Oh Heellloooo!
Bet you thought I died. Well I kind of did for a while, but waayyyy back in November, before all the papers I had to write, the holidays, the sinus infection, and the exams, aka back when I was still a functioning person, I went to Oslo!
Now that I am once again among the living and have been freed from my prison of the library and exam rooms, I’ll tell you about it.
As you may remember from Yoo Hoo! Big Summer Blow Out! I’m a bit fan of Norway, and a big fan of snow. So one day while sitting in class… totally paying attention to the teacher and not browsing Skyscanner… I noticed flights from London to Oslo were only £30 for that weekend. Naturally, this peaked my interest, so I checked the forecast for the weekend and GLORIOUS SNOW was on deck. Sold. Flight and hotel booked.
Given that I booked the trip 3 days before leaving and I really just wanted to frolic in the snow and cold weather, I didn’t look up much to do in Oslo. And of what I did look up, I didn’t go to much if I’m being honest, but I still had a great time. You know by now how much I love room service, so I made sure my hotel had that for at least one meal covered.
I arrived from the airport via Flybussen (guys, Norway has the best airport transport system. I used the same thing in Tromsø. Use it, you won’t regret it) and checked in and dropped off my things and headed RIGHT INTO THAT SNOW.
It was the first snow of the season so it wasn’t crazy, but enough to make me happy. I walked from my hotel to the Palace Park for some wandering and pics.
The road to the Palace leads right into the downtown shopping area, so I just followed that to see what was around.
Once I got into the main shopping area is when I found out that my shoes had ZERO traction in the snow, so I wandered VERY slowly and tried not to slip and die. I might have also gone in every shoe store I saw to look for new ones, but nothing really spoke to me.
I slipped and slid my way down to Aker Brygge for this classic Norwegian scene.
Then wandered through the shops over there. Such a cute area on the water! I’d love to go back to it with friends and better shoes. I also noticed there’s some offices over there… so like… catch me applying for jobs at Google Oslo.
At this point, I decided it was time to give up on the slip and slide and hit the hotel bar, which happens to be one of the better bars in the city because its on the top floor and overlooks the fjords and the city. The bar is the Summit Bar at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel. Unfortunately, the first night it was already dark (the bar opens at 4 and thats pretty much when the sun starts to set. I got there a bit later), but they do have some Norwegian gins, so naturally I had to try. Big fan of the Harahorn Gin, because I’m sure you care.
Now, you guessed it! It’s time for ROOM SERVICE and TV. I live alone and do what I want always, so I’m not sure why I love having food delivered to my hotel room and just lounging so much, but I do, so deal with it. PS if you haven’t seen the Morning Show, you need to fix that ASAP. And don’t worry, the burger was some kind of Norwegian meat, so it’s fine. I don’t know why I even feel the need to justify this to you… MOVING ON.
The next day I put on my slippery shoes and set out for Damstredet, because its a cute little cobbled street I wanted to see. A lot of the snow had melted so it was less effort to walk… until I got to this street and had to walk down it. Somehow I didn’t fall down and I am still surprised. If anyone wants to send me an award for that, Call me, Beep me and I’ll tell you where to send it. Annyyywaayss. Here’s that street.
After that I went back into the downtown area, got a coffee at Stockfleths, which I highly recommend, but did not take a photo of. It was one of a few cafes I looked up and this was the one I made it to. I wandered some more in town, and went to see the Opera House.
I sat on a bench and watched people try not to fall down on that sloped side of the opera house for an extended period of time. Amazing free entertainment.
Another reason I wanted to go back to Norway (or anywhere in Scandinavia) was to stock up on Christmas gnomes for my flat. So I went in every shop with Christmas things and after much debate I finally found three new friends to bring home.
Now that I was rollin with my gnomies, I won’t lie to you, I hit up the Hard Rock for some Mac and Cheese and beer. I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE JUDGING, that twisted mac and cheese SLAPS in every country and it was so conveniently located. But also the brewery I had looked up was closed on Saturdays? So I just went for the mac and had the Norwegian beer there and I REGRET NOTHING.
At this point I didn’t have enough time to go exploring too far out before I had to head back to the airport, so I went back to the Summit bar while there was a bit of daylight for more gin.
I wasn’t able to get many photos from in there that do the view justice because of the reflections on the glass, but you get the idea. Also how pretty is that G&T?
Then I flew back to London with my cold heart filled with joy from proximity to snow for a couple days.
I had a lot more stuff on my list, but some were things for better weather, so I will be back to Oslo, it’s a cutie.
The End.
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