I had not thought at all what Oslo might be like before I went. After I was there, I realized that I expected it to be like, say, Copenhagen or Stockholm but with an extra infusion of money from the oil wealth of the country. Somehow sleeker. This was completely not the case, Oslo has a much rougher-hewn feel than those cities. Norway gained its independence in 1905, after a peaceful dissolution of a union with Sweden, and perhaps this late start as a national capital shows in the urban fabric today. There are quite a few recent and spiffy attractions - the Nationalmuseum, the Library, the Astrup Fearnley Museet, the opera house - but on the whole the city is less majestic that others. That's OK, in my walks around I came across many neighbourhoods, thinking, "I could live in this place". It is a city for living in, not a city for making big statements.
Photo List (Total 408 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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City Hall, National Museum and the Royal Palace (80 photos) - This gallery, focussing on the western end of central Oslo, starts at the lovely City Hall. The gallery continues to the National Museum (an art gallery and design museum), in which I took quite a few photos. It takes in various things in the area, like the House of Oslo which is a modern office building, the Royal Palace (exterior only) and the grounds around it, and a meandering walk in a pleasant residential area to the west of the palace.
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Aker Brygge and Tjuvholmen (47 photos) - This area, along the western edge of downtown along the water, is a former industrial site turned over to residential and commercial uses. These photos show mostly modern buildings, apartment complexes and hotels, that sit alongside the water. It includes the modern art museum, the Astrup Fearnley Museet, which was terribly entertaining.
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Central Oslo (123 photos) - Though the entire gallery is really "central Oslo", this gallery covers everything that is not modern and new on either end of downtown. It starts near the National Palace, moves down to the Nationaltheater, the Eidsvolls Plass and the national parliament of Norway, the Stortinget. After that, it takes a diversion south to the Akershus Fortress, along the edge of the port. It returns to the central city, and heads up to the Stortovet, a commercial square, the cathedral nearby, and follows a pedestrian street to the train station.
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Bjørvika and Barcode (79 photos) - This area, along the eastern edge of downtown near the Bjørvika Inlet, is an area developed recently containing mostly modern buildings. This gallery starts at the Deichman Bjørvika Library, which I thought was wonderful, continues to the Opera House just beside the library and which leans into the water of the harbour, moves on to the Munch Museum, and ends at a development of modern buildings, residential and office, called Barcode.
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Outer Areas of Oslo (61 photos) - There were a few things I had wanted to do in Oslo but we had quite a bit of rain, so I did not take the subway to a ski hill, and I missed the Ekeberg Hudenpark which sounded lovely. But Jim and I did make two excursions a short distance from downtown - the first was to the west of downtown to Frogner Park, and the second was north to the Botanical Garden. Frogner Park is the only park I have been in that I would describe as "hallucinogenic", in that I didn't really believe what I was seeing, that it could be in a public park. Quite beautiful and deeply strange. The Botanical Garden was really only so-so, but the walk there took me through neighbourhoods that felt like they would be just lovely to inhabit.
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Oslo Subway (18 photos) - The Oslo subway, especially after having just been to Copenhagen and Stockholm, was a shock. The stations I saw were just average or in some cases, like Stortinget, quite actively ugly and rundown. That station had terrible signage. After visiting the Botanical Garden, I was shocked that there was no way to pay for a far from the Toyen Station, they have no ticket machines and no ability to pay with a credit card. You need to download an app. You can also buy paper tickets at 7-11 stores. For a visitor, an app is not a big deal, maybe, but not the friendliest way to pay for something. I bought paper tickets, but from Toyen I just rode for free.
