We made it to Norway!! and all I have to say is WOW!! it is so beautiful and relaxed here it is simply amazing!
The above is just one of the many beautiful views we got on the bus on our way from Copenhagen. along the way we also discovered that Norwegian boarder protection take their job very seriously. we were taken to a shed on the bus and it was searched by dogs and boarder protection officers, passports checked. they then had a few suspicions and took a few passengers off to other places. we then had to get off the bus and take all luggage out and had everything again checked by the dogs and a few people by the officers. we never saw one of the guys they took away back on the bus but eventually we were on our way again.
Since it is Nics birthday while we are here we decided to be a little bit fancy and stay in one of the best hotels Oslo has to offer, The Grand hotel in the center of Oslo, just down the road from the Royal Palace. when we arrived we even got a free room upgrade which made an already amazing hotel just that little bit sweeter. Our room was luxurious with a massive King sized bed that was a soft and comfortable as a cloud, to our lounge area with couch and massive TV where we discovered the joy of stupid americam TV to entertain some of our evenings.
The First tourist site we hit was the Oslo Opera house along the water. it is a unique building and you are able to walk up from the waters edge to the top of the roof for free. there are also tours inside, but we skipped those and just took in the views. The opera house was opened in 2008 and came with a massive price tag of 340 million pound (over $600 million!) so youd want it to be unique and memorable. The also have a nice little sculpture in the bay... i think its a ship??
Some views from the top... our first day in Oslo bucketed down, but all of the others were lovely and sunny :)
After the Opera house, we made our way along the bay to Akershus Fortress which sits atop a cliff overlooking Oslo. This took a bit longer than it should have as the rain decided to show its full force and we were forced to take cover under an icecream stand. normally this would be ok, but it was closed :(
after almost 20 minutes we decided that the rain wasnt going to stop so we just had to accept that we were already wet and just get a bit moreso... we made a run for it just as the skies really opened up and got completely drenched... it would have been pretty hilarious to watch us try to run from place to place while avoiding the rivers of water that had sprung up everywhere and im sure that we gave a couple of Oslovians a good laugh as they say in their nice warm and dry cars :)
So below is the fortress which has a great self guided tour with recordings.
 |
| Yeah i dont know what was going on here? the rain made us a bit crazy |
 |
| Nic Chilling in the chapel which is still used by servicemen and the royals for special occasions |
Some views of Oslo from the Fortress walls
 |
| The have a big tiger in front of their station :) |
Nics Birthday Day !!!
As i mentioned earlier, during our time here in Oslo, we celebrated Nics birthday. Birthdays are fun but let me tell you, when you are travelling (lightish) and already travelling and having adventures in new countries ever day it can be quite challenging to think of what to get/do for your partner! I decided that giving her something was off the cards as we are already buying ourselves things and souvenirs everywhere anyway and decided to go with a "treat yo self" approach to celebrating this year so we started with the fancy hotel room. On the day we also went for the most relaxing massage i have ever had in the Hotels Spa. We spent some time relaxing and playing the DS and then ventured out in the afternoon for drinks at the ice bar and a nice dinner.
These are photos of some of our antics in the Ice bar. it is a totally tourist thing to do but very cool (pun intended) and defiantly something worth doing at least once. when you get there you are given a massive fur poncho and some gloves to help you withstand the negative temperatures and then you enter the giant freezer bar. we had a couple of drinks here enjoying the ice sculptures and vodka drinks from our ice glasses
^^^^^^The drink was all gone :(:(^^^^^^
After the Ice bar we went to dinner to try something that Nic had wanted to try even before we left Australia... Reindeer Steak.
 |
| So this is it... |
 |
| Nic was very happy with Rudolph.. apparently it is the best meat she has EVER eaten... and made a point of saying it with every bite |
After all of the excitement of Nics birthday we decided to see a bit of Norwegian art, culture and history. We headed to the Norwegian folk museum on Bygody by boat so see some Stave churches and traditional buildings from different times and areas of Norway. These were all very beautiful and rustic buildings
 |
| little walk through the fields |
 |
| My New Friend... Nic wouldn't let me bring her home though :( |
Next Stop, The Viking Ship Museum
After exploring the ship museum we headed to our last museum of the day- the Holocaust Museum. This was a great museum documenting the history and fate of Norwegian Jews during the holocaust. The museum was full of so much information, but unfortunately a lot of it was in Norwegian. They had a tablet with some translations along the way but unfortunately we still missed a lot. nonetheless the whole museum was enlightening and showed us a bit of what we will be in for in Poland.
We ended our day with a boat trip back to the town hall and a stroll through Oslo.
The museum has a very beautiful collection from Norwegian and international artists crossing may generations and styles. they also have a great collection of stretches and Monet pieces that we really enjoyed.
Next we walked across town to the Munch museum which is currently housing a Van Gogh + Munch exibition, showing a comparison between the works and lives of the two artists. Since Nic is a fan of Munch and his style and I am a fan of Van Gogh this was a great museum for the two of us. (not to mention the bonus Monet's :) )
From there we spent the afternoon lounging in the Botanic Gardens reading our books and watching so many just married couples pose for photos (it was Saturday after all). we had a bus to catch at 11pm so had a bit of time to spend lounging here before we headed to the cheapest dinner we had managed to find in Oslo (did i mention i is crazy expensive here- on average dinner cost us $100-$150 a night for the two of us with only a main and drink)
Some of the sites as we walked through Oslo
After a wonderful week in Oslo, we bid farewell to this amazing city and headed off to Stockholm on an overnight bus where we got little sleep but were luckily able to go straight to the apartment we are renting and have a much needed nap.
We are now in Stockholm for another night before we get a ferry to Finland. we are going to spend a couple of weeks in Finland stopping at Turku, Tampere and Helsinki as well as hopefully many day trips around.
We have also just booked a 5 day tour to St Petersburg from Helsinki which we are very excited for!
Well that's all for now Becola signing off :)
No comments:
Post a Comment