Oslo, Norway

Hello everyone! I wanted to create this blog to highlight my recent adventures in Europe. So, I will be starting from the beginning, Norway!

This picture was taken on june 3rd 2016, it depicts the Oslo Fjords, which were absolutely breathtaking! We began our month long journey by flying 10.5 hrs from LAX to Oslo, Norway. Our friends journeyed the day before, and we arranged to meet them at our Air BnB (By the way we did not have cell service!).

DAY ONE: June 2nd 2016

After we landed at Gardermoen Oslo Airport, we took a high-speed train to Oslo's city center.

Our Air BnB host gave us directions to her apartment from the airport, but we were exhausted, in a foreign country, not accustomed to our very, very, heavy backpacks, and found ourselves lost. We arrived in the city center, and walked in circles for about 2 hours looking for the correct bus station. We asked multiple people where to find the bus station, and they kept telling us to go back and fourth between places! So frustrating! We eventually talked to the right person, and they told us we were looking for a city bus (we apparently were at a different bus station) and directed us to correct place to find the bus we needed! Whew! We found our bus, but needed tickets, so we tried buying them, but the machine would only take change! We had just exchanged our money at the airport and did not have enough change.

Exhausted and sweaty, I left jeff with the backpacks and went to the convenience store to buy a coke and get change, however, they did not have enough change! I eventually found a place that would let me buy a coke and get coins. Jeff thought I got lost, or taken (poor, fella!). We bought our bus tickets and then our bus came. Our host told us which station to get off at, and then to just walk five mins and we would somehow stumble upon her apartment. Well... we didn't. We walked in a few more circles until we found the correct street and our gracious friends waited for us for about 3 or 4 hours outside! Thank goodness they were outside or we would not have found where we needed to be! Our Air BnB was so cute! It was like an Ikea add! She left us famous Norwegian chocolate and we rested for the night! We also went out and bought some expensive kebab for dinner. Norway is extremely expensive, just an FYI!

The next morning we had big plans! We all slept about 4 solid hours, but the excitement of adventure was like a strong cup of coffee, and I practically skipped the few miles into the city center. We walked along the promanade-like street that had shops along the sides, fountains, and much more! Oslo is fairly modern, but this street gives you that historical European-feeling, that you picture.

DAY TWO: June 3rd 2016

At the end of this long street is the Royal Palace, which is a bit of a hike! We walked up to the palace and you could look down at this beautiful street, and it is a stunning view of Oslo!

After this beautiful scene, we walked to the docks, and walked along the wooden board-walk along the beautiful Oslo shoreline. Here, is where you can also see where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year. There was also a wall with paintings of what we thought depicted syrian refugees.

We knew that Norway was famous for it's beautiful Fjords, especially in Bergen. However, it was too pricey for our month long adventure to take the three plus hour train ride to Bergen. So, we opted to see the Oslo Fjords, which leaves right off the dock pictured above. It was worth it! There was a tour stand and we were able to walk right up and book a same-day tour! We had about three hours until our boat left, so we walked around the board-walk and shops. While we were exploring we stumbled upon a beautiful art museum, that was painted in bright colors that reflected into the water. It was so beautiful!

A funny antidote: the swan in the photograph above was not very happy about a huge mastiff sitting so close to the water. The swan kept charging at the dog, and they had a bit of a quarrel! It was pretty funny! Anyways, back to the trip. Eventually it was time to board our boat and set sail on the Oslo Fjords.

We rushed to be at the head of the line, because we wanted to make sure that we had side-seats so we could be able to see the Fjords! Here is a picture of our boat, I liked that it had Scandinavian flags! Most individuals in Norway can speak English, and because English is most universal our tour was in English (lucky Americans!). We quickly boarded and were off in the Nordic waters.

Our tour guides brought us around the shoreline and showed us famous building and gave a small historical lesson. We saw the Oslo Opera house, which was designed to look like the Sydney Opera house. One interesting thing about the Oslo Opera house, is that they have a flat rate for all shows and seats, because they want everyone to be able to afford a ticket to any show! We thought that was pretty cool!

The Fjords boat tour was absolutely breathtaking! I could not capture the real beauty! They brought us around the small islands, and described the old customs. On most Islands houses cannot exceed certain perimeters, and have to be painted certain colors, such as red and yellow! We also went by "Rabbit Island" which was once inhabited by 1,000's of rabbits. We also went by an Island with an old church, which is now used as a light-house.

It was fairly hot this day, we felt like we were getting sunburnt and sweating, then suddenly, it started to down-poor! It was crazy! Here we were on this tiny boat in the Nordic Sea, with a sudden down-poor! The tour staff started climbing on top of the boat to close the top, I was worried it was so slippery. The plastic covering, didn't do much. I still got soaking wet, but, I didn't mind! It felt surreal to experience such a moment! The Fjords were so spectacular and I would highly recommend seeing both Fjords if you have the chance! Here are a few more photos of the Oslo Fjords.

I really enjoyed our short amount of time in Oslo. Norway in general is so very expensive, so we decided to make it a short stop on our month long adventure. We spent about one full day and one half day in Oslo, but we were able to experience so much! Next time we plan to stay longer in less countries! After this long eventful day, we walked about three or four miles back to the Air BnB and packed our bags. We had an early flight the next morning for Berlin, Germany to catch!

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