July 26, 2016 – Train from Oslo to Flam, via Myrdal.
As my final capital city before my outdoorsy Norwegian adventure, I tried my hardest to change my pace is Oslo and take it a little easier. It was difficult – whenever I’m in a new place I want to see and do as much as possible – but as I embark toward the fjords today I’m glad I took some breaks.
Before arriving, I passed through the small city/large town of Karlstad, Sweden. The train station was uneventful so I used a luggage locker and walked for about 2 hours. I was surprised how large the streets were and how empty it felt for a Saturday late afternoon. Most of the stores were closed. A lot of people were out in a park or eating in cafes, or swimming in a big lake. It was really beautiful. I also found a big outdoor international food festival.
Despite seeing a good part of the city, I had a hard time putting my finger on the pulse of Oslo. A lot of the city is new, with some pockets of older European-feeling architecture. There seems to be construction everywhere as the city builds itself into a more modern place. It’s also on a harbor with a fjord and some islands nearby, and Norwegians like to spend a lot of time outside no matter the season.
I checked into my Oslo hostel around 10pm and it was still light out. It was a nice hostel with free breakfast, but the first night an older man sleeping in the bunk above me starting talking in his sleep! It only lasted about 20 seconds and was in some other language; all I understood was the word “toboggan.” Everyone woke up and someone laughed. Hostels are great, but you never know what you’re going to get!
The next morning I did laundry and chilled. I talked to a fellow solo traveler named Monica from Hawaii (originally from LA). She sometimes quits her job to travel if they don’t give her the time off that she wants. She gave me a print of a Hawaiian beach sunrise that she took to give out to people she meets.
At 2pm I joined my “Viking Biking” tour. The tour was me and a group of 4 women from Mexico City who were all young lawyers. Our guide Josh was from Florida and took us all around the city for 3-4 hours. We hit all of the major tourist sites and were able to walk around at each spot, including an old castle and fortress, City Hall with its beautiful artwork (also the site of the Nobel Peace Prize award – the others awarded in Stockholm), the royal palace, and Vigeland Sculpture Park in Frogner Park – a very popular park with thematic sculptures of human forms all created by one artist. It was huge and had beautiful gardens. The most famous sculpture is of a whiny baby, for some reason. It was also very crowded; as Josh pointed out this was in large part because everyone was out playing Pokemon Go. Biking was very easy in the city – there are not nearly as many bikes as in Copenhagen, and also not nearly as many rules about where you can and cannot bike. It’s fine to bike on the sidewalk, for example. Sadly 2 of the bikers on our tour had some little crashes. It was a little chaotic but a fun and fast way to see the city!
That night I went on a long walk into a less touristy area called Grunerløkka. I ate in a restaurant with a nice outdoor garden. On the way back I visited the Opera House, which you can climb to the roof of for a great view, just in time for sunset at 10pm (people definitely never sleep in Oslo in the summertime). From there I could see the “barcode,” about a dozen new office towers that are spaced apart in a way that makes them look like a barcode. I also ate a “Kvikk Lunsj” (quick lunch), basically a Kit Kat bar that is a popular chocolate bar in Norway and has little ideas inside the wrapper about what to do with your day in various places. Apparently Norway’s chocolate company Freia doesn’t export to other countries but is delicious, so I clearly have a mission for the next few days.
The next day, I met up with John, my American friend who I know from the Ethical Society, and his 2 sons Aidan and Daniel. John’s wife Sarah is originally from Norway and they were visiting her family for 3 weeks. Sadly she had a dental emergency and couldn’t join us, but I met her mother briefly. Their family lived in Oslo for several years and the boys were born there, so it was nice to have a knowledgeable tour guide plus a familiar face for a few hours!
We took a ferry to an area called Bygdøy, a peninsula with lots of museums and also some expensive houses. We went to the Norwegian Folk Museum, which is mostly outdoors and has really old buildings and things to explore from Norway’s history and culture. We saw some folk dancing, took a horse and buggy ride, and played hide and seek in a stave church from the 1200s.
We split up after that, and I decided to book it and see 3 more museums before they closed within 3 hours. First was the Viking Ship Museum, where you guessed it, I saw some old excavated Viking ships and learned about the Vikings a little bit. Most of what they know about them comes from their graves, and it was all a little grim. There were bones with stories of how they indicated a violent death, for instance. Next I went to the Polar Ship Fram museum, which has a giant ship inside that you can explore and learn about its history as an expedition to go to both the North and South poles. It was voted Norway’s best museum, but I had to rush through it to get to number 3 in time. This was the Kon Tiki museum, probably my favorite of the 3. This tells the story of some guys in the late 1940s who decided to sail a raft made our of balsa wood from South America to Polynesia. And after 101 days they made it! It was a harrowing journey and told in a personable way. Basically the guy who planned the trip did it as an experiment. He took some similar expeditions later in life, not all which were successful, but he always managed to keep himself and his crew alive.
I took the ferry back in the rain, pondering where I would eat when I saw a taco truck (in Scandinavia!). I brought food back to the hostel and stayed in the rest of the night. The next morning I took a little walk to buy souvenirs before my noon train into the fjords!
travels.of.tara 