I have been to Oslo on Saturday. I managed to take a whole lot of pictures, but nevertheless I also want to tell you something that did not quite fit in the camera. Foremost, one of the main problems of Oslo is that you have to look very carefully for a spot to make pictures from — the city is somewhat dense. Another thing that strikes really hard is the contrast between different parts of Oslo. When you are riding to Holmenkollen (where we were heading to) on the tram, you see a lot of cute little, mostly wooden, houses and you might be inclined to think that spending a significant part of your life in Norway does not sound that bad. Near the train station, the city looks more Amsterdam — a lot of building is going on, and there are a lot of semi-skyscrapers (lower than in Frankfurt, but higher than in your average city). Then, if you go further north from the station, you come — very abruptly — into a part of the city that looks very ghetto-like: graffitis, old houses, strange people running around, stuff like that. I was somewhat happy to get out of that neighborhood.
Another thing that is not mentioned in the pictures is the ride to Oslo and back. Norway is a long country, so, the train from Trondheim needs quite a while (about seven hours) to reach Oslo. The most sensible way to travel is to do it overnight, so you can get some sleep and do not lose time in the transit. The ride back was with a bus — similar time schedule, less comfortable, but also a little cheaper.
Yeah, yeah, you are bored and need more pics. Here they come:
One of the impressions from Holmenkollen was that almost every Norwegian there was really drunk — and that even before they won that 50km race. No, really, nearly everyone had a bottle in his or her hands and when the race was over, somebody cried “Swedes go home!” (because the Swedish racers did not perform good).
