Oslo

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My oslo guide.

I only spent one day there, and my short visit was cramped with all the places where I can take photos. The objective - to try see as much as possible and take as many as possible nice photos.


Btw I was there on a sunday so there was not much on the retail front - In a way it is a blessing on its own.. cos kalau tak rasanya tak sempat pegi banyak tempat ... gagaga

Anyway I took the earliest train from Sandefjord. The journey from Sandefjord to Oslo should actually take around an hour and half.

Arrived at Oslo Sentralstasjon [no(9) in map], and looked for the Information office. I grabbed Oslo Guide andfew brochures and planned my routes over coffee.

I decided to purchase the Oslo pass, with it I get free entry to most of the museums and take any of the public transportation. It is NOK230 for 24 hours - which I reckon is a good deal.

Armed with the map and Oslo pass, I started walking towards Akershus and Fortress & Castle - the one place that made me decide to visit Oslo. It is probably the oldest area of Oslo dated back to 1200. The medieval castle is amazing, and definitely is a must visit if you are in town. Around the area there are also the Army Museums, the fortress and when you look down towards the sea,, you'll see the largest ever made Ship docked just right there.

Digressing a bit, the ship is H.U.G.E, eight storey high, and probably bigger than the building where I worked at here in KL. I wished I had time to go on it, it shuttles every Thursday nights to Germany from Norway.

Back the Akershus area, I walked down thru Christiana torv to the City Hall. Nothing of interests there. Its like any other quey Ive seen so didnt spend much time there. Took the next boat going towards Bygdøy. I went down at the first stop and walked towards Norsk Folkemuseum. It was an uphill walk, very very tiring - I shouldhv waited for the bus but I was racing with time (it was already near noon, and I had only visited one place), so anyway, it took a good 15 mins walk UPHILL before reaching the Folkmuseum. It was totally worth the walk though - it was such a nice showcase of Norfolks houses and community in the olden days. Also a must visit to me.

By the way sebab dah penat when reached Folkmuseum I had short coffee break at the nice cafe - and studied the timetable for the buses. So I timed myself to finish off the folkmuseum in time to catch the bus outside.

Very smart move - cos just nice as I walked out, the bus arrived. Took the bus to the Viking Ship Museum. The Viking Museum is unique on its own, it houses three viking boats, which is pretty amazing. To see that those days they travel miles in that thing. Viking boat has a very unique characteristic, and can easily be recognised by its shape.

Moving on from the Viking Museum, I went to the Frammuseet. Again, the museum housed a ship - this time it is the Polar Ship FRAM - which is the very first ship that had crossed the Antarctic waters. You can go into the ships and see the cabins and all. It is surprising to see how compact it is but I guess voyages like that werent really meant for holiday goers, more for people who make histories ;) There are three museet altogether there, the Fram, Kon-tiki and Norsk Maritime. I didnt bother with Norsk maritime, and Kon-tiki to me is nothing spectacular, maybe because I was in such awe with FRAM and Viking museums.

From there I took the boat back to City Center. The last must-see on my list is Vigeland Sculpture Park (Vigelandsparken) [F3 on the map]. I took the tram which is great transportation for tourist like me. It was kinda crowded on the tram. But my oh my, nothing had me prepared for the MASSIVE crowd I see at the park. At first, I was thinking to myself, so here is where all the Norwegian people - they flock the park on weekends. But my thoughts were quickly re-aligned when I see that there is actually some kind of event happening there. What a bummer. With soooo many people there I couldnt get nice shots, in fact I didnt even bother going close to the pole.

Didnt spent much time there since nothing much I can do. Decided to go back to city center and exploring the City hall, Royal Palace and Johans Gate area. City Hall as mentioned earlier was nothing to shout about. Royal Palace looked nice, but I was already quite tired by then so only glimpse of it from Karl Street, which is a nice place to be if you are in town. This is the happening part of the town with swanky restaurants and bars like HRC. Though it was only early evening, I could tell the place is a popular spot for tourists and locals as well perhaps.

Leading away towards the Oslo SentralStasjon is Johans Gate - where retail lovers could be spending chunks of their time. Sadly it was a sunday, no shops were not opened. I still could not comprehend why would shops be closed on what could potentially be the most lucrative day of the week... sigh..

With the shops closed, I covered Johans gate pretty fast which is a shame. All is not totally lost though, since one or two souvenir shops are still operating - and selling wayyy cheaper things than in Sanderford.

Last stop of the day - from there I hunted the nearest halal food outlet (which is quite a number and it is listed in the Oslo Guide), to have my dosage of meat. How heavenly... :))

There goes my Day trip to Oslo. Overall I think I covered a fair good amount of places and I was happy that I made the effort to go to Oslo. Certainly wasnt disappointing !