When you get an opportunity to go to Scandinavia for the weekend, you don’t say no. Especially when you’re on exchange and have nothing to lose.
After only a few short weeks in Oxford, this opportunity arose through a Facebook message. A friend of mine from back home happened to be travelling to Norway for a week long course in renewable energy. He had a weekend free in Oslo and asked me to join him for it.
One of the perks of living in Europe is that everywhere is pretty close, so of course I said yes. I could fly to Norway in an hour and a half and for only £80 return. Too easy! Though I should probably buy a better coat…
The weekend arrived, and I jumped on a late night bus headed to my first experience of dreaded Ryan Air. To be honest, I was expecting worse. While the airport wasn’t the most pleasant experience of my life (stern-faced police walking around with massive guns have a way of making me slightly nervous), the flight was on time and the small seats weren’t too much of an inconvenience for my short legs. The flight was simple, but got me from A to B.
I had made some friends from New Zealand on the plane and together we navigated our way to the bus to get to the centre of Oslo. Luckily, everything ran smoothly and my friend met me at the bus stop.
A short walk took us to our (very central) accommodation and we started to plan what to do in the afternoon. If I learned anything about Oslo during my two days there, it was that there are probably more statues than people. Every time we turned a corner, another statue would appear before us, dedicated to someone else who was somehow important to Oslo. So of course, we decided to spend the afternoon in a park full of statues – Vigelandsparken.
One of the many statues in Oslo
With more than 200 sculptures, all the creation of Gustav Vigeland, the park is quite striking. We took our time exploring, questioning the stranger sculptures…
Umm… is he kicking a baby? Or is he being attacked by babies?
Marvelling at the sheer size and intricacy of others…
The Monolith
And then trying to join in on the fun.
After taking in all we could, we headed onto the next sight – the Oslo Opera House. Overcome with weird patriotic feelings towards the Sydney Opera House, I was convinced it was nothing special. But I was wrong. We walked up the roof and were greeted by stunning views of Oslo’s best architecture. What better place for a nighttime picnic – if a little chilly.
We dealt with the cold for as long as we could but decided to head back to our Airbnb when our fingers went numb. Sufficiently warmed up, we headed out to experience Oslo nightlife. The first bar we tried let Mark in, but asked for my ID. Apparently you had to be over 25 to get in… maybe I should grow a beard, just so I can drink in Oslo? Luckily, the second place we tried was not so age-ist and we had a fun time despite paying a bajillion dollars for a beer. Norway is not the place for a cheap holiday.
We finally ran into our host when we got back to the Airbnb and ended up going to another bar across the road with her.
Our intentions of a jam-packed day of sightseeing were dashed when we slept through our alarm and woke at 10am… But we still managed to do everything we wanted. The morning was spent watching the guards do their dance during changeover in front of Oslo’s Royal Palace. I honestly thought they might kiss at some stage – very romantic.
Next stop was the National Gallery, where we were able to appreciate the works of Cezanne, Manet and perhaps most notably Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Madonna. We even attempted to be artists ourselves by drawing a sculpture. We failed.
It was only 2pm so we still had time to do the activity I was most excited for – sledding the Korketrekkeren! Although very hard to control (I may have ran into a little girl… she was fine, though I still remember and feel awful every now and then), sledding was so much fun! Not too expensive to hire and you can just catch the train straight back up once you reach the end of the run. Before we knew it, it was 7pm and we decided to head back.
Photo courtesy of Mark Thompson
Exhausted and cold, we warmed ourselves up by eating expensive pizza and drinking Baileys. With only one morning left in Oslo before we got on planes to our respective homes, we savoured the last of our time together in this beautiful city. We decided to spend our last few hours simply walking the streets and taking in the eclectic architecture and of course, the statues. Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Oslo and to a fantastic weekend!