I loved Oslo. And I love Norway but I’ve also spent the most time here. That said I also had the most disappointing things happen here. But I still love the vibe.

More on that later. Thankfully I had a feeling I wouldn’t like Stockholm as much so I did a last minute shift to take a day from Stockholm and add it to Oslo. So I visited every major “Scandinavian” city for 4 days … (I’m counting Helsinki even if, like Iceland, it’s not officially Scandinavian. Still don’t know the rules and I don’t care enough to google it.) 

Maybe Oslo reminds me a little of Chicago. Very modern architecture!? Although it’s only about 750K people and physically made me think more of San Francisco. 

It has stunning, natural, water-based views with mountains and vistas everywhere. And while in some areas a hipster vibe, others felt very wealthy and snooty, and still others were a bit dirty and perhaps druggy. (Like near the bus station, not far from where I stayed. But once I figured out both public trans and a great back way to the apartment, I never had to deal with that again.) 

Norway was a rural, agricultural economy until they discovered massive petroleum reserves off their shores in the late 1960s (but didn’t successfully start producing it until 1971). They are now one of the world’s richest countries per capita. And it seems they are spending their money on maintaining a beautiful country. They’re very energy conscious which is funny (but smart) considering they’ve got all that oil!? And they’ve invested a ton in alternate energy and seem very intent on clean everything. 

So Oslo has this new area that was reclaimed from ugly dirty ports … sort of the postcard view of Oslo. 

Back to crazy coincidences, I arrived in Oslo after a scenic 6 hour train ride. I dropped my bag and ran to grab a lunch at the Oslo street food market which I’d read about (as usual I made the choice to sleep rather than eat and for some reason I don’t like buying food on trains).

But I had to snarf my food because I scheduled myself for a 3 pm walking tour to get oriented immediately. And it was almost 2 when I got to the airbnb (after stopping at the Visitor information center and getting lost of course during the 14 minute walk). My tour group was small and there was a girl who had also just arrived from Stockholm. Turns out she not only was on my same morning train but also in the same train car. And the kicker, stayed at the same Stockholm hostel I’d been in — though she stayed in the dorm area for three nights. Neither of us ate there much and we never ran into one another!? Plus, she’s originally from Shanghai though had lived in Singapore for some years AND she’s currently studying in Italy (Bologna)!!!  So hello Lucy if you’re reading this!!!

The tour was pretty high level and more pointed out what to visit and more importantly what and where to eat and drink. But we saw a lot. I think we got some slightly inaccurate information but the guide was American (MN) and only lived in Norway about 9 mos tho she was of Norwegian heritage. She was there to do a masters. 

Afterwards, Lucy mentioned wanting to try a food market (Mathallen) about 25 mins away so I joined her — we took the circuitous route but it all worked out.

We got moose burgers with the famous “brown cheese” added on and their drink, aquavit (which prior to this trip I thought was Swedish and juniper based but this is totally Norwegian and potato based.) We tried and shared two kinds … it was 40 proof and strong but aged and more like a whisky than the expected vodka. I liked it better than Lucy I think. 

Afterwards, given it doesn’t get dark until 10, we sauntered back to the waterfront and walked up the opera house (it’s a thing to do) and around the neighborhood. 

It was beautiful. Though the minute the sun went down, I got cold!!  I had shed my fleece at the airbnb since it was so warm in the sun but regretted it when the temps dipped back to the 50s. These are views while we were still on the opera house roof. We didn’t stay until sunset since that was still a few hours away!

As we descended, we saw another new area with outdoor bars, saunas, pools, cafes, and restaurants where there were still a lot of people despite it being Sunday night. 

For some reason google maps did not want me to walk back the best possible way but I’m glad I veered off course — it’s through the newish “barcode” office buildings. It was sorta empty by the time I walked back but I felt safer than walking by the bus station after dark. It also made me realize I was only a 6 minute walk to my train platform when I had a 635 am train out!

This was an incredibly long first day but I have a lot more about Oslo that I’ll save for another day!