After winter break in January, school was back in full swing, which kept me busy as usual. Winter in the north of Poland is long, cold, and dark so to beat the winter blues, I of course had to plan more trips!
I got another ridiculously cheap ticket to Scandinavia, this time to Oslo, the capital of Norway, for a weekend in March. I liked Oslo, though I didn't think it was quite as inviting as Stockholm. There was still plenty to do, though, so allow me to present:
The Oslo Top Ten
1. The Viking Ships
The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo is home several Viking ship discoveries and findings from the Viking tombs around the Oslo Fjord. It has the world's two best-preserved wooden Viking ships, which were built in the 9th century and are honestly just super cool.
2. The Norwegian Folk Museum
The Folk Museum has tons of old Norwegian houses and buildings from all parts of history and regions of Norway. The most famous building is an old stave church from 1200. The museum's actually very big, so when you're wandering around, it's pretty easy to feel like you're in the middle of some past version of rural Norway.
3. Akershus Fortress
The fortress was completed in the 1300s. It's located right on the edge of the water so that centuries later, tourists would be able to take strategically planned photos from the top.
The park is the biggest in Oslo, and it's filled with bronze and iron sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. It was strangely entrancing in the snow.
The square designates the spot where the first town hall was built in 1641. These days it's a restaurant, but there happens to be a sculpture right in the middle of a hand pointing at the ground. As the story goes, a big fire destroyed the town in 1624. The king decided to capitalize on the disaster by rebuilding the town and naming it after himself. Supposedly, he pointed to this spot and said: "The new town will lie here!"
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| I think I will put a town right here |
6-8. The Museums Being the art lover that I am, I spent some time popping into art museums in Oslo. The National Gallery had lots of works by Norwegian painters which seem to consist largely of snowy, Norwegian landscapes and seascapes. The centerpiece of the collection is one version of Edvard Munch's famous painting, "The Scream."
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| Looks like me when my alarm clock rings |
I popped into the National History Museum as well since I had a little extra time and my ticket for the Viking ships allowed me free entry.
9. The Biathlon celebrations
I seem to have the lucky habit of traveling to places right when something interesting is happening. In Oslo, I managed to run into the 2016 Biathlon Championships. It was really one big party - people were wandering the streets with flags and facepaint, big screen TV's were set up all over the place projecting the races, and market stalls were set up selling food and souvenirs in the main square.
In the evening, there was a big concert right before the medal ceremony, and I loitered around to see what was going on. It was free to stay and watch, so I crowded into the square with everybody else to gawk at the performances and catch a glimpse of the champions. Besides some Norwegian rappers (whom I didn't understand whatsoever) there was a Spanish group and Joe Jonas. I really can't think of anything more random than running into a free Joe Jonas concert in Norway. (Oddly enough, my Polish students love him and were envious of me when they found out. I can't understand why!). The champions came out after the show and were awarded their medals amid a great deal of cheering and excitement. Considering I had never heard of the Biathlon before coming to Norway, I was really surprised by all the commotion and enthusiasm.
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| Stripey Joe Jonas |
Even in the snow and winter, the water afforded some pretty views.
I headed home at the end of the weekend with another adventure under my belt and a little more motivation to get through the winter freeze!
