Team Basil were shaken from their reverie by the shrill tones of the ubiquitous iPhone alarm. At 7.15 it was so early even the dogs rolled over and went back to sleep. The human members of the team had no such luxury: the intention was to join the 10 am free walking tour of Oslo, so we needed to get our skates on.
Very conveniently the 34 bus leaves from immediately outside the campsite. The stop is even called Ekeberg Camping! So we were outside the front of the main railway station, the meeting point for the tour, in plenty of time.
Oslo Centre from Ekeberg
As I have explained in an earlier post we have done many of these free walking tours and all bar one has been excellent. You can find them in most major cities but the word “free” is not exactly accurate, because you are expected to tip the guide. But there is no set fee.
Our guide was a student from Latvia, studying for a masters in Ecology, at Oslo University. She spoke faultless English and seemed to know the city inside out, despite not being Norwegian.
Opera House
Our first stop was the new Opera House which is a piece of statement architecture, which I have read Oslo hopes will rival Sydney Opera House as an architectural icon. Sydney need not worry. It is a very fine piece of modern architecture, which is supposed to resemble an iceberg, with people walking on it, including the roof, resembling penguins. One of its major problems is that Oslo is already allowing taller bland tower blocks to build around it, which means it already can’t be seen properly from one side and the main view will be blighted.
Henrik Ibsen in front of the National Theatre
Parliament
We then moved around other major buildings in the centre: the fortress, parliament building, town hall and national theatre, amongst others. I must say that I found most of them, and the city generally a bit bland. My favourite was the lovely 1940s Town Hall. It is brick built, which is typical of the era, with some nice design features. On the inside there are some wonderful period murals using as their theme working people. This is reflective of Norwegian society generally, which is socialistic in nature.
Town Hall
Town Hall Mural by Edvard Munch
Town Hall Interior
The tour was very thorough with lots of information about Norway and Norwegians in general. I was however overall disappointed with central Oslo. It seemed to lack character. The Cathedral, for instance, was so bland I didn’t even bother take a photograph, which is most unusual for me. It may well be the first time I have walked past a cathedral and not taken a photo!
Oslo has some very good art galleries and museums and, of course, with the dogs we cannot really sample these, so we are not getting the full view of the city, but if you are thinking of places for a weekend break in Europe, Oslo, in my opinion, should be low on the list, not least because of the cripplingly high prices.
Our guide gave me another interesting answer to the “why is Norway so expensive” question. Her viewpoint is the cost of labour. Norway is heavily unionised and the minimum wage, which varies according to jobs, for the menial tasks is between 100 and 150 NOK per hour (€10.70 – €16). This is more than double the UK and may well be a major driving factor to high prices.
After our city tour we headed to an area our guide told us had some cheaper restaurants and found an Indian cafe with a set menu lunch for 75 NOK (€8). It was a bargain and very tasty.
After lunch we went back to the campsite and visited a sculpture park in Ekeberg, which our guide had told us about. A large tract of forested land had been bought for workers to get exercise out of the city in the early 20th Century. It remains an unspoilt patch of forest overlooking Oslo and now populated with sculptures by some of the world’s most famous artists: Rodin, Renoir and Dali and many works by modern British artists such as Sarah Lucas, the Chapman brothers and Damien Hurst. It was a pleasant combination of exercise and culture.
Venus de Milo with drawers – Salvador Dali
Levitating Woman by Matt Johnson
Sarah and I are at the moment debating whether to stay another day or to move on to Sweden. There are a number of “boys” museums just outside the city centre: Viking Ships, Kon Tiki and Polar Exploration museums. As someone brought up on the tales of daring do of Scott, Amundsen and Thor Heyerdahl I would quite like to visit and Sarah says I might be allowed one day on my own in six months!