Yo, Oslo!

I've returned safe and sound from a weekend in which the majority of my time was spent on the turbulent waters of the North Sea. We took a cruise-ship style ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo (see map) leaving Friday at 5:00 PM and arriving in Oslo the following morning at around 9:30 AM. Friday was probably one of the windiest days since I've been here in Copenhagen, and it only got worse as we sailed past the land barrier of the islands of Zealand and Jutland and into the open sea. Nonetheless, we survived unscathed but off-balance for the rest of the weekend. The ship was extravagant, but no Titanic by any means. On board there were a few cafés and bars, a discotheque, a cinema, a live band, and a duty-free store amidst a maze of winding hallways that became increasingly difficult to maneuver through as the waves intensified and the festivities of the night progressed. I was confident that my sea-legs were sea-worthy given the amount of time i've spent fishing in my life, but a cruise ship is an entirely different story. What really got to me was the fact that you could only feel the boat moving instead of being able to look out at the water either directly or through a window and see it moving. It was no matter, just an added sensation that interestingly contributed to the night.


All of the places on the boat were ridiculously expensive, and knowing this, I had brought supplies for sandwiches, snacks, and beverages that lasted me all weekend -thanks host family. The night was spent hanging out in the cabin, rocking out, and exploring the nooks and crannies of the ship. Met some interesting characters, but there's only so much to do on a cruise ship...We tore it up on the dance floor with a hilariously over-dramaticized rendition of The Village People's YMCA. One of the more memorable -and uncomfortable- moments of the night occured when, as we were sitting around the piano, listening to the entertainer sing "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", he abruptly stopped and verbally confronted another man sitting across from us. I hadn't really noticed, but the man had been singing a different song while the piano player was performing. It obviously offended him greatly, and the rest of the song was performed among awkward glances back and forth between everyone around the piano. We ended up talking with the guy who had insulted the piano player, and his wife for a while and they were really nice classic Danish folk -that piano player had something up his ass.


Eventually we made it to bed and I slept like a baby through what I'm told was an extremely wavy night. We awoke to conditions that were drastically different -the sun was shining, the wind was absent, and the scenery of the fjords of Norway coming into Oslo was stunning. Now I really want to go to the northern part of Norway and see what the people call the real beauty of Norway -it must be beyond imagination. The picture on the right is a view of Oslo right before we docked.


We grabbed the necessary information from the front desk on the boat, and headed out for a day in Oslo. Looking back on it, I'm kind of glad we had only 8 hours to explore Oslo, because I think that's all we needed. I'm sure there's much more of it to see, but we did and saw pretty much everything I wanted to see.

Based on a whole bunch of information that was dumped upon me at an extensive dinner session by my host family and their relatives, I had a pretty good plan of what to do. We first figured out which train to take to get to "the best view in the city" -confusion was floating in the air at the train station, but we eventually found out where and which train we needed to hop on. The trainride was about half an hour and the entire time we were ascending higher and higher into the coniferous, jagged, and snow-filled mountains of Oslo. This was the first time in a while that I'd seen snow, but I'm pretty sure just about everyone back home is absolutely fed up with the sight. When we arrived at the top the view was breathtaking. I took some pictures, but it's one of those things you can't really capture with pictures -nonetheless, I've compiled a panoramic view of Adam looking over the city of Oslo (see below).



We spent a good amount of time up there just soaking it in, and in heinsight this was probably the coolest part of the trip. There were also a bunch of people that rented sleds who were sledding down the mountain and taking the train back up periodically (above and left). We were seriously considering renting some sleds, but decided not to because of our lack of time and waterproof clothing. We took the train back down and decided to go to the sculpture garden.

It was a huge park filled with stone and metal sculptures of people in iconic poses. Looking back on it, the art really reflected the culture of Norway, specifically the emphasis of children and family-life -many of the sculptures depicted adult figures interacting with childlike figures. Again, we were pressed for time so we didn't explore this area to it's fullest, but got a pretty good idea of what it was about.


We took a pit stop at a "Bagel Juice" café that was ridiculously overpriced -as with everything in Norway- and filled with colorful murals, comfortable couches, and a cozy atmosphere. From here we walked to the Royal Palace, which was quite bland and unroyal if you ask me. I thought that the architecture of the houses and shops we passed on the way were more interesting.


At this point we were back to the city center, and time was running short. We walked along the harbor to Akersus fortress, an earthly castle, church, and prison situated on a high hill and constructed in the middle ages. This was another place that could not really be captured in pictures because it was more than just the sights. The walls were stone and covered in grass, the whole thing was surrounded in a muddy mess, and around every corner was a breathtaking view of theocean. After wandering around the fortress for a while we decided to make our way back to the boat. Our legs were tired, our bodies were still swaying with the sea, and we were fenced in, so it was with much reluctance that we had to walk all the way back around the fortress to get out. Despite the exhaustive circumstances we eventually made it back to the boat before it set sail. We all needed a rest so the next hour or so was spent relaxing/napping in the cabin.




With a little more readiness and familiarity for the journey that lay ahead, we sailed off into the sea while the sun set over Oslo. One of the nicest things they had on the boat was the hot tub, and it was a pleasure to sit and relax in it with some good company and even better scenery. I made myself a sandwich for dinner and started off the night with another musical extravaganza in my room. I mostly wandered around for the next few hours and hung out with the other students from DIS who were also on the boat. Like I said before, there's only so many places to go on a boat, and only so much to do, so the night was spent socializing and dancing. We first hit up the live cover band who were cheasy but perfect for the mood. I got talked into buying three giant Tolberones at the tax-free shop because there was a deal -three for two- How could I pass it up? The night moved from the live band music area to the discotheque where the electronic beats were manifested into a raving dance-a-thon. Eventually I wore myself out and hit the hay, the weather was not nearly as stormy, so the night was actually quite pleasant. We arrived in Copenhagen at about 9:30 AM and we said goodbye to our cabin, packed our stuff and hit the road.

What a weekend. If you had asked me a couple of years ago if I thought I would ever be in Norway, I would have undoubtedly said no. The mood of the trip seemed to reflect the idea of being amazed to be where you are, but it need not only be applied to foreign countries and settings. I think it's more of a philosophy and mindset than anything else. If we were constantly in a state of excitement and exploration no matter where the geographic location, it might make life a little bit easier. Anyways, I'm just rambling at this point, and since I didn't have any time to do homework over the weekend, I gotta get crackin' today.