Oslo was hot! I mean literally hot! I never thought I would choose the word hot to describe a city so far north, but Oslo proved me wrong. It was almost 28 C°. The city was beautiful, radiant and with great art installations everywhere. People were enjoying the weather, eating in one of the amazing restaurants, going on a boat tour or just having a sun bath in one of the many public swimming places.

How is the area

It is pretty easy to reach the town center from the airport by Flytoget, the shuttle train, which takes you to the city center in 20 minutes. A one-way ticket costs NOK 160.

Once arrived in the city center, you can reach everything either by bus, by underground metro, by e-scooter or if you are a good walker just by walking. The most touristic areas are either close to the white opera house or close to the harbour by Aker Brygge.

Where to stay

I stayed in a nice and perfectly located hotel called Christiania Teater. The national theater, the parliment, the city hall, the royal palace as well as the harbour and the part of town called Aker Brygge with lots of reataurants and bars are just a few foot steps away.

Every morning there is a great breakfast buffet served in the restaurant of the hotel. The restaurant is quite famous for its theater pizza!

What to do

I took a Fjord Cruise on a beautiful wooden boat from the harbour next to Aker Brygge. I highly recommand it. Not only because you see the beautiful sceneray of the surrounding Fjord but also because you see the skyline and the great area next to opera and the newly built harbour city.

During the cruise you pass the oldest lighthouse, which does not look like a lighthouse at all and pass the cute little private bath houses in which the people, living mostly in Oslo would go to have their peace and quiet by the water.

If you take a walk alongside the harbour at Aker Brygge passing the fortress of Oslo, all the way to the opera house you can see amazing sculptures along the way.

Where to eat

There are a few restaurants I can highly recommand. One is called Asia and is right at the Aker Brygge. As you probably suggest, it serves asian food. I had sushi and it was delicious. Another resaturant which is situated a the new harbour city and is at the other end of the harbour is called Mirabel. In both places one can sit in- or outside.

Don’t miss having a coffee in Cafe Cathedral where they bake their own bread and pastry and if you feel like having a drink go to Lektern in Aker Brygge.

What to see

I took a Oslo day pass for one day which includes all public transportaions and the enterence fee to the most of the museums and exhibitions and used it to see the Munch Museum, the Viking ship museum, the Fram museum and the Kon-Tiki museum.

The Munch museum has a great collection of Edvard Munchs work including the famous ‘Scream’ and ‘Madonna’. Soon the museum will move to a new building next to the opera house at the harbour.

A boat ride to the museum island Bygdøy is the fastest and the easiest way to get to the Viking ship, Fram and Kon-Tiki museum. The boat rides are available starting from Aker Brygge. In Viking ship museum you can have a look at the Vikings ships and watch a movie about the way of vikings life projected on the walls. It is hard to believe that the Vikings sailed so far away with those ships.

In Fram museum you get to see and to lern about the the Norwegian polar exploration. The Kon-Tiki museum houses vessels and maps from the Kon-Tiki expedition, as well as a library with about 8000 books. The norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl lead the expedition on a raft called Kon-Tiki in 1947.

Another wonderful sight, not to be missed, is the beautiful Vigeland Parks. It contains 212 absolutely breathtaking sculptures of the famous norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland.

A ‘Must See’ for all the Ski jumping fans, is the ski jumping hill of Holmenkollen in Oslo. There is a nice exhibition about the winter sports inside the building and you can even go on a zipline down the run if you want to feel the adrenalin!

Oslo is a true temple for the art seekers. Every where you see fantastic art work and installations which are very inspiring. A walking tour on your own inside the town center and the surroundings is the best way to find them.

If you happen to go to Oslo during a colder period of the year, you might want to use one of these 😊

Good to know

Here are some useful links:
https://flytoget.no/en/tickets
https://christianiateater.com/n
https://munchmuseet.no/en/
https://www.khm.uio.no/english/visit-us/viking-ship-museum/
https://frammuseum.no/
https://www.kon-tiki.no/
https://www.dunelondon.com/

The shoe thing