Norway

Hi all! I apologize for the long absence but we finally have internet so I am back to blogging.
One of the perks of living overseas is that when your husband travels for work he travels in Europe! Which is why, 2 weeks ago, Shane and I set off for Oslo, Norway for the weekend. Shane only had to work on Monday which gave us all day Saturday and Sunday to explore!
After arriving a bit later than anticipated (turns out Ryan Air lands in a city an hour outside of Oslo!) we began our touring. Oslo is a beautiful city, situated right on the water and surrounded by contryside. It is mainly divided into 3 main areas, Central Oslo West, Central Oslo East and Bygdoy. Our hotel was in Holmenkollen, where the ski jump competitions take place, so we took a train to get to central Oslo. Once there we were able to see Aker Brygge - the main shopping district/eating area by the harbor. On Saturday morning, when we were there, there was a huge street fair and we helped ourselves to some delicous Hungarian inspired goulash made by a local chef. Near Aker Brygge is the Nobel Peace Center, where the Nobel Peace prize winner is decided on and the award given, as well as Radhuset - home of the Norwegian parliment. The building was opened in 1950 to commemorate the city's 900th anniversary! We also saw Akershus Slott - a 700 year old fortress built in 1299 by King Hakon V. It became the administrative center for the Norwegian government in the 19th century and was taken over by Germany during WWII. The fortress was beautiful and there was a wonderful restaurant nearby that served smorgsbords - traditional open faced Norwegian sandwiches (we had these Sunday - don't worry, we didn't have 2 lunches!). We walked down Karl Johans Gate, the main thoroughfare of the city that leads from the Oslo train station to the Royal Palace (Slottet). We also checked out the Opera House - a huge complex, completed in 2008, that houses the Den Norske Opera. You can actually climb on top of it and hundreds of people were sunbathing, eating and hanging out on the roof when we were there! We were not able to hear the famous Opera group, but there was a Norwegian band performing on the roof. They were, I believe, Norwegian punk rock, and the crowd LOVED them! For dinner we ate at a wonderful seafood restaurant on the water.
The next day we explored Vigelandsparken, Oslo's largest park which houses a collection of 212 sculputures made by Gustav Vigeland. All of the sculputures are of humans with the largest being a huge monolith in the center of the part composed of 121 human forms spiraling their way towards the sky. After the park, we headed for najonalgalleriet, the national gallery that houses hundreds of works by Norwegian artists, as well as a small but excellent impressionist section. The most famous work displayed is, of course, Edvard Munch's "The Scream." The painting was actually stollen in 2004 but found again in 2006. Shane's favorite Norwegian artist was Christian Krohg who also had several paintings on display.
After the museum we headed for Bygdoy. This used to be an island in the Oslofjorden until the sound was filled in during the 19th century. It is now a residential area but is still primarily covered with farmland and forest. We took a bus through the beautiful scenery until we reached Vikingskipshuset, the Viking ship museum. It holds the remains of 3 Viking funeral ships, as well as a lot of artifacts from the age of the Vikings. The ships were in incredibly good shape and were very cool. After Bygdoy we headed to the highest point in Oslo, Frognerseteren. There is a great restaurant up there that serves traditional Norwegian food including elk and reindeer - which we tried. They were delicious!
The following day Shane went to work and I wandered around Oslo doing some shopping and taking a few more pictures before we headed back to London. Please check out our pictures on facebook! The pictures above from left to right are Aker Brygge, Akershus Slott and the Royal Palace with statue of Karl Johan.

Love, Sarah and Shane