Weekend in Oslo

Thomas and I went to visit his friend Lars in Oslo. They went to the University of Westminster in London, and lived next to each other in the dorm. It was a quick trip; we left Saturday morning and came back Sunday night, but we got a taste of the city and surrounding countryside.

We dropped our stuff at Lars' place on Saturday morning and took off right away on our bikes! Thomas had forewarned me that there was mountain biking involved, but I guess I thought he was exaggerating. He wasn't... between the BIG hills, off road trails and wheezing from my head cold, I was NOT prepared! It's obvious that Lars rides all the time--he was completely fearless on big downhills and rough trails. You can roughly trace our route on Saturday here.

Also check out my photo album on Picasa.

There is a huge national park just north of Oslo, and it seems that everyone here bikes, hikes and skis. With the crisp, clear air and green, mountainous surroundings, Oslo reminded me of Colorado or Seattle. We also had amazing weather... clear blue skies, blinding sunshine and 70-75 degrees. There were tons of people out all over the city and in the parks, walking sunbathing, picnicking, and of course, drinking.

On Sunday, we went to two of Norway's important outdoor spots: Holmenkollen, the ski jump, and Vigeland Sculpture Park. In the afternoon, I took a guided tour of the new Opera House.

Oslo is the third Scandinavian capital I've been to, and I couldn't help but draw comparisons with Stockholm and Copenhagen. There's a lot of new building going on right now, and Oslo seems to have the most modern buildings. It's a smaller city, with only about a half million in population, and seems to be much greener/has more trees. It's also the most expensive. Norway's primary resource is oil; they have to import most everything else, especially fresh food. Norway is not part of the EU, and they have their own currency, the Norwegian Kroner, which is worth slightly less than the Danish crown.

And then there are the languages... Norwegian is spelled like Danish--it was, after all, a Danish colony for many years--but is spoken completely differently. I could understand bits here and there but overall was pretty lost, and we spoke English most of the time. Swedish is the most different from the other two Scandinavian languages in both spelling and pronunciation, but with so many Swedes working in Copenhagen, you meet them quite a bit, and learn to understand them.