Well deserved down time.:) the family that blogs together stays together...and I'm sure that's what they are all doing here...We stayed Oslo's St. Hanshaugen neighborhood along Waldemar Thranes Gate,a street bookended by Norway's Kaffebrenniet (like Starbucks), an assortment of wonderful pastry shops and Deli Luca (like a 7-11 convenience store with fancier food and no gas station).
With many blocks of beautiful midrise density housing through the neighborhood to downtown, the neighborhood hosts a younger crowd and and can best be explained as Oslo's RINO (for Denverites).
We found there was so much to do between museums, outdoor sculpture parks and waterfront activity that we abandoned our plans to zoom out of Oslo and made it a study in City life. We saw a terrific exhibit at the Munch Museum comparing Munch and VanGogh-their paths never crossed but they were like twins from birth in their use of color and retreat from established forms.
We were also humbled by a visit to the Nobel Peace Center-on exhibit was Malala. Not only was I again sobered by her great bravery and young wisdom but torn inside to view on exhibit the outfit she was wearing when she was shot on the bus.
Observations on the street-
Traversing the city of Oslo on foot and via transit provides an even clearer picture of what we noticed to be a lack of social stratification in Oslo, an observation confirmed by our Air B&B host, a 38 year old Indian journalist and her Danish husband Esben. Mala explained that Norway is the 4th richest country in the world-this promise has brought a multicultural infusion of people, business, and youth seeking the awesomeness that is so often found in every big metropolitan city like Denverš Other things found in big cities-like poverty and visible suffering-were almost nonexistent until you got to the Centre station where Romanians have come to seek better fortune in begging. Apparently this is not received well and Norwegians don't know how to act in the presence of outward suffering-according to our hosts it's big topic now.
While Oslo's transit system is tops, it's lack of street life and activation of public space in important downtown areas that link the Royal Palace to the business district and the piers to Oslo's CentreStation transit hub might compromise its metropolitan desires.
The Opera House-
Centre Station Transit and Shopping-
Unless you are traversing the newly built luxurious western waterfront with 20 similarly fashioned restaurants and bars, there is a dearth of casual eateries and desirable public hangouts north into the older downtown.
There is a lot of potential for more greatness yet to come for Oslo and I hope more of Norway's oil cash could be funneled into activating the downtown's fabulous historic structures along the many gates leading to the Centrum (streets and blocks) as well as ensuring the increasing diverse social classes all find a place here.
The wealth is evident along the Oslo waterfront's western bank and on the steep banks of the Oslo fjords. 1000 SF Summer homes -along with their very small 10 sqM bathHouses go for millions on the fjords.
These houses were built at first for the women of Oslo to have a place to bathe away from the men on the fjords. Now they are idyllic little highly desired million dollar summer teen hideouts dotting the base of the fjord banks.
On our boat tour around the fjords our young Jordan doppelgƤnger tour guide provided great insight into the history and culture of Norway, the Country's strong Christian foundation and strong resistance to other religions lent to renaming Oslo to Kristiana for years before the country realized its future was destine to be built with a growing non-Christian population despite the fact that there is little to no separation of church and state even today. Now, the exceptionally rich and Christian royals and their friends own their own private little islands around the fjord. The current infusion of oil money from Norway's Statoil Company is building Oslo's eastern bank with thousands of glass encased multifamily structures resulting in rise to an eclectic and somewhat confused architectural landscape. Our tour guide mentioned that the new buildings are being expressly designed to create better public spaces. Framed by the Oslo Opera House, an amazing white geometric multi-elevated building atop the waterfront, I am sure these new buildings will add to the cool vibe.
We loved our stay, our walks in the rain, our endless days (sun up at 3:30am and down at 10:30pm) and our transit rides up and down the city streets. Oslo's heart is still growing and I look forward to its evolution. It was also our first international travel experience as a family of four and needless to say, we worked out a few kinks (no, it had NOTHING to do with Deirdre's strong will to control the transit plan for the day...) to ensure everyone's experience will be of their own making. It's beautiful to have our kids traverse the continent with us and we look forward to our next adventure in Amsterdam and surrounds!
On our boat tour around the fjords our young Jordan doppelgƤnger tour guide provided great insight into the history and culture of Norway, the Country's strong Christian foundation and strong resistance to other religions lent to renaming Oslo to Kristiana for years before the country realized its future was destine to be built with a growing non-Christian population despite the fact that there is little to no separation of church and state even today. Now, the exceptionally rich and Christian royals and their friends own their own private little islands around the fjord. The current infusion of oil money from Norway's Statoil Company is building Oslo's eastern bank with thousands of glass encased multifamily structures resulting in rise to an eclectic and somewhat confused architectural landscape. Our tour guide mentioned that the new buildings are being expressly designed to create better public spaces. Framed by the Oslo Opera House, an amazing white geometric multi-elevated building atop the waterfront, I am sure these new buildings will add to the cool vibe.
We loved our stay, our walks in the rain, our endless days (sun up at 3:30am and down at 10:30pm) and our transit rides up and down the city streets. Oslo's heart is still growing and I look forward to its evolution. It was also our first international travel experience as a family of four and needless to say, we worked out a few kinks (no, it had NOTHING to do with Deirdre's strong will to control the transit plan for the day...) to ensure everyone's experience will be of their own making. It's beautiful to have our kids traverse the continent with us and we look forward to our next adventure in Amsterdam and surrounds!
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