OSLO
RAMMSTEIN - "Ein Flammenmeer"
or
Oslo - great holiday in the winter
RAMMSTEIN was the original trigger, after all the concerts in Germany sold out so quickly that there were no tickets left for two poor boys at the end of the day, the choice was between London, Oslo or Bratsilava:
London - no, we're back at the festival (we didn't, it was canceled)
Bratislava - places to seat? What the hell?
Oslo - awesome, Oslo is cool! When? February! OK, we'll manage it
But then the drama started. Damn, the flights are no longer leaving from the "home airport" close we life, so we checked other offers which would soon have failed due to the availability of vacation days. At the last minute, about five months ago, we agreed without much discussion to take a week's vacation after the concert. Travel guides were bought but not read, plans were made but not followed through, and "oh my God", suddenly it was February and we didn’t organized anything at all. We were in a rush because we still had no idea what we wanted to do and how. There were plenty of ideas, we thought about taking an ice climbing course or going on a snowmobile tour, the time of year should be perfect for that, but as always - if you plan too much you end up in a rush and the vacation can only end in a disaster.
day 1 - from home to Norway
Okay, it was time to leave and of course there was delicious canned beer from Austria on the train. Which was of course regularly refilled with German bottled beer until departure. Due to inexplicable circumstances, we arrived in Oslo in the evening feeling pretty exhausted and, after we managed to get on the right train to Oslo City, we went looking for “oil”, er, our hotel. It's simple, buses 30 and 31 stop almost directly in front of it. "Oh, there it comes, hurry up..." Of course it was the wrong direction, which we noticed four stops later, so we got out and went back. But the search for “oil” hadn't stopped yet and we treated ourselves to a seafood salad in the hotel restaurant and of course a large “oil” to go with it. Oh yes, it should perhaps be mentioned here that beer is called “oil” in Norwegian... Well, it’s much funnier in German, because you pronounce it “öl” which means “oil”
day 2
Well, the next morning started with a detailed briefing, yes, OK, it was excessive plundering of the breakfast buffet, but it has to be done. We'll do the briefing another time - maybe. We didn't want to do too much on the first day anyway, after all we want to rock Vallhall in the evening. So after the gluttony we went to the tourist information, got a city map and got a bit of information, there were still some ideas about ice climbing and snowmobile tours, it never hurts to ask.
Oh yeah, I should mention here that we actually always had great weather, with a kitschy blue sky and a horribly bright planet on it. I hope the pictures are to your satisfaction, and you get a little upset, that you can’t join??
Of course, you have to climb up the opera house, which wasn't easy because there were still a lot of ice plates stuck to the good Carrara marble - enjoy the view and so on...
Well, we continued on, after all it was already after 12 o'clock when we climbed back down from the opera. But still a little time for free, the doors to Vallhall open at 6 p.m.
During the following stroll to a museum we were able to experience the "openness" of the city and a sentence came to mind that stuck throughout the whole week: "Ik mökte diese Nutte nikt kaufen, bitte" (no, I do not translate it here) - well, why did this poorly dressed creature have to cross our path? But it's not that bad, what was more shocking was the way in which various bundles of money and packages changed hands in public, under the watchful eye of the numerous cameras in public places. And there was also an obvious place for drug addicts to be seen from time to time, where the "packaging condoms" and syringes were lying around. Everything is quite public and not hidden like in probably every other city.
Well, back to the fun, er, ok, museum and fun, hmm, there are over 50 world-famous museums, or as the average Norwegian says: MUSEUMS (another German wordplay, sorry you English guys...) in the city and we chose the most boring ones to start with: “Contemporary art and construction”. Construction might have been quite interesting, just because of the architecture of the museum itself, but it was apparently being rebuilt for another exhibition and so there was nothing to see, apart from another "Ik mökte diese Nutte nikt kaufen, bitte "...
Okay, not, it was time to go back to the hotel anyway. Pre-drinking was the order of the day, or as the average Norwegian says - foreplay. It's a good thing that we stocked up on the permitted amount of high-proof alcohol at the airport, so we could set off with a clear conscience, of course with our hip flasks freshly filled and ready to keep refilling ourselves - in keeping with the motto from a RAMMSTEIN song (called Pussy) "Schnaps im Kopf......". We heard somewhere that drinking in public is forbidden, well, we'll take a seat on that...
There are no photos of the concert, after all I needed both hands and arms to dance...
day 3
Somehow it was logical that the next day would start with a slight slump, in keeping with the weather, but what the heck, first we had to

follow up on the plans for ice climbing and/or the snowmobile tour and contacted a potential organizer of such tours. BUT:
Ice climbing - no, only until February 19th, that was yesterday
Snowmobile tour - restricted in Norway, but maybe we just misunderstood that
Well, what to do? The fear of getting bored didn't really matter to us at this early hour of the morning - let's say it was 12 o'clock - something was going on with “Schnapps im Kopf” or something from yesterday evening... So we started off leisurely, you can look at a museum until you're ready for the next briefing.
But there's enough to see and so after a coffee we wobbled on to the cathedral. Memorials in memory of the attacks from last July were still set up there, but the church was otherwise a simple, beautiful one.

From there we went on to the parliament building - which is a little way away from the actual government district and was therefore spared from the attacks. Unfortunately, a tour was not possible because groups are only allowed through once a day and that is definitely not in our time we arrived there, seems we weren't very lucky in choosing our activities today.
The university has been highly praised by several people, but the people of Oslo are currently practicing wrapping up buildings, a la Christo, or whatever the freak was called, in any case there was not really any of the splendor to see, so there are no photos.
Instead we went on to the town hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every year. There we naturally spent quite a while taking in the foyer and co. Impressive backdrop for such an important ceremony.
And so it started -->
day 4
After I've already got you in the mood for a beautiful sunny day, now comes the effort. The travel guide said that we would take a little trip to the Nordmarka. Well-signposted hiking trails and the whole thing should take about 2.5 hours.
Impressed by the amazing scenery, we happily set off. Along the Sognvann, at the end of which the path turns north. After a quick look around, we headed off into the forest, everything was indeed well marked. We took a quick look back and continued on, always followed by the kitschy blue sky and pure sun.
But the fact that we didn't see any trail markings for about half an hour didn't bother us at first, given the cross-country ski trails everywhere. But we were somehow relieved to see some again and it took a little longer than expected to get to our planned or recommended stopover. We were happy when we were able to have coffee and delicious apple pie after almost 2.5 hours. Although we knew that we hadn't even covered half the distance at that point, so the information given weren’t very accurate.

For the sake of simplicity, we then decided to walk along the cross-country ski trails to our destination, and we had to endure the disgusting views and the horrific landscapes again and again... And here we are - our destination, which we actually wanted to reach three hours earlier. But who would have guessed that it would take so long to walk around 13 km in the winter wonderland...
Guys who like ski-jumping, already know, where we ended, just watching the next picture.
For those who can't, patience, there are some pictures following.
We were there just in time before they closed and of course we couldn't resist going up and enjoying the wonderful view over Oslo in the best weather condition.
But before we head back, we'll first visit another fascinating pee box. But let's leave it at that for now and focus instead on the next day.
day 5
After all, the holiday continues and there were still a few museums to see.
The first destination on this day was the "Edward Munch Fortress".
None of the pictures there are insured, as it is simply unaffordable to insure a fortune of around 28 billion euros. Nevertheless, some of the most valuable pieces were hung up for "touching", but the museum is a fairly functional building with an average of 12 cameras per room and of course countless of the same outside...

But why am I annoying you with pictures from museums, although it is certainly worth mentioning that there are actually other deranged people who collect liquor mini bottles. And in Oslo there is a whole museum about it. It was actually closed, but we didn't know that and we spontaneously walked in because the door was open, and we got two thirds of the way through before we were thrown out... When we were there there were probably around 50,000 pieces lying around, now there are supposed to be 56,000. There was really everything from Adolf bottles to baby mice preserved in liquor.
Of course I could put a few more things from the museum here, for example some Picassos, the triumphant Venus by Renoir or or or. But let's leave it at that for now, there's more about it in the picture gallery.
Instead we're heading off to see some open-air art in Vigeland Park - part of Frogner Park. Vigeland Park was created by Gustav Vigeland at the beginning of the twentieth century. He had free rein, could do whatever he wanted, and he did this excessively by trapping most of his sculptures in this park. I want to show you a small selection here before the day draws to a close.
But let's start at the entrance to the park, which was not by Vigeland, but is still very impressively beautiful, or almost kitsch. And I think that despite the hazy sun, this park is just like our hike the day before, a winter wonderland.
But it's not quite over yet. From Vigeland Park back to the hotel it was a small walk, only a quarter of an hour. Once we got there we put our feet up for a bit and thought about where and what we were going to eat for dinner. We quickly decided that we should actually go and eat at the harbor while we were there. No sooner said than done, and an hour later we were at the harbor and looked around for somewhere decent to eat. We found one to be too expensive, the next even more expensive, and another too expensive in another location almost spoiled our appetite, but a "catch of the day" in a restaurant led us to it.
Well, the catch of the day didn't really come to anything, because we were given an offer that you can't refuse, as the saying goes. The daily menu, which we initially declined because we saw the price, but after they said that the menu was half price due to the winter holidays, we jumped at it. And we treated ourselves to an absolutely brilliant 5-course meal, which was really worth the full price of around 100 euros. Brilliant, a culinary delight without equal.
And a few hours later we were full and satisfied and were able to quickly make plans for the last two days.
day 6
Harbor tour and museum island Bygdoy were the target.
Well, what can you say about the harbor tour, so there are only two pictures here, more in the picture gallery.
And again that damn sun, we couldn’t have better weather.
On Bygdoy we then looked at various museums, starting with the Maritime where the original ship that Amundsen used to chug to the South Pole is
located, then on to the Viking Museum and the large
open-air museum, which was actually already closed.The day

went by so quickly and it was already after four o'clock. Nevertheless, we trudged through the complex. The stave church there has been a "victim of Christo" since January and was covered up for renovation work. It's a shame, but there are a few pictures of the island in the gallery.
And another great day is coming to an end.
But here I would like to briefly mention the evening when we sat down to eat in the hotel's restaurant. Well, for some inexplicable reason we ended up at the table of an Iranian carpet dealer, with whom we had a long and actually good conversation. He happily paid, the carpet business seems to be doing well, even if you consider that he pays around 10,000 euros rent for his 200 square meter shop in Oslo. But the conversation was also enlightening when you find out how a carpet is made, and the question of child labor also came up, and it was vehemently denied that this was an issue with his carpets. Unfortunately we couldn't find his shop the next morning, I would have liked to see what he was selling.
day 7 - the last
one
For the last day we wanted to take it easy and the only sights on the program were Akershus, and on the way there we passed the castle briefly, but that too it was partly a "victim of Christo".
When the flag is flying, the boss is at home. It was flying, but the boss was nowhere to be seen.
The last destination took us to the Nobel Peace Center. Here are all the winners who have ever received the Nobel Peace Prize.

So, that's really good now. Enough of culture. And since we were in the new harbor district again anyway, we wobbled a bit through the shopping miles before heading to the harbor promenade to treat ourselves to another absolute luxury beer - 0.6 liters for a mere 13.16 euros. Well, when two girls sat down at our table, the single beer quickly turned into three on an empty stomach, but that was also a successful end to the evening, especially since the girls recommended a very good restaurant where we were able to eat a delicious meal before we met up with them again for the next alcoholic drinks.
day
8
Not much happened today. After another delicious brealfast in our hotel, we
took the train to the airport and left that beautiful city.
SUMMERY:
Once again a really great holiday, and as I have already stated several times, at some point I won't be leaving Scandinavia anymore.
I hope I was able to entertain you a little and let you share in the amazing days in Oslo, which were just something like perfect despite of other and further plans that couldn't be implemented.
Greetings, your Ecki
For some more pictures, please follow the link to the gallery