A Visit to Oslo Norway

Coming to Oslo can be best described in two parts where; 1) We had never been here before and a good Norwegian friend of ours had told us it was an interesting place to visit. And (2) is that the "Norway in a Nutshell" train tour to Flam and Bergen, originates here for us.

We flew in on a Thursday morning, and as the train tour was scheduled to depart the next morning early, we knew that we had to put together a lean, but fast, exploration of the city. This was aided by the fact that we had long since worked up a list of things we wanted to see, and also because our hotel was adjacent to the City Transportation office where we would be able to purchase tickets.

Our flight arrived at 10:40AM and we took the Flytoget Train from the airport into the city. As usual, the train station was beneath the airport, so all we had to do is wheel our luggage down the escalator and hop onto the train.

If you have never been to Oslo & either you are planning a trip there, or you just want to know more about it, here are some good sources of information;

This is the Jernbanetorget transportation center, our hotel is just adjacent to this area. The light rail station is underneath the area where the buses are lined up, and the Oslo Central Train Station is just left of this area as well.

 Quick Facts 

Jernbanetorget is both a rapid transit station on the Oslo Metro and a light rail station of the Oslo Tramway. The metro station is in the Common Tunnel used by all lines under the city centre. It is located between Stortinget to the west and Grønland to the east. Until the construction of the station at Stortinget, Jernbanetorget was the end station for the eastern lines in downtown. Along with the Oslo Central Station, Oslo Bus Terminal and the tram and bus station above ground, Jernbanetorget is the largest transport hub in Norway.

 The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

We had booked a room at the Comfort Hotel Grand Central, and to our surprise, this hotel was immediately adjacent to the train station. When we got off the train, we came outside of the train station, and used Celeste's cell phone map app to try and find the hotel, imagine our surprise when we realized it was right there in front of us!

Oslo Opera House: The home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the National Opera Theatre in Norway. The building sits on the eastern side of the Oslo Harbor near the Havnepromenade.

 Quick History Lesson 

In 1999, after a long national debate, the Norwegian legislature decided to construct a new opera house in the city. A design competition was held and, of the 350 entries received, the judges chose that of Snøhetta. Construction started in 2003 and was completed in 2007, ahead of schedule and 300 million NOK (~US$52 million) under its budget of 4.4 billion NOK (~US$760 million). The gala opening on 12 April 2008 was attended by His Majesty King Harald, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Tarja Halonen of Finland and other leaders. During the first year of operation, 1.3 million people passed through the building's doors.

 The above information was extracted from Wikipedia.

Viking Ship Museum: The museum is most famous for the completely whole Oseberg ship, excavated from the largest known Viking ship burial in the world near Tønsberg in Vestfold County, Norway.

All the Viking ships at this museum were ocean going vessels before they were hauled onto land to be used in burial rituals for their wealthy owners. In the burial mounds, archeologists unearthed skeletons, beautiful wood carvings and a diverse range of artifacts from the fascinating world of the vikings.

Imagine sailing in the North Atlantic in a ship that is approximately 71 feet long with a beam of 16.7 feet? I've travelled through the North Atlantic in a Navy cargo ship that was 500 feet long and we would get bounced around in ways that would make us all cringe! I cannot begin to imagine how the Vikings could travel in their much smaller vessels!

Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump: The tower is 42 meters in height, and the landing slope is 37 degrees at the steepest and 115 meters long.

This picture gives you an idea of just how steep the ski jump is - the area where the skiers ride down reaches 37 degrees in pitch. This is the only "all steel" ski jump in the world.

View of Oslo from Holmenkollbakken: You can see Oslo Harbor in the distance, approximately 12 kilometers. This entire area, situated in the hills above Oslo, was so pretty that we really began to wonder why the Vikings would ever want to sail away from here?