Catching up with friends in Oslo

It seems like the cars that countries produce kind of mirror their character.  For instance, Ferraris are fashionable, fast, and full of life, like Italians.  England is old, classic, and posh, like the Aston Martin.  And while I know that Volvos are made in Sweden, they are the car brand that best describes Norway’s capital.  Like Volvos, Oslo is efficient, tasteful, family friendly, and well equipped to work in the snow, yet it lacks pizzaz.

Oslo is attractive in the way that, well, a Volvo is attractive.  It looks nice, but nothing you would gush over.  Everything runs smoothly.  The buses and trams are punctual and frequent.  There are loads of museums and cafes, but there’s not a lot of oomph.  Nothing, exactly to make Oslo stand out.

This isn’t to say we didn’t enjoy our time there.  We had a quite good time.  For instance, we visited the Holmenkollbakken ski jump.  At such a height, it makes you realize how much guts ski jumpers have.  

At an outdoor museum a bit like Plymouth Plantation, we saw one of the last remaining Stave churches in Norway.

Vigeland Park is full of creepy statues of men kicking babies.

In truth, there was only one statue of someone kicking a baby, but there were tons of other strange figures.  

But the main reason for visiting Oslo was to see an old friend.  We stayed with her and her family outside of the city, which was a great chance to get a taste of everyday life.

This included riding the super quiet commuter train.  Really, we’ve never been on a more eerily silent train before.  She made us home cooked meals, including the tastiest salmon I’ve ever consumed.  Norway in general is very family friendly, but Oslo in particular was full of children.  It truly does seem like a really good place to raise a family.

The city was beautifully decorated for Christmas, which I guess is appropriate given its proximity to the North Pole.  Like I said, it is a smoothly running city with everything one needs; although it lacks a bit of character to make it stand out.  Perhaps if we spent more time in some of the trendy areas, we would have found the city to be more like a Saab than a Volvo.  But, as our primary reason for visiting Oslo was to see friends, exploring the city wasn’t our priority.  In saying all that, we would definitely return to Oslo.

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Beer of Choice: Big Belly Christmas Beer by Little Brother Brewery.  Incidentally, the brewery is owned by an Aussie living in Oslo.