Hello, Oslo

I did some sort of a walking tour of Oslo in two parts – the first one being the day we started our Norway trip and the second the day we ended it. The rain played a little bit of spoiler both times – we all got wet and then really cold. And it wouldn’t let us take our cameras out at times. But Oslo, was basically the first European city I saw properly, after the fleeting glimpses of Koln the previous day and of Bruxelles that day while on our way to Charleroi. So notwithstanding the rain, or maybe cause of it (courtesy having lived most of my life in Mumbai or to be more precise, Thane) I quite liked Oslo.
The first thing that I fell in love with were the cobblestoned streets, and I couldn't stop Sound of Silence from playing in my head on a loop. 

Karl Johans Gate

~In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone~

The next thing I fell in love with was the bright colours of the building. I encountered those bright coloured buildings first in Oslo, and then kept seeing all through Norway and later in other European towns as well. I still haven’t gotten over the freshness of the colors. They are straight out of the set of 12 poster colors that I used as a kid – you could identify the poster red, cobalt blue, prussian et al.

                     

             
Oslo, like most towns and cities in Norway is a coastal city with a harbour worth watching. I've heard Oslo has a spectacular coastline, especially at night. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch that but we did visit the harbour.

The harbour

We saw all the touristy places such as the Royal palace, and the parliament. Honestly, I was rather disappointed in the Royal palace. The Main building at R was more imposing and beautiful than this. And maybe having seen so many palaces in Rajasthan, one just expects to see something really grand and rare.

Oslo, was pretty, rainy and cold. And if I am adding adjectives, how can I miss expensive? To plan your first trip to Norway is a bad bad idea. One would find all of Europe expensive compared to India, and Norway is expensive even by European standards! That first day in Oslo, was so difficult. We just couldn’t get ourselves to pay 3 euros for a coffee!

By the second time we came to Oslo, five days later, we had gotten used to Norway and bought ourselves a nice hot breakfast of waffles and coffee. 

Of course, that breakfast wasn't half filling and we couldn't stop ourselves from shamelessly staring at those delicious macaroons through the store window! 

Before I sign off, a big shout out to the people who I walked around Oslo with! Cheers!