I apologize for the delay in this post. After getting back from Norway, we’ve been doing a bit to get our new (and rather empty) apartment in order. In other words: I have a valid excuse. The apartment is nice and big, though not very bright. I’ll post some on it in my next post. This post is all about Norway.
As many of you know, part of my job requires semi-regular travel. Often this is to places in the Mid-Western US, but with my relocation, (hopefully) more of my trips will be locally here in Europe. And last week was my first, to the suburbs of Olso, Norway.
I came into Olso rather late from Frankfurt through Amsterdam. The Amsterdam airport, at least in the central part, is one of my favorite airports. Very often in European airports, little is located near the gate. Some times not even seats. They instead centralize all the shops, seats and activity in one area of the airport. While this can be a horrible and crowded experience (I’m looking at you, Heathrow), Amsterdam does it very well. The central waiting area is airy AND quiet. You don’t feel like you are part of a crush of humanity. You feel more like you are wondering around a European market square.
From the Olso airport, I took the express train (Jason’s favorite part to the trip, I’ll get to that later) to the suburb where I would be working. I arrived well after mid-night. The express train wasn’t quite express, as they were working on the tracks and put us on buses for the last few stations. Everyone was very helpful and spoke great English, so this was little more than a small annoyance.
I’ll skip the work week, with just a couple quick mentions of items:
apartment hotel IKEA showroom where Jason and I spent the weekend. (It was really nice to have that furniture to try out for a few days, as we have an apartment to populate with such things.) I met Jason on the street outside our hotel on Friday night. He was raving about the express train. He wants to bring one to every city. I will let him explain further, if he desires, in the comments.
As many of you know, part of my job requires semi-regular travel. Often this is to places in the Mid-Western US, but with my relocation, (hopefully) more of my trips will be locally here in Europe. And last week was my first, to the suburbs of Olso, Norway.
I came into Olso rather late from Frankfurt through Amsterdam. The Amsterdam airport, at least in the central part, is one of my favorite airports. Very often in European airports, little is located near the gate. Some times not even seats. They instead centralize all the shops, seats and activity in one area of the airport. While this can be a horrible and crowded experience (I’m looking at you, Heathrow), Amsterdam does it very well. The central waiting area is airy AND quiet. You don’t feel like you are part of a crush of humanity. You feel more like you are wondering around a European market square.
From the Olso airport, I took the express train (Jason’s favorite part to the trip, I’ll get to that later) to the suburb where I would be working. I arrived well after mid-night. The express train wasn’t quite express, as they were working on the tracks and put us on buses for the last few stations. Everyone was very helpful and spoke great English, so this was little more than a small annoyance.
I’ll skip the work week, with just a couple quick mentions of items:
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| How to Live in 100 Square Feet? |
- Norway is super expensive. Think $10 drafts and $40 for Indian food dinner for one.
- Oslo is north. Very far north. Sun rise was at 4ish, and set was around 10pm.
- The building I was working in was *beautiful*. Lots of glass and steel. No wonder Norwegians are so happy. Being this building’s janitor would make me happy to be a janitor.
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| All I could think of is one of the last scenes in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age |
We really only had the full day on Saturday to see Oslo together, but with close to 18 hours of daylight, that was plenty of time to get a taste of the city. We hit up the following sites:
- Gustav Vigeland Sculpture Park: This is a wonderful site. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
- Aker Brygge: A walking area, by the docks with cafes. Perfect for people watching. We had lunch here and saw some one try to move their power chair in among our cafe’s crowded tables. Yes, Virginia, the rest of the world has winners too.
- Akershus Fortress: A site with history back 800 years. We got to see the dungeon!
- Oslo Opera House: The only opera house I’ve been where you are encouraged to walk on the roof.
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| Jason Impersonating a Statue |
There was definitely more to see, but in our time there we got a nice taste of the city.
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