Day 5 and we arrived in Oslo, the 12th most expensive city in the world, after another horribly early train from Gothenburg. This was our first stop in Norway, where we would be spending the rest of our trip. The country of Norway is shaped like a sperm, has a population of just under five million, and is famous for its stunning fjords apparently listed by National Geographic as the world's top tourist attraction (plenty more on them later). Like Denmark, Norway is a welfare state and is fucking expensive, but is not a member of EU due to restrictions that membership would impose on Norway's farming and its petroleum reserves (of which it has a lot discovered in the 1960s - it's the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas per capita outside of the Middle East, accounting for 25% of its GDP).

The shots above are looking along Karl Johans gate (no capital on the "gate" apparently) - the main street of Oslo. The bronze dude on the right there would stand completely still and randomly scream at passersby (usually women) scaring the shit out of them. Spot the chick in the red top who was spooked by one of his outbursts just a second before I took this shot hehe.

Oslo is home to about a million Osloianites or whatever you call them, and again I wasn't expecting much from it based on what I'd heard and read. We had two days to spend here, and started our wanderings along Karl Johans gate, past the Royal Palace above (the official residence of the present Norwegian Monarch), and through suburbia. I love suburbia by the way, it fascinates me to see where and how the locals live. Mike, our tour guide on our cycle tour in Copenhagen, quipped that once you'd seen one suburban area you'd seen them all, but I completely disagree. It bloody fascinates me :)

We eventually made it here to Vigeland Sculpture Park, designed by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland. The park covers 80 acres and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures, all designed by Gustav (good name that, Gustav!).

Humans appear to be the overall theme here, naked ones.

"You damn kids!"

Gentle cupping I believe you call that.

The Monolith towers 14.1 metres high and is composed of 121 human figures. The whole thing was sculpted from a single block of (fucking big) granite weighing several hundred tonnes. Again, it was designed by Gustav, and took three stone carvers 14 years to complete. That's bloody impressive stuff!

Uh huh.

The Asians are admiring the size of the penises I reckon.

From the sculpture park we headed back to our hostel to check in. This was the second room we were given after we walked into the first to find a group folk of the year-round tan persuasion smoking up a storm and stinking the place out (despite the very obvious "No smoking" sign).

From the hostel we headed back into the central city and around the harbour. The area right outside Oslo's central train station forms part of its red light district, and here the city's drug problem is all too visible. This square is full of both addicts and dealers, and we saw at least a couple of deals taking place in broad daylight albeit discretely. This is definitely a black mark on an otherwise amazing country that police and politicians are either turning a blind eye to or at the very least doing little about.

Some places of interest around the harbour then: the Oslo Opera House, home to the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and winner of various architectural awards for this and that.

The bloody ugly City Hall. Apparently poo-brown brick was all the rage in the 1930s. Having said that, in June 2005 it was named Oslo's "Structure of the Century" with 30.4% of the votes hahaha, dear me! It does have a very nice interior though featuring huge murals so that's at least slightly redeeming.

Akerhus Fortress, a medieval castle that was built to protect Oslo, and also doubled as a prison (with a view).

The Nobel Peace Centre (so Kristina isn't trying to be Asian here with the peace thing).

Aker Brygge, a seaside shopping and nightlife centre with high prices but lots of glam and fun, at least according to WikiTravel.org.

That evening we headed to the city district of Grünerløkka. Not a great first impression.

But this is more like it. Grünerløkka is dubbed as a "Greenwich Village look-alike area" (referring to New York's Greenwich Village in Manhattan).

Up until about a decade ago this was a very industrial area. But today Grünerløkka is dotted with cafés, bars, and parks, and is a really vibrant area. Great spot for lunch or dinner if you're willing to pay the disgraceful prices.

Day 6, our second in Oslo. Much like we did in Copenhagen, we got out of the city for the day. One of the metro lines out of the central city ventures a short distance into the hills to the north. It makes for a pretty amazing ride in itself, but there are a few things of interest up in the hills.

Why is it that women can't change a wheel?

This is Holmenkollen Ski Jump, demolished and rebuilt between 2008 and 2010 for the 2011 World Ski Championships, though it first opened in 1892 and has been rebuilt many times since then. Spot Kristina on the bottom-right of the shot above to give you some idea of the size of this beast!

I'd love to put some statistics up, but the only figures I can find are in some ski-jump speak that I don't understand. Regardless, this thing is fucking huge.

There is also a ski museum here with a simulator which allows the public to visualise a ski jump down the hill - it's about as close as most of us will ever get.

The view from the top of an older ski jump down the road a little further. Central Oslo is to the right along the water.

From Holmenkollen we got back on the train and continued up into the hills to its terminus station at Frognerseteren. There are numerous hiking trails from here, including one heading back down the hill which we followed. Good spot to bring your mountain bike too!

Once back in town we got a small ferry across the harbour.

15 minutes later the ferry dumped us at Bygdøy, a peninsula in Oslo's west. This was described somewhere as the "poshest" area in Norway. I'm not sure I'd go that far but it certainly is nice with parks and forests everywhere.

Bygdøy is home to a number of museums including the Viking Ship Museum above, the Norwegian Maritime Museum, and the highly-depressing Holocuast Center.

Bygdøy is also home to some of Oslo's most popular beaches, for both geese and nude Norwegians alike. Everyone's looking nice and white after the long Scandinavian winter.

We caught a bus back into the city in time for me to take some photos of it in the sun, looking much nicer than it did under overcast skies yesterday.

Looking up towards the parliament building on the right.

And the view looking out from the parliament building.

And that was it for Oslo. Once again, having initially not expected much, I came away fairly impressed overall. Oslo is definitely not the nicest city I've ever seen in my life (take this random gravestone in a rundown area for example, not to mention the druggies, and that poo-brown city hall), but still worth a good couple of days :)