Oslo…etcetera
One’s first instinct when asked about any recent trips is to simply reply ‘it was fantastic’. Saying that about Oslo doesn’t sit quite right, though. Oslo was lovely – having two and a half days of relaxed wandering was a relief from the intensity of London. Duncan and I constantly had to remind each other to slow down – there was no reason to rush anywhere.
I haven’t done a lot of research on Oslo itself, but my guess from the architecture was that it had it’s economic boom during the 70s and 80s – the city is littered with hideously ugly 70s and 80s office blocks. The strange thing is these ‘one size fits all’ buildings are completely contrasted by the beauty of the suburban streets, lined with chocolate box houses painted the colours I associate with French macaroons. And then the parks – oh, the parks. They are filled to bursting with sculpture – and not just homages to historical figures, but straight and simple (if one can possibly say that about art) art sculpture.
Oslo is a port town, but they haven’t planned it quite so well as, say, Wellington or Auckland. The cranes and containers sit right next to the waterfront restaurants and cafes, and are as much an eyesore as those vile office blocks. We were told countless times that the plan is to move the shipping elsewhere so that the water can actually be appreciated. Once you’re out on the water though – it’s glorious.
I did get rather excited standing at the Palace, looking down the hill towards the central shopping area and imagining the whole place under snow – and the prospect of snowboarding down it. Then I got told that Oslo has over 2600km of ski trails, and in winter you can catch the metro to the top of the hill and ski down…i’m so there.
I also had this big dilemma about being a tourist…but i think i’ll go into that another time. I feel some strange need to define the kind of tourist i want to be.
Oh, and Norway is famous for alpaca fibre. So I stocked up my stash quite nicely with a splurge on alpaca yarn – it is absolutely gorgeous. The knitting action is certainly not slowing down there – but i do need to get OutdoorKnit back up to speed. Watch this space.
