Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Norway (Weekend in Oslo)

A few weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, a friend of mine talked me into going to Oslo for a random weekend.  With a few hours notice, we booked overnight bus tickets, I grabbed my bag and we got on the night bus. 

Several hours of restless sleep later (I forgot my passport), we woke up as we arrived in Oslo a little bit before dawn.

Walkway over the rail lines near central station.

With some early morning wandering, we managed to get some pictures without all of the usual tourists in them.  First wandering up the main street towards the palace, then wandering down towards the water and looking out over the harbor.

Empty streets at 6AM on a Saturday morning.

The church on the main street.

The Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget)

The National Theater

The Faculty of Law (University of Oslo)

The Palace

James hanging out by the Harbor (Waiting for the coffee shop to open)

The Nobel Peace Center

After exploring the Harbor (and having some much needed Coffee) we kept wandering and ended up in the castle.  After the castle was the huge sculpture park which was amusing to see James reaction to, as almost all of the statues are nude.  (And in interesting poses)

The Castle (Which is actually still an active military base)

Me enjoying the Castle Grounds.

The "Sculpture Park" (Frogner Park)

The next day we took a ferry to the other side to check out the viking shop museum before I met up with a couple of old friends I know from Ottawa.  It was nice to visit with both Ina and Marie since I hadn't seen them since they left Ottawa.  The last stop before the bus home was the very fantastic Opera House.  This stunning building allows visitors to wander up the sloping roofs and enjoy amazing views of the Oslo Fjord from the top of the roof.

Me and Ina

The Opera House