Birthday bash in Oslo

Jonas is a good friend of mine from my years in high scool, so I was very happy to receive a message from her sister Lotta, some time ago, inviting us to meet up in Oslo to surprise Jonas for his 40th birthday. Why Oslo ? Since Jonas lives near Ålesund, in western Norway... After a smooth flight with Norwegian, and an equally smooth train ride into town centre, I met up with Mathilde at our hotel (a surprisingly economical affair - considering this was Oslo - in a reception-less hotel just a couple of blocks away from the train station), who was joining me after a few days spent in Angers with her dad and Francoise.

After a good nights' sleep, we got up, eager to explore Oslo (a city I've not been to before). Since the weather was rather rainy (unsurprisingly - this is Norway after all!), we decided to start with a museum - the National Gallery.  A rather enjoyable museum. Apart from the mandatory paintings from Munch (including his master piece, the scream) there was plenty of other interesting art.  On the whole, it reminded me quite a lot of Finnish art from the same period. 

After this dose of culture, we made our way to a nice little self-service restaurant for lunch. We were a bit scared about the legendary high prices of Oslo, hence the choice of a self-service restaurant (the meal put as back by about 20 Euros in all, not completely unreasonable...). Our stomachs filled, we continued our tour of Oslo by heading to Bygdøy, a little peninsula located just outside Oslo centre. Our first stop was a Musem dedicated to the legendary ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl -  named after the raft this mad Norwegian constructed from balsa wood, and used to travel from Peru to Polynesia. Quite an adventure indeed, lasting 101 days, especially considering him and his equally mad crewmembers basically had no experience of sailing... One of the other ships he'd constructed, the Ra 2 (a boat built from papyrus he used to cross the Atlantic...). Quite a guy, this Thor!

Our next stop was the Fram museum, which was dedicated to another bunch of crazy Norwegian explorers, namely Roald Amundsen, the man who named the north pole. The museum is basically constructed around Fram, the ship Amundsen used when he discovered the South Pole. A very interesting museum too - paying homage to a pretty impressive bunch of guys, who put their lives on the line to increase our knowledge about the world around us. I was particularly impressed with Fridtjof Nansen - a true renaissance man (polar explorer, humanitarian, politician, champion skier & skater, scientist, Nobel laureate).

Before leaving Bygdøy, we had a quick walk around the Norwegian Folk museum, a very nice little place, quite similar to Seurasaari in Helsinki. The concept is to basically show various countryside houses from different parts of Norway - including one of the famous Norwegian wooden churches. 

After a walk around the town centre, some shopping and a nice cappuccino, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. We'd picked a fish restaurant in Aker Brygge, in the port of Oslo. It's a trendy-looking area, with many of the old brick warehouses now housing fancy restaurants, including the place we'd picked. We had a very nice dinner indeed - and weren't even that shocked by the bill. 

Our stomachs filled, it was time to surprise the birthday hero at a bar near his hotel. We were joined by his sister Lotta, his husband as well as his parents, and later by Nicke. We had a very nice night out indeed, finishing the proceedings in a nice little whiskey bar not far from our Hotel. Certainly not the cheapest night out I've had - but the occasion was more than worth it!

The next day, we decided to do a bit more touristy stuff before joining the rest of the folks. Especially since, believe it or not, the sun was out! We decided to make our way to Vigelandsparken, a rather curious park located just outside Oslo town centre. The park houses a collection of statues made by Gustav Vigeland, a Norwegian sculpture. The statues depict rather strong emotions (of all kinds..), as well as portraying the relationships between parents and their children, and between couples. Very powerful stuff, highly recommended. 

Our next stop was the Oslo opera house, a rather fantastic building constructed back in 2007. It truly is a magnificent building, to me it's just as beautiful as the Sydney Opera house. It had a similar impact on us as the Guggenheim museum at Bilbao had, which we visited a couple of years ago. It's pure white shape sits very well in harmony next to the sea. I have to admit I'm no big fan of opera - but this building is well worth the visit for its visionary architecture.

The touristy stuff done for the time being, it was time to join the others, who were having a hike around Aker Brygge. We joined the gang there - I was quite happy to see quite a few old familiar faces (including my good friends Jani & Jocke, and Luther whom I've not seen for years and years). We ended up in a put near their hotel, drinking rather expensive beer and catching up on old times....

We still had a bit of time to kill before the dinner later in the evening, so we decided to have a walk around Akerhus Festning (the fortress of Akerhus). Quite a nice little place to walk around, a bit similar to Suomenlinna in Helsinki (with a somewhat less picturesque setting though).

Then it was time for the big dinner in honour of our good friend Jonas. Lotta had picked a nice fusion food restaurant in Grünerløkka for the occasion (Grünerløkka is an old working-class neighbourhood that's apparently rather trendy these days...). The food was pretty good - and rather reasonably priced actually, again. We spent quite a lot of time chatting to Jonas' mum and dad (Pata, Jonas' dad, actually speaks fluent French, having lived in Paris. We actually learnt that Jonas was born in Paris - a true Parisian then ;) ). 

After the excellent meal, we headed out on town, guided by one of the guests who has lived in Oslo and knows the place pretty well. After a couple of drinks there, we made our way to a Scottish pub in the town centre, where we downed a few more rather pricy pints. But all in all, a fantastic night out, great fun chatting to everybody. 

After getting up, somewhat surprised not to have a headache, we headed off for a bit of final Oslo exploration before catching our flight back to Nice. We decided to walk along the river that crosses Oslo - pretty nice walk actually. We particularly enjoyed an area by the river with some pretty cool graffiti that could hold its own against the best that the Mission District in San Francisco can offer. We ended our walk at the indoor food market, where we had a rather tasty fish lunch. And then, alas, 'twas time to catch the train to the airport.

So a rather intensive long weekend of partying and touristing then. A huge thanks to Lotta and everybody else for a memorably weekend - and in particular a big happy birthday to Jonas! As for Oslo - it was a real revelation to us. Yes - it is undeniably expensive, but on the other hand, I reckon you can easily spend as much money during a weekend in London or Paris... I think I prefer Oslo both to Stockholm and Copenhagen (naturally, it doesn't stand a chance against Helsinki ;-) ). One feels tempted to visit again!