Oslo

Tonight is our last night in Oslo, or Scandinavia for that matter. We arrived yesterday afternoon from Trondheim after an almost 8-hour train ride. This train was more comfortable and nicer than the one going up to Trondheim. They even have a coffee machine in first-class that serves coffee, cappuccino, caffe latte, etc. Unfortunately, they did not have internet on board.

The scenery along the train route was just gorgeous. The mountains and lakes are almost as beautiful as in Switzerland and Austria. And this is not even the most beautiful part of the country. That is on the west coast of Norway where the rugged coastline and all the fjords are.
The hostel that we checked into is actually a hotel. They made some rooms into hostel-like rooms. We had a room with two bunk beds, which means it sleeps 4 people. It even has a private bathroom so it's nice not having to wander down the hallway in the middle of the night. It even comes with breakfast. Best of all, it is located only about 1 km from the train station and in the middle of all the tourist spots. This is probably the nicest hostel we've stayed in all week.
Most of the tourist spots are within the city center. We bought an Oslo Pass, which gives us free entry to almost all the museums and ride the city transportation for free. First thing we did was to visit some of Oslo's famous museums: Viking, Kon-Tiki, Maritime, Nobel Peace, etc. You hear a lot of the seafaring Vikings plundering and conquering other countries. The museums explained a lot of the history and why the Norwegians are as tough as they are.

We rode the trams around the city to get a feel for it. Like other Scandinavian countries, it is very clean and public transportation is widely used. However, the architecture of the buildings are not as impressive as in Sweden.

I mentioned in my last post that there seems to be more non-native Norwegians than in Sweden or Denmark. This evening we walked to an area east of the train station called "Greenland." It's an area where a lot of immigrants live. We had dinner at a restaurant run by a young Vietnamese couple. They came to Norway about 20+ years ago as part of the "boat people" emigration out of Vietnam after the war. They came when they were around 10, went to school here and pretty much considered themselves Norwegians. I asked them if they have any desire to go back to Vietnam, they said no. They grew up here so this is their home. They said they are very happy here. Like a lot of Norwegians, they don't get stressed much. Whatever happens, happens. The government takes good care of them.

This is what our hostel room looks like. At least we are not in a room with 10 other kids with backpacks strewn all over the room.

Sunset over the harbor front of Oslo. It's a popular and thriving area for tourists and residents.

The Grand Hotel in the middle of the city.

A pedestrian mall that runs from the train station to the Royal Palace. We took this street, called Karl Johans Street, to go to our hostel. It is a busy street with a lot of shops, restaurants and pubs.

The Nobel Peace Museum. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo. The other Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm. I understand from our guide in Stockholm that Sweden let Norway award the Peace Prize to appease them. At that time, Norway was part of Sweden.

A Viking ship that was excavated from one of the farms in Norway.

Many people were amused by this one-man band on Karl Johans street. He has a tambourine strapped to his left foot. His right foot plays the bass drum and cymbals. He plays the banjo with his arms and he sings. Sometimes he plays the harmonica with his mouth. His timing was very good and sang well too. Talk about "having your act together."

Tomorrow morning we are heading back to Hamburg. It's a 13-hour train ride and we change trains in Goteburg, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark. We'll rest for 1 or 2 days before heading south towards Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and all over Eastern Europe.