Oslo has been a very different city from the others. Where the places we have been previously look like an amalgamation of the old with the modern, Oslo appears contemporary and new. Architecturally it felt like any large city you would find in the States.
The difference lays in all of the natural beauty surrounding the city. Norway is a very wealthy country. We experienced that first hand when it came time to purchase anything. I think the best way to describe it is as if you were to buy anything at home and then multiply that price by 3. A simple head of lettuce cost us $2.50, two avocados were priced at $11.00 (which we chose to not buy), and our hostels here were by far the most expensive of any we have reserved.
We enjoyed the time we got to spend here. Originally we intended to pick up a free museum pass because it was "be a tourist in your own city" day, much like the first free Sunday in Paris. However, we literally could have stood in the line all day to receive that pass and it would have expired by the time we were out and able to use it. Taking our situation into account we grabbed some coffee in a cute plaza and formed plan B.
We had read that there was an extremely neat park called Frogner Park across town that featured the Vigeland Sculpture Arrangement, showcasing the works of Gustav Vigeland. The walk took us a good 45 minutes but we figured one of the best ways to experience the city would be by foot.
The park was interesting. It was artistic in that the grounds were laid out in a visually pleasing way and that there were countless intriguing statues to take in.
One area seemed to be conceptualizing the tree of life.
Others showed a variety of intimate and violent statues in close proximity with each other.
After the park we decided that it could be really nice to sit back and enjoy a movie together. The Colosseum Theather in Oslo is known as the largest THX theater in Northern Europe.
The only other movie theater that I can use to draw comparisons would be the Metreon in San Francisco.
We caught the showing of Tom Cruises new movie "Oblivion". It was alright, I don't know if it would make our list of movies to recommend. If you really want to see some intriguing sci-fi watch Star Trek. We have been watching some of the Voyager series on our long train rides and it kicks ass.
On our long walk back we stopped outside of the Royal Palace.
While walking around Oslo we also explored the Opera House. It was created to look like an iceberg.
You can walk to the top of the building on some of the slanted platforms, giving a nice view of the harbor.
It was windy and I (Amanda) was slightly fearful that I would fall off directly into the harbor.
The inside of the building was lovely and not what I expected to see based on the outside of the structure.
Norway was an interesting experience and we plan to go back and spend more time in all of Scandinavia. It was a really beautiful place and we both want to explore it more and hopefully see the Aurora Borealis. Up next is Stockholm and the DreamHack tournament.
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