Oslo City Break
It has been a busy few days for me on the blogosphere, I finally created a Facebook page and I designed a logo, professional or what? Now that I’m a little bit more with the times it is back to writing about the beautiful city of Oslo.
Amber and I arrived in Oslo on Friday evening so after leaving our excessive amount of luggage at the hotel we waltzed out to see what Oslo had to offer.
Though of course we couldn’t leave without a few Instagrams of our fabulous hotel room first (read about it here)…
Copious Instagramming and snap-chatting complete, we decided to check out BAR Vulkan in Olso’s self proclaimed hipster district Grünerløkka, yeah I don’t know how to pronounce that either.
Even the warehouses are artsy in Oslo
BAR Vulkan was recommended to me several times on twitter so I thought it must be the coolest place on town, and perhaps it is but you need to be over 28 to find out! So after being denied entry for the first time since I turned 21 we hopped back in a cab across town to BAR Tjuvholmen, their sister branch.
Since when do bars have 28 as an age limit? BAR Vulkan photo credit: BAR
Thankfully for some unknown reason BAR Tjuvholmen was less strict about their age policy and we were soon enjoying some delicious G & T’s.
Where are the young people go ..BAR Tjuvholmen
The bars and restaurants in Tjuvholmen have slightly more upscale feel than elsewhere in the city. The crowd is all young professionals and BAR in particular was packed and played good music.
My poor eyes cannot handle the flash.. but my hair looks shiny so using this photo anyways #truth
After BAR Tjuvholmen we jumped into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to somewhere where we could dance… I think the taxi man was a little confused but none the less we ended up dancing so can’t complain.
The taxi dropped us at Lawo, a club in the city centre that plays an odd mix of intense techno, Whitney Houston, and Europop… Loved it!
Lawo Oslo photo credit: Lawo
We woke up late the next morning after dancing the night away, but once we finally managed to re-group we adventured out to see Oslo in the daylight.
Oslo Ready
I know this photo looks like sunset, but I promise we got up earlier than that!
Aker Brygge Dock was the first port of call (get it?).
Great place for a stroll along the Oslo Fjord. Added bonus is that it leads to Akershus Fortress, the inspiration for castle Arendelle in Disney’s movie: Frozen.
Past the fortress is the city centre an Oslo’s main street Karl Johans Gate. The street runs from the central station to the Royal Palace, we somehow managed to skip the start of the street and joined at the Stortinget, or if your Norwegian is not up to scratch ‘The Parliament Building”.
If you are in Oslo you really can’t miss this street, a lot of the main tourist attractions are on it. Plus you end up in a palace, who wouldn’t want that?
University of Oslo’s Faculty of Law
The Royal Palace is located in Slottsparken and is home to Harald V of Norway, yup Norway has a King and is officially still called the Kingdom of Norway. Though it is a constitutional monarchy and all legislative powers remain in the Stortinget (is your Norwegian improving yet?).
Royal Palace Oslo
Another hot spot in Oslo is Frogner Park home to the Vigeland Installation, the world’s largest sculpture installation created by one artist. Sadly we never made it to Frogner but it is definitely on my list to return to as Mr. Vigeland was also the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize Medal.
Can’t find his toys: Frogner Park photo credit: Anto Youssef
Many of Vigeland’s sculptures have a subtle (or not so subtle) aggressive air about them. Vigeland was heavily criticised for creating Nazi and fascist aesthetics. One art critic commented that the installation “reeks of Nazi mentality.”
Pondering Life
Hunger got in the way of further exploration so we headed back to the line of restaurants along the waterfront in Aker Brygge. We ended up at Olivia, a lively Italian restaurant.
We ate a healthy salad obviously
In the evening we explored Grünerløkka district. First stop was Mathallen Oslo, also recommended to me by the twitter community. Mathallen is a huge warehouse filled with mini restaurants and bars, great place for a bite to eat or a drink.
We then harassed our waiter for where else was good to in Grünerløkka and we ended up in a Tiki bar called Aku Aku, ok not authentically Norwegian but fun! Skål!
Aku Aku Oslo
Round Up:
Nightlife in Oslo
1. BAR Tjuvholmen: upscale, trendy bar.
2. Lawo – Europop club in the city centre
3. Mathallen Oslo: hipster central
4. Aku Aku: Tiki bar – cocktail list is longer than War & Peace
Sights & Attractions in Oslo
1. Aker Brygge: waterfront along Oslo Fjord
2. Karl Johans Gate: main street in Oslo
3. Royal Palace: Home to Harald V – they do tours
4. Frogners Park: Vigeland Installation
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