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Arrival in Oslo Day 1 - 12-June

Kick-off
And so the journey begins. By car I go to the airport of Cologne to depart to Oslo. Luckily Germanwings offered very cheap flights and for the cost of €18,- I am flying in 1:50hr to Norway to start my journey.

Travel details: Cologne-Bonn to Oslo-Gardemoen Flight type: Airbus A319 Germanwings Flight: 4U 230 Departure:13:45 - Arrival:15:35 Distance: Approximately 1000km

At the airport in Cologne the weather is cloudy and it starts raining a bit. Not really a nice way to start your journey although you never know how the weather may be up north. After a thorough safety check I board the Airbus A319 which leaves right on time. In the sky the clouds suddenly disappear as we go north and as soon as we enter Norway there is a clear sky and I have a very nice view over the country and the city of Oslo. 60km North of the city, the airport is situated. I set foot in the airport building and pass the customs without any trouble. I have dressed myself with a sweater and jack but I immediately notice that this was not really necessary as the weather is very nice.

Arrival in Oslo

I have bought a Scanrail card in advance and now suddenly notice that the airport trains "Flytoget" is actually not free! Luckily the regional trains stop at the airport as well and I can board these for free. Inside the rather crowded train we travel in about 30 minutes to the central station of Oslo. The temperature is 23 degrees and it is already 17:00 in the meanwhile.

Oslo
Many people told me that Oslo is a gray, small, unpleasant city but as soon as I walk out of the central station I immediately love the city. Trams are driving everywhere, people are sitting on the stairs of the square and the buildings look very nice in the sun. Now I need to find my hostel, I have made a reservation which is kept until 18:00h but the hostel should be a 15 minute walk and I should make it to that time.

The Square of the Oslo Sentralstationen, a busy place with both modern and old buildings.

Without a map it is a bit difficult to find your way at first. But after asking a local to the street I was searching for, it appeared that I was already where I needed to be, just a few blocks ahead I see the big complex of the Anker Hostel where I will be staying for 2 nights. The hostel looks nice from the outside and also the inside is not bad. Off course it is a hostel so you the quality of the 6-bed room is not like a 5-star hotel. But it's okay, each room has its own shower, there is a nice common room and there is internet available, although I quickly find out that around the corner there is a cheaper internet cafe.

After checking in, and leaving my luggage behind I decide to take a walk around the town. Oslo is quite compact and easily manageable by foot. The Anker hostel is a part of a large complex just at the edge of the city-centre, so when walking southwards you are immediately in the city-centre. It is evening so many shops are closing but I find out that also many shops remain open which is very nice. In the Netherlands all opening times of shops are located at a small paper at the main entrance, I expected the same here but couldn't see anything. Unless I found out that the opening times are in huge marks above the entrance of the shop and usually as short as possible. Large signs with 8-22 (20) indicate that the shop is open from 8:00-22:00 at weekdays and from 8:00-20:00 in the weekend. The times are always listed as short as possible and looking at the times I found out that most supermarkets are also open on sundays.

I walk up-and-down the "Karl Johans Gate" (gate is Norwegian for street) the main street of Oslo which leads from the station to the royal palace up-hill. From the palace you have a nice view over the city and around it is a small park where the local people are sitting in the grass. The atmosphere is very laid back, in holland people walk around in a hurry getting from to A to B as quickly as possible but here nobody seems to bother.

The Royal Palace of Norway.


View from the Royal Palace, down the Karl Johan Gate.


The Karl Johans Gate, a lot of decorated buildings decorate this street. As well as construction workers!

In the evening I get some brochures about the city, there is an organization in Oslo which issues a free brochure about how to get around in the city without spending to much, the also give a lot of background information about Oslo and Norwegian people. Anyway, I could use a guide like this because my first impression of Norway is that it is very pricey (and that impression proves to be true).