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6th July
Went over to an Island and soaked up the sun! The island is about 300m from the wharf and a 2min boat ride!! We made it early to get a spot on the beach which was lucky cos by 11am the beach for full! The dont have sand.. more like pebbles and dirt and the water was freeeeeeeeeeezing!! but i can say - I went for a swim in Norway!! It took me about 15 mins to get the courage up, was in for about 4 seconds and then 15mins to defrost but i did it!! Lots of families out enjoying the sun, girls sunbaking and crazy people swimming. We sunbaked all day and then went out for Mexican for dinner.
7th July
Checked out the Opera House which is a massive white structure with a sloping roof so you can walk up onto the roof to get a good view of the city. Its not in the ideal location with highway on one side and then industiral wharf on aother side but Silje said they had grand plans to tunnel all the roads and create park between the Opera House and the central station which if it happened it would look great! We then walked up the main mall, 'Johans Gate', which goes from central station in a straight line upto the Palace. The street is full of cafes, resturants and shops and mainly tourists. The palace stands on a small hll and the king was in cos the flag was up. It wasnt a spectacular building. We then walked down to the wharf which is where all the rich people live in apartments and it takes a decade to get a dock for your boat! We trammed it to the East side which is where all the imports live. Its a lot more colourful but grungier and dirty.
8th July
Today we went to the suburbs for Strawberry Jam! Ventured to Ulleval which is near where Silje used to live and has a bakey that she claims is the best homemade strawberry jam ever (Oz strawberries are so much better!!) From the bakery we walked along the river (more like a big creek but still beautiful) towards the city down to Greenland and we caught a tram east up a hill and visited a restaurant that has amazing views all over Oslo. Today was the first day that it wasnt sunny, had heavy rain the night before but it was still warm enough for shorts outside and the rain had cleared by lunch time. We went and saw Shrek 4 that night.
9th July
Today we visited Holmenkollem which is the ski jump on a hill that you can see from pretty much anywhere in Oslo. The first jump was in March but the surrounding areas are still under construction. Once it is all finished it will look good and hopefully they will pull the Winter Olympics. Have to be on a bus at 4am tomorrow morning so the plan is to pull an all nighter. Started off with a party at Siljes place with her mates and then headed out to a club about midnight. Hit the kebab shop and then caught the bus at 4am.
Oslo in summary:
Its not a very big city and you could do the main tourist attractions in less than 2 days. It wasn't very English friendly, rarely signs in English however if you say that you only speak english most people will start speaking English. If i didn't have Silje to take me everywhere and translate for me I would have been very lost! Very, very expensive city to visit. The forest meets the ocean and when you go to the suburbs the forest backdrops the wooden 3 story homes - beautiful!
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