Oslo

As promised I'm getting back to some of the things which I haven't had time to post about, and surely Oslo is well worth a mention since I enjoyed a lovely trip there this summer.
Oslo, capital city of Norway, is basically just a decent sized town by UK standards. Like most towns in Norway the centre is fairly small and can be enjoyed almost in it's entirety in a single day if you avoid museums, galleries, etc. which tend to bore me anyway. I prefer architecture and scenery.

For this trip I decided to take along a beautiful young woman and leave the wife at home.. ;)  I took my youngest daughter Mary who is only 12 years old and managed to behave just about the same as my wife who is a few years older.. By that I mean that I was made to suffer from looking in shops, eating at expensive eateries, and being told that she was thirsty (which involved me drinking beer), so that bit I will forgive.

So, where to start??
How about on the ramparts of the Akershus fort, with Mary waving the Shetland Flag.

Akershus is a must visit attraction for anybody coming to Norway and since it's nearly in the centre of town I would say it should be a first stop since you can get a good idea of where to go next from there.

The view over the harbour is amazing:

 I think one of the most interesting, or perhaps thought provoking things which can be seen at Akershus fort is the memorial to the Norwegian resistance fighters of WWII. The memorial marks the spot where they were executed by the occupying Germans.

The memorial reads (roughly translated): "They fought, they fell, they gave us all".

I can understand why they fought and died. Norway, and the Norwegian way of life is, and always will be, really worth fighting for.

OK, wipes away the tear that always comes when I see that memorial...  

Back to normal holiday stuff.

Mary in front of the Oslo town house:

 Trams, operating successfully in Oslo,,,, I wonder if the Edinburgh ones will ever be a success?? :

 Mary in front of a fountain just off Karl Johans Gate (The main street).:

 Harbour view with Akershus fort in the background:

 The most recently developed area of the harbour.. I shudder to think what some of the apartments cost:

 Tourist pose in front of the royal palace:

 "ET Phone Home"... She dragged me into a bar, so I had a beer. ;) :

 

Interesting sculpture.... Oslo has loads of them:

 

 Burger & Chips,,,, happy girl:

 On the way back to the hotel Mary insisted that we go into this bar since she need to use the facilities, and she thought the name was interesting, and reminded her of her sister..  And since she suggested I could have a beer I wasn't about to argue.

 Typical of all Oslo bars, the barman wasn't Norwegian.. This one was English.. Language no problem in Oslo.. :)

The next morning we took a tour to the other side of the harbour to visit some of the real highlights of Oslo... Museums...  But, surprisingly, a 12 year old girl was fascinated.. That shows how good these museums really are..
Those museums will be the subject of my next post.
In the meantime here's a nice pic of a ship coming into  Oslo:

Oh! nearly forgot to mention the hotel..

Everybody says that Norway is an expensive place to visit. I keep saying it's not, and keep trying to prove it.. Well this trip was no exception to my rule. 2 single rooms in the City Box Hotel in Oslo cost us 1000Kr (about £100).. Not bad for a hotel which is within a few minutes walk of the town centre. Here's a link to their facebook page. It's a no-frills hotel, but it's clean, peaceful, and very popular...

Onywye... Afore I write a novel...

Yun's aa fir enoo