Chapter 1048: Oslo Norway Dec 2019 – Part 1

I almost forgot!! I actually went to Oslo before I went to Okinawa. It was before the pandemic of course during last December. So I’ll be posting a little bit about my short time in Oslo…After I landed I took the train to central. I walked from the main station to the Munch-Museet, the Munch Museum. Which was the first place I wanted to go.

One of my ex-colleagues recommended me to visit here. I bought the Oslo Pass so I was good to visit many many places and hop into transport freely. I think one of good things about the pass is that you get to visit so many museums, and because it’s cold you can quickly go inside somewhere to warm up and have a little look around with free entry. It’s very very convenient.

At the Munch-Museet it is all about Edvard Munch who was a famous Nordic painter.

Edvard Munch is famous for this! The Scream. Which has become one of the most iconic paintings in the world.

Landscape paintings are my favourites. I wish I could just jump into a painting and experience that moment.

There was an interesting area where it has some work that looked like it’s from a fantasy world.

This painting was very different form the rest. A bit cartoony. It is by Ludvig O. Ravensberg. who was the son of Edvard Munch’s cousin. It was unexpected to see some cute cows.

This was an interesting piece by J.jakobsen.

This one was very pretty. Also by Edvard Munch, it was called Adam and Eve under the Apple Tree. I liked this one the best because it’s like it’s a movie.

Self-Portrait in Broad Brimmed Hat of Edvard Munch.

There was a workshop room and they featured a lot of lovely origami.

Next I walked over to this small white building, Victoriahuset. Victoria House.

There were massive lily pads on the water.

It was quite humid in here, surrounded by bushes and exotic plants.

There were a lot of water lettuce.

And a crocodile statue poking out from the waters.

When I little I thought it would be cool to have a massive lily pad and use it as a boat and go out to sea.

In the other room were the cactuses.

Some where pretty tall!

At 1pm I had booked myself in a little foodies tour around the city so I headed back to central. Just outside the main station is this bronze tiger statue. It is about 4-5 metres and quite eye catching and random. It was made by Elena Engelsen, the Norwegian visual artist. The city of Oslo wanted a tiger statue because of the city’s nickname: Tigerstaden, which means the tiger city.

At the time they had set up Christmas decorations on the main shopping streets.

This was the Oslo Domkirke, Oslo Cathedral. I didn’t go in because I was heading out to Freia at Karl Johans gate 31.

I was early so I wondered around the winter wonderland area.

This was a moving reindeer! I don’t know why but I find it creepy.

Christmas lights everywhere. And a Ferris Wheel. I was planning to come back a bit later after the tour.

So I finally met up with my tour guide and a few others.

The first stop was a famous restaurant to try out some local food. It was called: Stortorvets Gjæstgiveri. It stands out because of its yellow exterior. It is famous for it’s 18th century nordic cuisines plus it’s located just down the road from Oslo Domkirke.

I’m not a huge fan of alcohol. Bokkøl is a traditional Norwegian brand. So for beer lovers it is a brand you should try.

Like other nordic countries, rye bread is present at the table! alone with sour kelp, smoked salmon. The flavours were delicious!

I liked the sour kelp most. Curd fish is yummy.

Next we got to try cranberry sauce with some deer meat patties and veggies. It was my first time tasting deer meat. And yes it is a thing in Oslo. Quite delicious but I still prefer beef.

Heading towards the church area was the Regjeringkvartalet – Government office square.

This was the Trefoldighetskirken, Trinity Church.

It was so so so cold. The air was icy and I couldn’t feel my cheeks.

We were heading up to Dagny’s which is a lovely cafe that offers TRADITIONAL WAFFLES!! And of course I went for the goats cheese. The cafe is very very close to this church here! This cathedral was the Sankt Olav domkirke, St. Olav’s Catholic Cathedral.

It arrived quickly and I wasn’t expecting the cheese to look like a brown piece of caramel? So it was very very interesting. I was told in order to eat it properly I had to fold it twice to turn it into a sandwich. This was delicious!!! So simple and made a great snack, I also had black coffee and the flavours were great together.

Next we headed up to the memorial cemetery.

This is the grave of the famous painter Edvard Munch.

Over the side of the pathway was a cute duck statue. What it symbolises, I am not quite sure.

Down this path was Damstredet, a famous site of old cobbled streets and historic homes.

Quite a charming and well preserved area of Oslo, almost it didn’t feel like I was in the city anymore, rather a small town.

The homes are from the late 1700s and the 1800s.

A lot of houses here are painted red, this is because red was the cheapest paint colour to produce. You will notice some yellow which is the next level up, being a little more expensive than red. White is the most luxurious and expensive colour you can have. If you see white on these buildings, it shows that the owners were wealthy.

It was very interesting to hear about this. Nowadays it’s about what car you own. Who would have thought, the culture back then would be about the house colours?

It is on a slope and the area is between Akersveien and Fredensborgveien. The street is about 160 metres long.

We were to be next heading towards the canal, we saw some interesting wall art.

Some looked like an eye, ear and nose …Some I couldn’t make out what is was.

This area becomes lively at night. It may look a bit dodgy but it’s just the area here is painted with graffiti street art….This area is called Ingens gate.

Down this path was full of graffiti art.

It was getting a bit dark but there were many lights on the path.

On Ingens gate bridge you will see a white statue on the waters, which looks like a swan.

Here’s a panoramic photo I captured on my phone of the graffiti pathway and canal. And there are clubs along the canal, one was called Blå which had jazz music.

Over here, across the canal is a white building. It is Nedre Foss Gård, a restaurant and brewery.

Mathallen Food Hall!!

I have a thing for food halls. And it was so cool to see what foods were available…Fresh meats.

Sausages and many curd products.

It was a busy place with so much to see and eat.

Can’t really get away from desserts and sweeties.

There was this cheese and bread shop and you can try free samples of their cheese.

I love cheese and there were so many options!!

Some items were so adorable like this hedgehog.

Curd meat again, there were so much free samples to try. I almost reminded me a little bit of Camden Town in London, last time I went which was a long long time ago…They would hand out free bits of finger bite sized foods to try.

Many many hampers.

The food culture definitely has a lot of meat, fish and cheese!!

Whale meat is also a thing in Norway…

And we got to try some here!!

Different types of cheese. The brown chunk was goats cheese which we had on our waffles. Cranberry sauce is also a thing here too and it taste amazing!! 3 slices of deer sausage, whale meat (I wasn’t fan sorry), also wild smoked salmon which was delicious!

I wasn’t expecting this. The only one I liked was the cloudberry one. Not a huge fan of alcohol, but did my best with a sip here and there. In Norway Cloudberry is also a thing. I never knew about it until I came here. In Norway it’s common to make into a beer and put into a dessert. After a tiring day it was already night time.

I bid goodbye to all the lovely people I met and it was time to check into the hotel. I walked from the food hall to central again.

Found 3 chicken statues on the way which are located at the Youngstorget square. Quite random.

One of the things I love about Oslo is the tram system. It’s so easy to navigate.

I was staying at the CityBox Hotel. Everything was cosy and compact.

No bathtub but a shower! One of the things I hate about this kind of shower room is the fact when you take a shower, the whole floor gets wet. But it does dry up quite quickly. Right, this ends part 1…I will blog about part 2 soon.

—Tofu