We had an interesting trip to Oslo. Our Air Canada flight to Heathrow which left Toronto at 8:45 p.m. on Tuesday September 19 was on time and we arrived at 8:30 a.m. the following morning. We had a short layover and then flew SAS to Oslo (just under two hours). About an hour into the flight, Allan got up and as he was going to the aisle, he slumped in the aisle seat (where someone else had gotten up to let him pass). He fainted and after flight attendant panic, the calling for a doctor, and a few seconds of scary delay, he came to. When we landed, paramedics checked him out and took us in an ambulance to a very quiet emergency clinic near the airport, where a doctor checked him out and said he was A-OK. It seems the combo of a long flight and low blood pressure caused Allan to faint. Phew!
We luckily ran into a wonderful Norwegian man at the bus stop heading back to the airport from the clinic. He showed us how to buy bus tickets on-line and as he was heading into town, he helped us install a different app to get the train ticket from the Oslo airport to the Central Train Station. We then caught a tram which got us very close to our Airbnb. Oslo is a very tech savvy city-- we have also found out that it is moving to being cashless. One pays for almost everything with a credit card or e-transfer. Cash is discouraged and a number of places won't even allow one to pay in cash.
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| Tiger in front of the Oslo Central Train Station |
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| Visitor Centre in building beside the Train Station |
After arriving in our neighbourhood, we stopped at Tim Wendelboe, a micro roaster, coffee training centre and an espresso bar, run by World Barista Champion Tim Wendelboe. The café is about a five minute walk from the Airbnb.
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| Allan and Tim |
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| Lovely café with good coffee. |
We then headed to our Airbnb which we are very happy with. It is a large apartment on a quiet street in the bohemian/ hipster area called Grünerløkka. This area is a grid of 19th century apartments built to house workers from the factories that lined the nearby Akerselva river. Today it has a great restaurant and café scene and is the site of the country's largest art and design school. We are about a 25 minute walk from the Central Train Station.
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| Our building-- one of a number of four story apartment buildings in the area |
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| Kitchen with view of a lovely courtyard |
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| Courtyard |
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| Living and Dining Area |
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| A large TV (which we probably won't use) |
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| Separate bedroom |
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| Very modern bathroom with shower |
After unpacking, we headed out to the Mathallen Food Hall located in a former industrial space in the adjoining Vulkan area. The Food Hall opened in 2012 and is a big success with locals as well as tourists. It is located on the other site of the Akerselva River, a fast-flowing river that was once the centre of Oslo's industry. It was largely abandoned until the late 20th centruy but today is an 8 km area of forest, rapids, water-falls, running tracks and picnic grounds. Mathallen Food Hall showcases the very best of Norwegian regional cuisine. There are small dining areas as well as some delis, cafés and places to buy fish and meats.
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| Walking down our street |
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| Akerselva River |
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| Playground near the river |
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| Small bridge over the river to Mathallen Food Hall |
We decided to have dinner at Vulkanfisk, which sells fresh fish as well as having a small restaurant in the Food Hall.
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| Vulkanfisk Seafood Bar |
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| Allan with a delicious fish soup |
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| Excellent fish and chips (halibut) with mushy peas |
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| Walking back passing fast moving rapids |
We got back to the apartment and had a good night's sleep. It was a very tiring and eventful day, but we are liking Oslo already.
Thursday September 21 started out cloudy (high 17C) and we headed out to meet our Free Walking Tour at the tiger statue at the Central Train Station. We were very lucky it didn't rain for our walk which went from about 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. However, it started to rain at about 1:00 p.m. and didn't stop for the rest of the day. We have umbrellas and carried on.
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| A different place to cross the Akerselva River |
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| Grabbing the bull by the horns |
There were about 25 people in the Walking Tour. A number from Germany, Romania, the US, Prague, and even Australia. There were two other Canadians on the tour. Our guide, Irina, was from Latvia, but has lived in Norway for a number of years. We covered a fair bit of ground on the tour and it gave us a good lay of the land and where various sites are located, that we might want to visit in more detail.
Irina told us the story of the tiger in front of Oslo Central Station. When Oslo celebrated its 1000-year anniversary in 2000, Eiendomsspar (a property management company) wanted to give the city a gift. Oslo wanted a tiger due to the city's nickname Tigerstaden (The Tiger City). The name was probably first used by Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson whose 1870 poem describes a fight between a horse and a tiger; the tiger representing the dangerous city and the horse the safe countryside. Oslo was a dangerous port city in its earlier days- sailors would stop there seeking alcohol and women and there was considerably more violence than there is now. (As an aside Sweden and Norway was recently found to be are the most affordable, safest countries in the world- Canada is number three).
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| The Tiger by Elena Engelsen, 2000 |
We walked to the port area and saw the array of wonderful new buildings. The first is the Deichman Bjørvika, Oslo's main library. The Deichman library was established in 1785, after Carl Deichman bequeathed his collection of 6000 books to Norway's capital. The new library opened in 2020 and in 2021 was named the world's best new public library by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. 32 libraries competed for the award.
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| Outside the Deichman Library |
Irina then told us about the Oslo Opera House which opened in 2008. It is designed to look like an iceberg, and the people are said to look like penguins from afar. Just gorgeous. Oslo is definitely getting an A+ for architecture, based on what we have seen so far.
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| Library and adjoining Opera House |
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| Amazing building |
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| This iceberg sculpture moves with the current |
Irina pointed out a number of huts with saunas on the waterfront.
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| Enjoying a sauna and dip in the water |
We then walked to the newer city centre. The old city centre near the Station had burnt down in the 17th century. The new King from Sweden moved the city centre to a new area. Today the area near the Station has flourished again.
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| The King apparently threw his glove in a forested area and said "this is where I want the new City Centre to be built." |
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| This was the old city hall- one of the oldest buildings in Oslo |
We walked to the Akershus Fortress, which dates back to 1299. It was surrendered without combat to Nazi Germany in 1940 when the Norwegian government evacuated the capital in the face of the unprovoked German assault on the country. During WWII, people were executed there by the Nazis. After the war, eight Norwegian traitors who had been tried for war crimes, were also executed at the fortress, including the infamous Vidkun Quisling. There were no more executions in Norway after this time. Irina told us that ironically, Quisling's former residence was turned into the Holocaust museum.
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| Statues of Workers on one side |
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| Front of City Hall with famous swan statue |
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| The bell tower of the left is under reconstruction |
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| National Theatre-- Irina said originally theatre was for the elites and only place one could get chocolates |
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| We loved the signage on these toilets |
Our final stop was Norway's Parliament Building, with the many windows representing transparency (said Irina). It was built in1866.
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| Outside the Parliament Building |
After our wonderful lunch, we headed back for a visit to the Diechman Public Library. It was an amazing building and fabulous community resource.
We then headed to the Munch Museum (Munch Museet). We passed a number of new residential and commercial buildings in the new urban development area of Bjørvika.
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| Fabulous new buildings |
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| More interesting apartment buildings in the new area |
The new Munch Museum opened on October 22, 2021. It faces Bjørvika Bay, reflecting the light conditions in Oslo. It was designed by Juan Herreros, from Spain and his partner Jens Richter. The original museum was in a different location and had opened in 1963.
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| Outside of the the Munch Museum |
The next blog will start with our visit to the Munch Museum and the rest of Thursday's activities.
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