Oslo: The Start of an Adventure

Let me set the scene.  Three guys,  who had just graduated high school the day before, boarding a plane to Europe for a two week trip that had been planned for the last six months.  I was so excited.  I knew that this was going to be one of those times that I will remember for the rest of my life.  Now you may be thinking, “Why Oslo”, and to be honest, it was because it was cheap to fly there.  I was not expecting much out of Oslo, but it turned out to be one the best places we visited on the entire trip.

Unfortunately, the trip had a less than stellar start.  After a full day of walking around in New York City, dragging our bags with us, we just wanted to board the plane and sleep through the flight.  But Norwegian Airlines had other things in mind.  After we found our seats, we sat down and waited to take off.  And waited.  And waited.  All in all we waited 2 hours on that plane before we took off.  Now this was particularly annoying because we had a limited amount of time in Norway, so we did not want to waste any time.  Luckily, after that hiccup, it was a smooth flight.

Once we got situated in our hostel room, we immediately went out exploring.  We wandered the city streets, walking by the King of Norway’s Palace, the library, and the cities shopping streets.  Eventually we came to the harbor, and it was amazing.  

(Fig. 1 Oslo Harbor from the Akerhus Fortress)

Right about then, we all were stricken with hunger, so we decided to have dinner.  We settled on a restaurant on a pontoon floating in the harbor.  It was beautiful, and we enjoyed a simple meal, watching the ferry come in and out of port.  After dinner we continued our wandering, eventually finding our way to the local fort.  This was an expansive complex situated on a hill overlooking the harbor, and it was, along with the rest of the city, incredibly picturesque.

(Fig. 2 Ankerhus Fortress in the sunset)

The fort was as you would expect, filled with informational plaques, and many replica cannons.  It also provided many great Instagram photos.  After the fort, we finished the night off in a bar, had a few drinks, and then headed back to the hostel.

The next day we hit the museums.  One ferry ride later, and a few hundred meters of walking, we were at our first destination of the day, the Viking Ship Museum. The museum was chock-full of viking relics, but the main attraction was the recreated viking ships.

(Fig. 3 Recreated Viking ship in the Viking Ship Museum)

In total, the museum had 3 ships, and with these ships the museum told the story of the vikings.  They detailed the many different tools that they used to build the ships, detailed how the ships were used.  The museum also had tools viking used in other aspects of their life, like farming, food making, and religious tools.  After about an hour we left and headed the second museum, a museum dedicated to the Fram.

Prior to visiting to this museum, I had never heard of the Fram, but for those who do not know, the Fram was one of the first vessels to explore the arctic.  The Fram museum was a much more interactive museum than the Viking Ship Museum.  The Fram had cold chambers to demonstrate the extreme temperatures of the arctic, and an entire kids section with fun interactive exhibits for kids to play with.

(Fig 4 We pose for a photo in the Fram Museum)

The museum was also much larger than the Viking Ship museum, so we spent the rest of our day there.  After the museum, our time in Oslo had come to an end.  We went back to the hostel, packed our bags, and headed to the airport.  Although I did not spend an enormous amount of time in Oslo, I really enjoyed it.  The culture was amazing, and everybody that we met was incredibly nice.  I hope to one day return to Norway, and explore more of this fantastic country.