We got into Oslo late on Monday, January 5th and met our friend Sam H. at the hostel that we were staying at. Thankfully, the hostel was only a couple of blocks away from the train station. That night we just got settled in and Alec and I made a late night 7 11 run in order to get some snacks. The stupid Norwegian electrical outlets broke my Apple European adapter because the went vertical and not horizontal, so that was a bummer.The next day, Tuesday, January 6th we had planned on waking up at 9:30 and getting a good start on our sightseeing but we ended up sleeping until 2PM!! This would be fine in most cities, but since Oslo is so far north, the sun sets before 4 there. We still made use of our day and we sat out towards the Norwegian Palace. (Below: The Norwegian Palace)
We passed Parliament and the National Theater on the way there and after seeing the palace we headed down towards the water where we walked along the marina/port and found a place to eat called Olivia, which had good Italian food. The waterfront was beautiful at dusk with the boats and even a small lighthouse.
After dinner, we went over to the Nobel Peace Center and of course posed with peace signs. We tried to go into the center, but it was 10 minutes before they closed, so the girls just bought some bracelets that were made by the Mayan peoples and we continued walking past City Hall to Johan's Gate. Before Johan's Gate, which is a major shopping street that leads from the train station to the Palace, we stopped into a convenience store/restaurant and got some more snacks. I didn't eat much at dinner, so I got a great rockslide brownie and a fruit-cup. Walking along Johan's Gate at night was really pretty and it was still decorated for the Holidays.
(Above: Alec and I outside of the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway.)Tuesday night, the 6th we were glad to hang out again in our hostel room. We watched Casanova, which is a funny movie that I recommend and just hung out. Getting to bed at a somewhat decent hour was important because our train the next morning to Stockholm left just after 7.
(Above: the group on Johan's Gate - Me, Chelsea, Laurence, Sam, Alec)We didn't see too much in Norway, but it was still cool to visit. I would like to go back someday to Bergen and see the fjords, but that will require more time and money. I was encouraged by the fact that I found roundtrip flights from LAX to Oslo for less than $600, which is pretty incredible, so hopefully I will return someday. If not, it was nice to see even a small part of what Norway is like.
From Oslo we headed to Stockholm and I will write about our last leg of the trip soon...
God bless!
- Wade
PHOTO ALBUM for OSLO:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001252&l=9cb7e&id=1534470084
