Trip to Oslo
This was quite a random trip, I took it because I got a 99CHF Black Friday flight deal from Swiss Airlines.
The trip started with a pleasantry: the plane was very new and very clean, and even windows were very clear and had no dust in between like the plane windows usually have! When I got to my hotel, I found out that it has quite a cool bedside lights, which I’m now thinking about getting for my bed at home!
First night out
I got in late on a Friday night, so there was no way I was going to do touristy stuff. Instead I decided to have a dinner, and try to get into the Google office in Oslo. It’s a small office, but it’s new, so I was interested in seeing it. Unfortunately I couldn’t get in, since the office was in a building with other offices, and the main door was closed after 5pm. However, there was a TGI Fridays right next to it, which I was glad to see, since Switzerland has very few American chains (Burger King, McDonalds, and Subway are the only ones I know about. Oh, and Hooters).
Day 2
I decided to wake up early on Saturday morning, so that I could start doing touristy stuff. Oslo has quite a number of things one might want to see, and when I was planning where I want to go, I found out that my schedule will be quite tight. You should also take into account that (at least in winter time) museums are usually open only form 10am until 4pm. But Nobel Peace Museum was open until 6pm, so I kept it to the end.
I was staying in a hotel in the city center, so the first thing to do was to go to the main train station to grab Oslo Pass. It’s useful to buy it if you’re planning to visit more than 3 museums. I highly recommend it, since most likely you’ll visit more museums. It also gives you free public transportation in the city. I actually bought a 24-hour city public transportation pass at the airport, which was a waste. So if you’re planning to get Oslo Pass and you have to take a train from the airport to the city, buy a ticket only for that ride.
After buying Oslo pass, I headed to the royal palace, where the current royal family of Norway resides. There was nothing lavish or fancy about the palace, and it was also not possible to get inside. But I did enjoy seeing the ceremonial guard!
The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History
This was the biggest and the most informative museum I visited in Oslo. It has indoor and outdoor sections, with the outdoor section featuring houses from different centuries in Norway.
In summer you can take a boat there from Aker brygge, but in winter the bus #30 is your only option. That bus will also take you to the Viking ship museum, Fram museum, Kon-Tiki museum, and back to Aker brygge.
After a quick walk through “kids’ toys” section, I went to the Sami culture section. Sami people are an ethnic minority who live in the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Their language is completely different from Swedish and Norwegian, and while it’s in the same group as Finnish, it’s also very different from it.
What surprised me the most was the fact that Sami people used to be looked down on, and discriminated against in Norway. I’d never expect something like that from Scandinavian countries, but it looks like they also had a history with civil rights.
What I liked about the outdoor section in the museum was that you could enter some of the houses! While middle ages houses had quite large rooms, what surprised me was that houses during 19th and early 20th century were quite small. Were Norwegians shorter back then?
Viking museum
How can you not see Viking stuff when you’re in Norway! The museum features a huge Viking ship, and bunch of artifacts from Vikings. Definitely visit it!
Kon-tiki museum
Norwegians are known to be explorers: polar, and apparently also tropical! The Kon-tiki expedition was journey across Pacific ocean made by Thor Heyerdahl, to prove that people from South American could have settled in Polynesia. There was also a follow-up expedition from Africa to South America, which isn’t less interesting!
Norwegian Maritime museum and Fram museu
Norway has an amazing culture and technology of building ships! Even if you’re not interested in building ships, this museum is still worth a visit. There are many models and replicas of ships, and you could see how rooms in different ships looked like.
Fram was a Norwegian ship used in arctic and antarctic expeditions by various famous polar explorers. It’s not nearly as big as modern cruise ships, but it was very maneuverable and durable for a wooden ship!
Google office
Unlike the day before, I made it to the Google office! I didn’t want to take post pictures I took inside, so here’s the outside view!
Nobel peace prize museum
Quite informative, quite sad — reminded me of Red Cross museum in Geneva.
Going out
After all the intensive museums and sightseeing, I had almost no energy to properly go out, but I thought I’d at least take a walk and see Oslo at night.
If you have one night to go out, I’d recommend going to Youngstorget. It’s quite vibrant, and has various bars and restaurants. It may also have concerts in summer. For my next trip I should definitely book a bar crawl, so that I don’t get lazy!
Day 3
On the third day I went to ski the famous ski jump and walked around the Akershus Fortress, and did some souvenir shopping. It takes around an hour to get to the ski jump, so plan accordingly. It also takes a while to go around the fortress, so plan spending 2–3 hours there!
Skiing is a very big in Norwegian culture. In fact so big that it’s completely normal for a 9-month old child to ski, and once they won a battle against Swedes because Swedes were on horses and Norwegians were on skis. Winter time isn’t the season for ski jumping, but the ski jump resort is nevertheless open for visiting. There’s also a “skiing museum” there.
