We did a 7 day trip to Norway in August, just after the kids and I returned from India. It was very hectic because we left the day after we got back, but luckily none of us had any jet lag, and the kids were remarkably well behaved (touch wood) on the flight back from India so I was not at my wits end.
We flew into Oslo and spent 3 days there. We had rented a service appartment in the centre of the city and that was good because a) the food is awful there, especially if you are vegetarian , and b) because we didn't have our car we could walk or take the public transport to the major locations
Let me start by saying that Norway is extremely expensive, even by Zurich standards which is saying a lot. The taxi ride from the airport to the service appartment was astonishingly high and we promised to use as much public transport or our legs as possible.
The first day we went to Bygdoy Peninsula. Its a really beautiful country area to walk in and full of musuems. We misread the bus directions and ended up walking some 2 km ( I had not brought A's stroller along (why ?) so there was much carrying and much of motivating to walk.) I saw the bus when we had nearly reached our destination after the long trek and thereafter I put myself in charge of figuring out the public transport! We started at the Norwegian Folk Museum. A quaint place depicting life as it would have been in the last century - with a typical bakery, pharmacy , bank etc. There was live folk singing and dance, farm animals and a modern playground which kept S and A engaged. I would say, worth a visit only if you have time.
Folk singing and dancing
Then after lunch at a local restaurant- seemed to be somebody's house converted into a restaraunt which was set in really beautiful surroundings but had a really limited menu we set out for the Viking Ship Museum. Very interesting. It had 3 preserved Viking boats and we could just imagine the Vikings rowing out on them!
Viking boat
The second day we went to Frognerparken which has the famous Vigeland Park, with sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures are really amazing, very detailed and realistic. The part of the park surrounding the sculptors has rows and rows of beautiful roses. The girls had a blast running through them. S wanted to collect pink petals, but agreed to only pick those fallen on the ground. At the other end of the park is a children's play area. It had pretty unique stuff with many ropes and bridges, and doubles swings and the kids spent a happy hour there. So the park turned out to be a good outing both for the kids and for us.
Sculpture dedicated to the Holocaust
Play area
In the afternoon we decided to walk around downtown Oslo. Very pretty. There was an outdoor jazz concert at one of the places, and the whole atmosphere was amazing. The Opera House is beautiful, overlooking the harbour.
View from Aker Brygge
Both evenings we went to Aker Brygge around dinner time. It has a lovely view of the harbour and is a nice play to just relax, watch the sunset and have a glass of wine. There are a whole host of restaurants overlooking the harbour. We were surprised to see so many American restaurant chains - TGIF etc which we don't see in Zurich. Probably a lot more American tourists here.
All in all I really liked Oslo. It was a modern city but very scenic and beautiful, lots of things to see and do and a nice place to just hang around. We were lucky with the weather, it was cold (we needed sweaters in August) but it wasn't raining at least.
We flew into Oslo and spent 3 days there. We had rented a service appartment in the centre of the city and that was good because a) the food is awful there, especially if you are vegetarian , and b) because we didn't have our car we could walk or take the public transport to the major locations
Let me start by saying that Norway is extremely expensive, even by Zurich standards which is saying a lot. The taxi ride from the airport to the service appartment was astonishingly high and we promised to use as much public transport or our legs as possible.
The first day we went to Bygdoy Peninsula. Its a really beautiful country area to walk in and full of musuems. We misread the bus directions and ended up walking some 2 km ( I had not brought A's stroller along (why ?) so there was much carrying and much of motivating to walk.) I saw the bus when we had nearly reached our destination after the long trek and thereafter I put myself in charge of figuring out the public transport! We started at the Norwegian Folk Museum. A quaint place depicting life as it would have been in the last century - with a typical bakery, pharmacy , bank etc. There was live folk singing and dance, farm animals and a modern playground which kept S and A engaged. I would say, worth a visit only if you have time.
Folk singing and dancing
Then after lunch at a local restaurant- seemed to be somebody's house converted into a restaraunt which was set in really beautiful surroundings but had a really limited menu we set out for the Viking Ship Museum. Very interesting. It had 3 preserved Viking boats and we could just imagine the Vikings rowing out on them!
Viking boat
The second day we went to Frognerparken which has the famous Vigeland Park, with sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures are really amazing, very detailed and realistic. The part of the park surrounding the sculptors has rows and rows of beautiful roses. The girls had a blast running through them. S wanted to collect pink petals, but agreed to only pick those fallen on the ground. At the other end of the park is a children's play area. It had pretty unique stuff with many ropes and bridges, and doubles swings and the kids spent a happy hour there. So the park turned out to be a good outing both for the kids and for us.
Sculpture dedicated to the Holocaust
Play area
In the afternoon we decided to walk around downtown Oslo. Very pretty. There was an outdoor jazz concert at one of the places, and the whole atmosphere was amazing. The Opera House is beautiful, overlooking the harbour.
View from Aker Brygge
Both evenings we went to Aker Brygge around dinner time. It has a lovely view of the harbour and is a nice play to just relax, watch the sunset and have a glass of wine. There are a whole host of restaurants overlooking the harbour. We were surprised to see so many American restaurant chains - TGIF etc which we don't see in Zurich. Probably a lot more American tourists here.All in all I really liked Oslo. It was a modern city but very scenic and beautiful, lots of things to see and do and a nice place to just hang around. We were lucky with the weather, it was cold (we needed sweaters in August) but it wasn't raining at least.
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