Oslo: Gateway to Europe

Oslo Opera House

OSLO

Arrival marks the first stop of our round-the-world trip that will last for the next three stops. We found cheap one-way tickets from NYC to Oslo on Norwegian Air Shuttle 8 months ago and decided to buy them on a whim. For $235 (taxes included), we had our transatlantic flight to Europe booked. Norwegian has expanded rapidly into the US-Europe market with affordable flights from Scandinavian capitals to NYC, LA, Oakland, and Miami. The cheap flight gave us the initiative and opportunity to visit Norway's capital, which is typically off the radar for most American tourists in Europe. However with increasing opportunity for affordable travel to Oslo I am hoping that more Americans take the dive to visit beautiful and storied country. 

Getting from Ithaca, NY to JFK airport was a long day of traveling that definitely didn't go as planned. Firstly, we woke up late to finish packing and moving out of Irene's apartment and were scrambling to get our things together before our rideshare arrived. The trip from Ithaca to New York City alone is 4 hours, however being dropped off in Hoboken along with the decision to take public transit resulted in another 1.5 hours of travel to JFK. Upon arrival in NYC we received a text update from our airline that our flight would be operated by a third party charter company, followed by a complete cancellation of the flight. It was delayed for 10+ hours and departure was pushed back from 10pm Thursday to 1:00pm Friday. Fortunately the airline was willing to house us at a nearby hotel and provide meals. 

Found stewardess' instructions to not serve Row 37 (us!), which gave us a laugh 

The flight from New York to Oslo went off without at hitch. The contracted airline was a Portuguese-based company with Russian employees- definitely lower on the airline credibility list in my opinion. Since we purchased the cheapest tickets the flight attendants did not serve us beverages or food. This presented an interesting experience as everyone around us was served food and drinks, while we were completely ignored. Nonetheless, you get what you pay for and I was fine without bad airline food. Irene and I came prepared by stocking up on snacks at Walmart a few days prior. Somehow they didn't notice (or didn't care)our large additional bag full of trail mix, water, crackers, an honey buns. 

Our arrival in Oslo was pushed back from 11am Friday to 2am Saturday, which created a hassle with regards to transport to Oslo city center. Fortunately Flybussen was still operating night buses to the city with travel times of 45 minutes. The unfortunate news is that night buses (1-5am) do not offer student discounts to non-Norwegians, increasing the price from a reasonable $12 to $28 per person. We were definitely annoyed, but reasoned that it's out of our control. 

3:30am Oslo Cathedral

We arrived at the central bus station (Bussterminel) around 3am and headed to our AirBnB stay, which was a 15 minuted walk away. Well we kinda headed in the wrong direction, so it took a bit longer (sorry, Irene!). The sunrise in Oslo during the summer is technically 3:30am, while the sunset is 10:30pm. Although we arrived at 2am, it was definitely lighter our than a typical summer in the US. 

The delay left us with one day in Oslo, so we made the best of the day by being very efficient with our time. However, we were still tired and wanted to get some sleep and so decided to nod off for a good 6 hours. After waking up around 10:30am we managed to leave the apartment by 11:15. We stayed around the Jakob Church on Hausmann's Gate 10-15 minutes north of the Oslo Central Station and adjacent bus terminal. The neighborhood had a hip, urban feel with easy access to the city center, food, a beautiful creek, and local neighborhoods that were lively with students. 

Oslo Cathedral & Saturday flower market

Our first stop was the Oslo Cathedral, which is in central Oslo. It's a nice and humble church adjacent to major shopping areas. It is aligned with other significant buildings (parliament, palace, train station) along the east-west Karl Johans Gate thoroughfare. The original two day itinerary called for splitting up the city between the central core and waterfront, and parks and history museums. With one day left, we decided to walk around Oslo to view the major attractions without paying to visit them. For the most part I was happy with this decision and was satisfied with only having one day in Oslo. I had the impression that Norway is better known for its natural beauty than the allure of its capital city. 

First Selfie with Selfie-stick: Oslo Opera House

After the cathedral, we headed down to the newer waterfront development with its prominent Oslo Opera House. There is a ton of development and construction cranes across the city and the opera house vicinity featured an array of impressive foreign firms and cultural assets. The Oslo metro has grown by 21% in the last 10 years, which was reflected in the number of construction cranes dotting the skyline. Many of the new buildings incorporate an ultra-modern Scandinavian style of architecture. These buildings are odd-shaped and very interesting, albeit slightly sterile. They provide a nice contrast with the older center of the city. 

Akershus Castle

Near the opera house is the Akershus Fortress and Castle that provided defense for the inner Oslo harbor throughout history. It's a humble structure, but definitely worth visiting as touring the grounds is free with nice views. There are a few museums and exhibits that are recommended in travel guides, but we were unable to appropriate any time. A clerk in the Medieval/Castle museum provided us with helpful information for local coffee shops. Coffee in Scandinavia has a good reputation and we definitely wanted to hit up a local coffee shop. The popular local chain is Kaffebrenneriet and is scattered through the city. We visited the one on the waterfront. We ordered a cappuccino and café au lait. Prices were decent, comparable to Starbucks, and our cheese sandwich was pretty good. The highly recommended coffee shop is Wendelboe's in the neighborhood of Grüneløkka, just north of where we stayed. The closest tram stop is Olaf Ryes Plass and is in an young, uptown neighborhood between universities. 

Local coffee shop Kaffebrenneriet

Norway gets a somewhat deserved reputation for being very expensive. Our day in Norway confirmed this myth to an extent. While restaurant dining is not noticeably higher in Oslo compared to major US cities (maybe $3-4 dollars more for a $13 meal), what was most frustrating was the high cost of basic items. Simple local/international dishes like hot dogs cost $4 even at the local 7-Elevens. Anything prepared by another person was more expensive, however, raw products like orange juice or fruit was not much different from major US cities. 

After our coffee trip we stopped at the nearby Oslo City Hall, the political center of local government and the site of the 2011 Norway attacks and bombing. The façade that faces the waterfront is somewhat unpleasing, but the building is actually pretty nice when viewed from the front. 

Oslo City Hall

Oslo city hall is close to the national government's headquarters, Parliament, and Palace of Norway. The city is fairly small and surprisingly walkable for most attractions. We didn't take public transit other than the airport bus and avoided withdrawing or exchanging money the entire visit. 

Norwegian Parliament

National Theater

Karl Johan's Gate Street (primary road leading to palace)

Palace Selfie!

There are English tours of Parliament and the Palace, but we opted to save money in Norway in favor of splurging in Sweden. Both buildings were offered nice pictures and were conveniently linked by Karl Johans Gate road. After we finished with the Norwegian government buildings we decided to walk through the Frogner neighborhood to Videland Park. I assume that Frogner is the posh are of Oslo as most embassies were located along the walk to the park. The neighborhood is extremely clean and well-kept, with beautiful estates that house foreign governments (saw Cuba, Pakistan, and Estonia!)

Oslo Phone Booth

Videland Park was a typical well-landscaped and beautiful European park.  It was pretty lively and full of tourist groups. Overall, it was just an okay park with the highlight of naked statues somewhat underwhelming. Personally I think it was more amusing to watch the Asian tourists gawk at the naked statues or the young Norwegians who were jumping off statues. 

Videland Park 

Our return walk to the waterfront was a quiet stroll through the Frogner neighborhood, where we stopped in a local supermarket to fill up on snacks. We were trying to avoid eating out to save money, but eventually bought a $4 bacon-wrapped hotdog. 

Ake Brygge

The last leg of our 1 day walking tour included a loop back to the main harbor and waterfront to explore a new mixed use development. The Ake Brygge/Tjuvholmen development was really interesting and modern, but had the feel of a Scandinavian Downtown Disney. The buildings were interesting and harbor views were nice, but the large development had a cold feeling and the interiors seemed lifeless. I did appreciate the architecture and hope the US can learn from the mixed-use pattern of development that the Norwegians have refined. 

Overall, Oslo was great for a single day and can probably be stretched to 1.5 or 2 days if you want to visit more of the civic institutions. There are also a few museums that I had planned on visiting, but will have to wait until next time. I'll likely return to Norway in the future, ideally when I have a job and can afford the high costs of travel. I really look forward to visiting the northern fjords and scenic coastline of the country, in addition to viewing the aurora borealis in the beautiful cities of Alesund and Bergen.