idealist vs realist: Long weekend in Oslo

For my birthday this year, decided to go to Oslo for a long weekend trip. My idea seemed contagious as a small group of friends here in Utrecht also liked the idea and came along too. Flew in on Friday night, Feb 4 (my birthday), and flew back on Tuesday evening.

I'll try to keep it relatively short and just the highlights, as I think I took more than 600 photo's over 4 days. This is a selection of the many photos.

-View from the hostel room - Sentrum Pensjonat and Hostel

-Oslo Cathedral - Interior - Dating from 1697

-Oslo Cathedral - Doorway detail - I liked the style of the stonework around the doorway, kinda art-deco-ish I guess

-Karl Johans Gate - The main (touristy) street of Oslo, looking toward Det Kongelige Slott (Palace)

-Stortinget - Built in 1866, Norways Parliament Building

-Det Kongelige Slott - Home of King Harold V

-Aker Brygge - The newer, modern, (and I'm guessing yuppy) area of Oslo, that's super nice and chic and trendy

-Aker Brygge - nice architecture

-Our first glimpse of sunlight while in Oslo

-Aker Brygge - Some more modern architecture

-Aker Brygge - Copper facade on this building, really caught the sunlight nicely

-Aker Brygge - Another cool building

-Copper facade catching the sunlight

-Oslo waterfront

-Rådhus - Oslo City Hall

-Rådhus

-Late afternoon on Oslo harbour

-Stainless steel words in the street - reminds me of what I saw in Stockholm

-Operahuset - Oslo Opera House - arguably the most iconic and tourist attracting building in Oslo, by Tarald Lundevall for Snøhetta

-Operahuset - rooftop detail

-Operahuset - Friend checking out the texture of the facade on the rooftop

-Operahuset - Interior

-Operahuset

-Olde Oslo - some of the older buildings in Oslo

-Apparently the spot where King Christian IV declared after the fire that burnt the city down in 1624, that it would be rebuilt

-View of Oslo Rådhus from Akershus Fortress

-Akershus Castle

-Akershus Castle and Fortress

-Operahuset - late evening

-Operahuset - panorama

-Operahuset

-Operahuset - yeah, visited it again in the late evening (I think it was at least), had a nice glow inside at this time of day

-Operahuset - nice contrast of shapes, colours and materials

-Operahuset - decoration by Olafur Eliasson in the foyer

-Operahuset - ramp going up to the auditorium

-Operahuset - outside looking in (from the roof, as you walk on the roof of most of the building)

-Oslo Rådhus - doors detail

-Nobel Peace Centre - didn't actually end up going in, but this art installation outside was definitely interesting/provoking, and made me question, was it intentionally flickering between 'slaughter' and 'laughter'?

-DogA - When I looked this up ahead of time, I kept reading it as 'Dog A', while really it was D og (norwegian for and) A, for the Design and Architecture museum

-DogA - student work on display

-100% NORWAY - I think this was a permanent collection at DogA

-Wood Veneer lamp

-Wood and felted wool armchair

-Norwegian wood furniture

-Wooden dining chair - Nice lines on this chair

-Norwegian design task chair - interesting, looks ergo/comfy

-felted wool wall panels - interesting, honeycomb-ish, cool

-Norske Folkemuseum (Norwegian Folk Museum) - Norway's largest open air museum, with period buildings from around the country

-that 70's interior - featuring some cool Norwegian shelving

-Wooden Norwegian House - I really liked the details on the roof peak, so very Norwegian (viking?)

-restored stave church circa 1200 in Gol

-Norwegian stave church

-Norwegian stave church - crazy hand carved wooden detailing

-Norske Folkemuseum - another period building

-some unwritten tradion? - not sure what the deal was with the bundles of (I think it was) oats outside the doorways to a number of buildings at the open air museum

-when in Rome - er Oslo, then you eat the super good salmon, mmmm

-routes taken by the vikings - as illustrated in the Vikingskiphuset (Viking Ship Museum)

-Vikingskiphuset - pretty impressive to see the 3 really large viking ships on display here, and learn about the vikings and some of the history

-Icebar Oslo - by IceHotel (yup, it's a licensed concept, of the official Ice Hotel from Sweden)

-Some great words remember - the bar is redone once a year

-Icebar Oslo - the bar, and an (ice) glass on the counter, which are tossed in a tub to melt after use, no washing of ice glasses, and they ship in however many new ones, from Sweden as needed, crazy - but a great way to drink some Akvavit

-Th!nk - Norwegian electric city car, interesting to see in real on the streets

-Oslo Cathedral - with better light on our last day in Oslo, snowed some 10cm or so the night before, and nothing but blue skies and sunshine on the morning after

-T-Bane (Metro) Station, downtown Oslo - brilliant, absolutely brilliant! loved this sight, seeing people waiting on the metro platform right downtown, with their ski gear (to step out again some 20 minutes later, and go skiing)

-on the T-Bane (Tunnelbanen) - another sight, all the kids hopping on the metro with their GT's, I guess it's common after a nice fresh snow - awesome!

-T-Bane Holmenkollen stop

-T-Bane Holmenkollen stop - I couldn't get enough of this, such an outdoorsy city, so great

-fresh snow and sun

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - finished and opened just this year

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - amazing cantilevered architecture, fresh powder and beautiful blue skies

-Holmenkollen - mid jump

-view of Oslo fjord from Holmenkollen Ski jump

-prepping the jump - a bit later in February was the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

-not me - statue/figure/prop above the entrance to the ski jump simulator, which sadly, was not open :(

-a meter or 3 to the left of what the view is for someone about to make the jump

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - view from the viewing platform at the very top, looking behind

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - view from the viewing platform looking over the jump, and greater Oslo and Oslo fjord

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - gallery behind where the jumpers go from, looks down to all below

-Norwegian winter driving - this is how they do it in Oslo I guess, VW Scirocco with big rims, winter tires (I can only assume), and roof racks for the skis - awesome!

-Holmenkollen cross country course - situated right next to the jump is a cross country course, which is also set up for Biathlon (I believe)

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump and the cross-country/biathlon gallery

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - it's just that impressive

-Holmenkollen Ski Jump - the view from the opposite end (of the viewing platform)

-T-Bane back into the city - was just quite the view, riding back down the hillside (mountain?)

-Colosseum Kino - opened in 1928, the 2100 seat cinema was the largest in Scandinavia, by architects Jacob Hansen and Gerhard Iversen (didn't have time anymore to go inside)

-Frognerparken

-Vigeland Park - the centrepiece of Frognerparken, showcasing work by Norway's best-loved sculptor, Gustav Vigeland

-Vigeland park - the sculptures here were from granite

-Vigeland Park - the centrepiece, a 14m (46ft) monolithic sculpture carved from a single block of stone, consisting of 121 writhing human figures

-more Norwegian winter driving - I was just intrigued in seeing a Mini Cooper S Countryman on the street, 'in the wild' for the first time, and surprised it's actually still quite 'mini' (in size)