Early Autumn in Oslo
The capital of Norway, Oslo is a beautiful, small city sitting right on the edge of a large fjord. As our plane approached the airport late at night, runway lights shining through a very foggy darkness were all we could see. Exhausted, we went to bed as soon as we reached our hotel room. When I awoke in the morning and opened the curtains, I discovered that a very lively, vibrant city awaited us outside.
We were delighted to find that Oslo is a very easy city to navigate. There are trains, trollies, buses, and ferries that were ready to whisk us everywhere we wanted to go. At the same time, I really enjoy walking around the new places I visit, and in that sense Oslo definitely didn’t disappoint. One of the main streets, Karl Johans Gate, runs right through the middle of the city and is designed just for pedestrians. It’s a bustling, cobblestoned walk filled with shops, restaurants, flowers, and even a park. Best of all it leads to Norway’s royal palace, a beautiful building complete with gardens and the pomp and circumstance of a daily Changing of the Guard ceremony.
We found ourselves walking along Karl Johans Gate most days, whether it was on the way to an attraction, to take in a bit of shopping, to simply enjoy the atmosphere and do a little people watching. Other times we strolled down the street just to pop into United Bakeries, a little gem of a café that we discovered offers a quiet place to enjoy delicious lattes, sandwiches and pastries.
One afternoon we made our way from Karl Johans Gate to a nearby metro station and set off to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump on the outskirts of the city. This attraction hosts both a small ski museum as well as a high outdoor overlook from which we could see all of Oslo, the surrounding countryside, and Oslo fjord. The views from the top (and even those from the metro on our way) were spectacular.
While our time in Oslo was in September, which is technically summer, it actually felt more like Fall and the temperature and rain were a constant reminder to us just how far North we really were. On some rainy days, we chose to spend time at some of the small indoor museums that Oslo has to offer. There are several of these museums on the Bygdøy Peninsula, which we reached via a pleasant ferry boat ride from downtown.
The Viking Ship Museum and The Fram Museum turned out to be our two favorites. As one might suspect, the Viking Ship Museum houses several old Viking ships along with many other artifacts from that era. Once there, we enjoyed an interesting multimedia presentation shown on the white walls of the museum, directly above an actual old wooden longboat. There’s also a small café that serves traditional Norwegian waffles accompanied by raspberry jam and Norway’s famous brown cheese “brunost,” which is actually sweet, like caramel. Although this combination sounds strange, it was delicious and made for a wonderful lunch.
Meanwhile, The Fram Polar Ship museum houses the ship Norwegian explorers used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s to explore the Arctic Circle. The best part of this museum is the opportunity for visitors to fully interact with the Fram. We climbed to the top floor of the museum, where we walked on the top deck of the historic wooden ship. Descending down the steep stairs leading inside the ship itself, we viewed the cabins that served as the living quarters for the crew as well as storage areas for all the provisions that were needed to undertake adventurous and exciting explorations into the Arctic.
On one warmer day, we took a stroll around Frogner Park, which has an incredible sculpture garden filled with statues by the Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland. It’s a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, soaking in both the massive works of art and the beautiful nature of the gardens themselves. Side note: it was really enjoyable to mimic the statues in their dramatic poses and we ended up with quite a few hilarious pictures as a result!
Our time in Oslo wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to an Open Air Museum, where we walked down old town streets and ventured inside small log cabins that served as actual homes just a few centuries ago. It’s fun, and somewhat shocking, to enter these small houses and realize how much life has changed from the times when one cooked over a wood fire and a one-room cabin was considered spacious. Before this trip we had been to several of these museums in cities in Norway, but the Norsk Folk Museum in Oslo was by far the largest and most all-encompassing, complete with farm animals and an authentic stave church.
One of my favorite things about Oslo is that, for a city, it's remarkably easy to get out and experience some beautiful natural areas. We took a break from city life and toured the botanical gardens, and then continued the day with a lovely walk along Sognsvann Lake, which is beautiful tree filled area full of nature trails.
All in all, our time is Oslo was delightful. The city is charming with cobbled streets, fountains, flowers, and parks. While it did rain off and on for much of our visit, we didn’t let the weather disrupt our plans and this trip definitely made me realize that packing properly for inclement weather is always a good idea.
If you are interested in learning more about some of these attractions, I have added links below in the comments.
