So I’ve had a few days experience of Oslo and my thoughts so far are:
- It’s full of shiny new people and things
- It’s very clean
- Oslo has big traffic congestion problems
- Norway has a lot of laws
- The hotel has free wi-fi access in all rooms – nice!
- It is expensive, but no more so than London
- I’ve not seen a fish anywhere (although I think they are just hiding out of sight)
- People get called Odd and Even
- Most people have an almost perfect understanding of English, and can speak it with very little accent. I’ve been told that English is compulsory at schools from the age of 8 onwards. I suspect that the similarity in structure of English and Norwegian and Swedish may also be a contributing factor. Whatever the reason, I am in awe.
- I met an old Odd guy who says his father tried to assassinate Trotsky when he was living here in Norway
- I can once again buy goodies such as muffins and NME magazine. It really is a rock-star life-style I lead.
Enough of the brevity. Oslo, and by extension I will include the whole of Norway, is a great place after three days. It seems a very modern, clean, and efficient city, and is a lot more multi-cultural than Prague. I’ve had almost no time to explore anything, other than taking part in a pub quiz with a Czech and two Norwegians. The quiz was in Norwegian and, unsurprisingly, we did pretty badly until the music round, which a portly gentleman from Liverpool presented in English.
One thing I found particularly interesting is learning about the local cultural differences. For example, I now understand more about the relationship between Norway and Sweden, and how young Swedes like to come to Norway after school so they can earn a lot of money. It reminds me of the yearly exodus between England and Australia, and a similar relationship between the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Summer has disappeared now, and the air has turned crisp and autumnal. Hopefully the rains will stay clear at least until after the weekend.
In my previous post about Norway I completley forgot about the undisputed kings of Norwegian music: A-Ha. I was going to explain how great Kent were, but it seems they’re Swedish.
Hello there and nice to hear you are enjoying Oslo! Hopefully once (if) I get a job here I may be able to travel once or twice a year which I’m sure will be a rewarding experience. Likening Norway and Sweden to England and Australia is a tad far in my opinion though – the Australians are competitive with the English but don’t hate them, on the other hand if you display an Australian flag outside your window in England in anything but the nicest neighbourhood expect a few bricks! 🙂
I really wish I could be there to travel all the Northen Europe. It’s another side of world to explore.
Well, the comparison only went as far as that the traffic between the Sweden and Norway is similar to the UK and Australia (without loosing a day spent in the air, of course).
Anyway, I liked it so much I’m going back after spending a weekend back in CZ… I guess I’ll have to prepare myself for yet more airport lounges!
I went to Oslo several years ago and I must say its one of the more beautiful cities I have ever been to. I was truly amazed at the architectue of the Town Hall, the Royal Palace was quite rediculou (who needs a house that big?), and the one thing that really made Oslo feel so wonderful was the colors everywhere. The buildings were all painted in different pastels and the arched windows.
I did notice how everyone speaks English quite well, but I find that to be pretty common around western Europe and Scandanavia.
The standard of life there is certainly very high, and I wouldn’t mind going back to stay long. I particularly liked how the country was right in the middle of town. You didn’t have to go driving to get some nice scenery – there’s mountains and trees everywhere!