OSLO

We arrived in Oslo with no preconceived ideas of what this city was like.....

in fact no idea what this city was like !!

and almost immediately fell in love with it!

Lots of interesting, modern buildings clustered around its own fjord.

This beautiful new Opera House is their jewel in the crown and they are very proud of its futuristic design

    

where concerts can he held in the open air with the audience sitting on the roof !

Unlike Copenhagen the streets were decorated with flowers in large planters

or planted out in colourful garden beds

and blossom trees were heavy with flowers.

Large trees sported their bright green new foliage and lined the streets

and lovely parks.

The Royal Palace is lovely …..

and the public seem to have free access to  wander the pretty gardens

where the friendly guards are happy to interact  and pose for photos .

Dork on Holiday photo number one !!

But that's not all. 

There is this interesting sculpture park where every sculpture is of the human form.

Not too far out of town is the wonderful Viking Museum

where ancient Viking ships have been recovered from their burial sites 

and carefully and lovingly brought back to life

so we can wonder at the size and construction of these ancient ships.

Can you imagine crossing oceans in one of these ??

Almost next door is a fantastic Folk Museum where ancient buildings have been gathered together and rebuilt in a village setting.

I imagine they are built on these platforms for drainage and to allow for heavy snowfalls.

You can imagine how dangerous it would be heating these wooden buildings with a fireplace inside during the freezing Winter when everything inside is so flammable.

To cap it all off there is a huge Stave Church.

If you are lucky ( and we were ) you can still spot a few of these scattered through the countryside though they are few in number.

They are  stained black, have few windows and are quite bare and very dark inside.

So there you have it.

Just a small snapshot of Oslo, a really wonderful place to visit.

Number two on my list of Favourite Cities of the World second only to Paris !!

Cheers.