Thursday, November 29, 2012

A Lost Girl's Guide to Oslo

I love that my job sends me to amazing places. Latest to the list? Oslo, Norway! Apparently, our robots are really big in Norway. So, my boss and I headed out on a whirlwind five day repair job. I was exhausted the entire time, mainly due to long hours traveling, jet lag, a tiny hotel bed, and the like five hours of day light, but it was worth it. Oh, and it was really cold, so I was bundled up the whole time. Like, the coldest-day-in-Arizona-winter constantly cold.

I'll get to my pictures in a minute, but here's some of the things I learned that pictures can't explain.
  • If you ever fly into the Oslo airport and take the train into the city, Dramen is not a stop in the city. It's a town about an hour outside Oslo. And definitely don't make the young woman you travelled with drag her luggage around in the rain as she tries to check the map. No, the hotel is not just around the corner. Stop being a male stereotype and just take some directions.
  • Norway is not vegetarian-friendly at all. No, strike that, Norwegian food isn't vegetarian. If you are a vegetarian in Norway, there's plenty of things like pizza to eat, but nothing traditional Scandinavian.
  • If you bring a candle in a glass jar back as a souvenir, pull it out of your luggage at every security check. Security will automatically think it's a jar of honey or something and won't believe you until they see it. 
Our hotel was really nice and about a block from the heart of downtown. Since we didn't have a car, we didn't get to see a lot of sites, but we didn't have a lot of time, so it was ok.

Anyway, picture summary!

Parliament Building. Why don't we get to have gorgeous buildings like this in Tucson?
National Theater, at the opposite end of the park from the Parliament Building.
Cool tented buildings under construction at the university.
The Royal Palace
The Cathedral
Some portly dude immortalized in metal
Best named store ever
Random photo shoot taking place the harbor
Not our hotel, but so pretty and classy

I don't know what this was supposed to be, but I call it "Tin Foil: Uniting"
The Art Museum
Another view of the Art Museum with a Pegasus statue




The Scream
I'm on viking ship (in the history museum)
In the courtyard of the castle

Ordering the cannons to fire on the fools who attack our castle
Foggy view of the harbor from the castle wall
We stumbled onto a tank on the way back to the hotel

I would have never thought that I would have visited Norway in my lifetime, but I'm glad I did. It was an incredible trip and I'd go back in a second if offered the chance.

3 comments:

  1. You went to Norway!! I never really considered Oslo to be beautiful but you made it look that way with all those nice photos :) Although it was cold and dark, how great to get a trip that far away for work!

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    1. I thought about asking you for advice about things to see before we went, but I didn't know if that was creepy since we don't actually know each other. Who am I kidding, though? I am that creepy, so next time (if there is a next time), I'll pick your brain for all the things I missed.

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  2. Wouldn't have been creepy at all! Give me a shout if there will ever be a next time, or if Spain comes onto your list!

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