|
Oslo, 10-14 January 2003, Rachel Briggs
Getting there
Forget champagne-filled nights of excess, forget resolutions about a
healthier lifestyle or working fewer hours, the best thing about the New
Year is the abundance of cheap flights available to take you away from it
all just when you thought you should be getting your head down for yet
another ‘fresh start’. That’s how I found myself flying out to Oslo for 4
days on January 10th. The flights from London Stanstead to Oslo Torp cost
just the price of the tax – about £40 in total. The trade-off is that Torp
is a two-hour coach journey outside the capital, but as there are coaches
waiting for you as you leave the plane for about £20 return per person,
it’s a small price not to pay. In fact, the coach journey provides a
welcome glimpse of Norwegian countryside, which is not something you’ll
see much of during your time in Oslo. It’s also a great opportunity to
catch up on sleep after a 4am start from our flat in Blackheath.
Accommodation
We stayed in
the Rainbow Norrona, Grensen 19, which is right in the centre of the city
and just a 15 minute walk from the bus station where the coach drops you
off. One of the reasons that Oslo makes such a great destination for a
long weekend is its size, which means everything is within walking
distance. With a population of about half a million, it is smaller than
English cities like Leicester, but has all the amenities and attractions
of a capital city.
The Rainbow Norrona was 860 k per night for a nice, clean double room with
bathroom, TV, telephone and arm chair. It is a one minute walk from Karl
Johann’s Gate, the main road through Oslo, and included in the price was a
substantial buffet breakfast and free coffee and tea available 24 hours a
day at reception.
Food
That day we
got our bearings of the city by walking through most of the main central
streets and sampling some of Oslo’s bars. You’ll quickly appreciate that
Oslo deserves its position as the third most expensive city in the world
after Tokyo and Osaka. A beer will set you back at least £4 – and that’s
for 400ml as opposed to a full pint! – and a packet of crisps is a hefty
£2.20!! A small tapas meal that night, with 2 beers each came to
approximately £55. But that shouldn’t put you off. There are ways around
this. Make sure you book into a hotel with breakfast included in the
price; stock up on supermarket food; and make the most of the 7-Elevens
which can be found on most street corners, where you can buy sandwiches
and pastries to go.
Things to see and do
On Saturday
morning we ventured to the Historical Museum, Frederiks gate 2, which
displays historical and ethnological collections. The ground floor is
dedicated to Norway, with the museum’s other two floors covering the rest
of the world in regional sections. While there are guidebooks available in
both English and Norwegian, most of the signs on individual exhibits are
in Norwegian only. But this doesn’t seem to matter as the displays
themselves clearly communicate the main points of interest. This makes for
a less didactic way of learning as it stops long texts getting between you
and history. The museum, like most attractions in Oslo, is also very
children-friendly, with children’s activity tables and lots of interactive
elements.
Saturday afternoon was spent at the wonderful Vigeland Sculpture Park.
Gustav Vigeland, a Norwegian sculptor, started work on the park in 1924
and was still working on it when he died in 1943. From the monumental
wrought iron gates, the central path is lined with bronze posturing
statues which take you down to the footpath over the river. In front of
you lies the central fountain, which is an enormous bowl representing the
burden of life, supported by straining, sinewy bronze Goliaths, which
underneath, water tumbles out around figures engaged in play or talk, or
simply resting or standing. The whole thing culminates in the twenty-metre
high obelisk at the top of the embankment made up of a writhe of bodies,
which depicts the cycle of life. The park looks spectacular in the winter
under at least six inches of snow, and is apparently a great spot for
sunbathing in the summer.
Once bitten, twice shy. That night we opted for a hotel bedroom picnic,
and 120 k bought us enough bread and cheese for dinner that night and a
packed lunch the next day, plus a treat of smoked salmon and crisps to
turn a humble meal into a banquet. Luckily we had picked up bottles of gin
and whisky at the duty free so could wash the whole lot down with a tipple
or two.
On Sunday we ventured into Oslo’s east-end to the much-visited
Munch Museum. The museum contains six large rooms of paintings by Edvard
Munch, plus some visiting paintings on loan to the museum by painters
including Picasso. There is plenty of information available in English.
The basement houses an exhibition chronicling the life of the painter,
which includes many interesting artefacts, such as everything from letters
and journals, and his bed, to a reconstruction of his parent’s living room
and the painter’s death mask. The museum is 20-minute’s walk from the
cathedral and is well worth a visit. It is an interesting walk through the
outskirts of the city, and you will also find cheaper places to eat and
drink along the way.
That evening we skated on the outdoor ice rink outside the parliament
building on Karl Johann’s gate. It costs 45 k to hire skates, but there is
no limit to how long you can stay on as long as the rink is open. The rink
is clearly the hangout for Oslo teenagers and is a lot of fun.
That night we discovered Muddy Waters Blues Bar on Grensen. Sunday night
is jamming night, which means you can either take an instrument along and
join in with the professionals – who are very good – or sit back and enjoy
some of the best blues you will hear outside Memphis. It’s well worth a
visit.
Monday, after packing up and checking out by midday, we wandered
over to the harbour and took a look round Oslo’s many shopping centres. We
also popped into the Cathedral, which is worth a visit. As churches go, it
is a beautiful building, with an unusual tapestry ceiling.
We caught the bus back to the airport at 4.15pm. The buses coincide with
the flights, so they get you there at just the right time with very little
hanging around.
The highs
- There is no language barrier – everyone speaks better English than the
English do
- A great city for a weekend break – there is all the variety of a capital
city but within a compact area
- The Sculpture Park – don’t leave Oslo without seeing it!
- Ice-skating
- The Snow
- Muddy Waters Blues Bar
The lows
- The price of food and drink – drinking in bars would have been a great
way to meet the locals but was beyond our budget
- 2 hour transfer to the airport – but in fact worth it for the chance to
see the Norwegian countryside and the fact that the tickets were so cheap
|
