite of the sculptures
And walking along the water we ended up back by city hall
Oslo did have lots of cool artsy things
Dinner at Green Village - Cauliflower with Tahini sauce, toasted beets, sweet potato and tomatoes with a sauce - I thought this was delicious!
And a burger with fries and sweet potato fries
And some raw treats for dessert. I really liked this place. We were so stuffed from lunch we couldn't eat antyhing big so a little bit of veggies and such was perfect.
And that was our first day in Oslo. Fun, but a little cold and so much walking!
Comments