Scandinavian Traveller: Likki the Trimmed Beaver - Chapter Five

Well, this past weekend, it was a long weekend in Norway - it was Labor Day on Friday.  We arranged to meet up some friends living in Zurich and willing to visit Oslo with us.  They booked the hotel and we booked our flight (a little hop of one hour twenty minutes or so).

Thursday, after work, Hubby dropped me off at the Kiss and Goodbye, parked the car and off we were!  From the Oslo airport we took the train, and twenty six minutes later we were walking downtown Oslo, looking for our hotel.  As we walked I enjoyed what I was seeing: an European town which felt alive, buzzing with people, mixing the old and new architecture.  Weather permitting the weekend was boding well.

After a good dinner and catching up with our friends, we went to bed for a good night sleep.  We had asked for a big bed and we got just that.  Have I mention how much I like their bedding here?  I loooove it!!  If there is one thing I will try hard to bring home it will be ttwo single little comforters.

Likki ready for bed...

Friday morning, after a great breakfast, we had decided it was going to be our touring day, so I brought Likki along.  Here she is patiently waiting in the lobby and with our friends, their first encounter with her.

In the lobby of Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz, Oslo

It was a beautiful cool and sunny day in Olso, perfect for discovering the city, especially since all stores were closed due to Labor Day.  We had agreed to do the Hop On - Hop Off  Tour.  Since an acquaintance had mentioned to me that the best view of the city was from the Ski Jump, and since it was among the stop on the tour, we started with that.  We had to take the metro and make our way to Holmenkollen.

on the Metro Line 1 to Holmenkollen

From the base of the ski jump

That ride and walk up took longer than anticipated, but my acquaintance was right, the view from there, was quite nice, and this even if we didn't make it up the tower.  There was a 40 min. wait and since we didn't feel like wasting that time, we walked around, took a few pictures and took the metro back down to the city.

Since the bus stops for the tour weren't that well indicated, we actually decided to walk to the next site, the Vigeland Sculpture Park. That was sure worth the walk. I had never seen something like this before.   It actually started with seeing tulips!  We (Hubby, Likki and I) hadn't seen anything green like this in a while and Likki couldn't resist the temptation and had to stop to smell the flowers.

 

From the looks Likki got, I'm thinking people are not used to seeing beavers much in Oslo.  Granted she was trespassing, and Norwegians are sticklers for their rules, but still, she didn't eat not taken any tulip.  The park is something else.  Statues everywhere.  Naked statues everywhere, that is.  The grounds are beautiful.  The statues are interesting, some more than others.  I will say this, being the way I am, and with the twisted mind I have, it was interesting.  Likki on the other hand, was somewhat naughty.

She even did a photo bomb on our friend's selfie by the fountain!  I had to held her back!

If you're ever in Oslo make it to this park it is worth the visit, that's for sure!  After that visit, we decided to hop back on the tour and keep going towards the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Viking Ship Museum, the Kon Tiki Museum, the Fram Museum, the Norwegian Maritime Museum.  All these were located relatively close to one another.  We got off and walked around to quickly realized it wasn't really interesting us.  We hoped back on the tour and kept going towards the Nobel Peace Center (which I would have loved to visit), the Akershus Fortress and the National Opera.  I did manage to catch a picture of the Opera...

We got off and walked along the water.  We ended up sitting at a terrace for a drink and a bite to eat. We made our way back to our hotel, to freshen up before dinner.  We walked a lot.  Considering everything was closed, doing a tour of Oslo was a good thing, since it is a really nice city.  I will also say this, to close, that this sightseeing tour was the worst one I've ever been on.  Between the crappy explanations, the poor quality of the sound and the lack of signs to show where to hop back on, this tour was lame.  Good thing is the city provided nice sights, and that was worth it.  That and spending good time with our friends.