Weekend in Oslo

On a recent Friday afternoon, a friend who was unexpectedly in town for the weekend called me up and asked if I wanted to do something crazy that weekend, like go to Oslo. Being the seasoned adventurer, I of course said yes, but didn't expect the reply to be, "how about tonight?" Six hours later, hotel booked, car booked, bag packed, tour book in hand, I was on a flight to Oslo.

Despite being the biggest city in Norway, Oslo is still easily walkable except for a few museums that are better reached by bus. It is also one of the nicer cities in Norway, alongside Bergen. While not as cold as the recent trip to Ottawa, it was still between -5 and -10C most of the time. Quite comfortable for walking for those willing to wear a hat.

One of the major cites to see is the fort.

From Oslo

To my surprise, they actually had guards (and thus a changing of the guard).

From Oslo

The other good place to see in Oslo is Aker Brygge, an area along the harbor that has stores, restaurants, seals

From Oslo

and some funny statues.

From Oslo

Of course, the other really important thing to see in Oslo is Munch. The National Gallery has The Scream, and some other really good paintings, mostly by Norwegian artists. I like when museums have good art from people I've never heard of instead of showing lesser quality works by people with famous names. The other place to see Munch is at the Munch Museum. It's a lot smaller than I expected (especially considering the size of the building). It has several good pieces, and you can see the evolution of his works, but if you aren't big on Munch or don't have much time, the National Gallery is the better choice.

There is also the Viking Ship Museum, which as you'd expect contains viking ships. They are in pretty good condition considering they are 1000 years old.

From Oslo

Another stop was the Kon-Tiki Museum. Again, as the name suggests, the museum contains the boat from Thor Heyerdahl's expedition, along with various artifacts.

One of the longer stops was at the folk museum. It had a nice layout, with the buildings from different periods grouped together, but with enough open space between different period buildings to make a nice walk.

From Oslo

From Oslo

To my surprise, they even had a stave church.

From Oslo

The last stop before returning to the airport was at Fetsund Lenser, an old site where they would collect logs that had been floated down the river. I'm sure it is considerably more interesting outside of winter. But, being their, alone, with the frozen stillness was a cool way to end the trip.

From Oslo

I also draw your attention to this map image.
Yes, we were standing in the middle of a frozen river.