There are about 10 million or so Norwegians in the world. Over 5 million people are in Norway! Some people call Oslo, the capital, “The Tiger City” due to a legendary tale.
The famous Notre Dame football coach, Knute Rockne, was from Voss, Norway. You may have also heard of Peter Bang & Svend Olufsen, who produced audio products starting in 1925.
Norway is known to be an athletic nation competing in both summer and winter Olympics. The people are proud, intelligent, funny and friendly. This picture was posted along a small arena.
I have visited Norway twice in my life: once solo in 1979, and in 2019 with my wife, Kathie. When the sun is out, you can’t beat Norway!
Flying into Oslo is easy. There is even a national airlines called “Norwegian Airlines.” The airport is about 30 miles from the city center–no problem. There is a high speed train–called Flytoget– and tickets are easy to obtain.
Since my first visit in 1979, Oslo has grown tremendously. We stayed in one of the largest hotels in the city center: The Radisson. We like this chain as the hotels are comfortable and have superb breakfasts.
The view from our 36th floor room was outstanding.
I loved the pool area near the top floor.
Near our Radisson Hotel was a mall. I always like to take a picture of a popular movie of the time.
We walked by the very busy waterfront. In 1979, I remember purchasing cooked “shrimp” from the boat. It was not one of my favorite meals.
The waterfront in 2019 had a number of cafe’s packed with tourists in the summer.
Like in 1979, I took Kathie to their famous Viking Museum. There are a number of longships and plenty of artifacts. It is one of my favorite museums. I regretfully have to relate that I did purchase a good size poster of this famous ship pictured in 1979. I lost it along my travels that summer–in a train.
Unlike 1979, we did manage to see the Kon-Tiki Museum in walking distance of the Viking Museum. As some of you know, Kon-Tiki was a large raft made of balsa logs. The raft in 1947 floated 101 days across the Pacific from Peru to Raroia . The expedition was led by Thor Heyerdahl. The expedition proved that people could have floated to or from South America.
We walked along a narrow river from our hotel to a food hall. The river was just wide enough to fit these kayakers.
We have come across a number of food halls in our European travels: London, Lisbon and Amsterdam. The Oslo food hall was just as inviting. We met an Italian chef who married a Norwegian woman.
One day Kathie and I trekked across town. There are a number of interesting neighborhoods filled with murals and sculptures.
On another day we trekked to Oslo’s famous Vigeland Park. Along the way, we stopped by the Royal Palace. The guard was quite friendly.
Vigeland Park is the large green area filled with sculptures done by one person: Gustav Vigeland. There are 212 granite, bronze and cast-iron sculptures.
One of the most recognizable statues is of “Angry Boy.”
Women, particularly, have a difficult time keeping their hands off this statue.
On that trek we came across our first robotic lawnmower. It was a novel to see in 2019.
We took a tram to get to Oslo’s famous Holmenkollbakken (yes, 16 letters) Ski Jump. This arena holds 70,000 people and is the home to a number of World Cup events. The old sky jump was used for 1952 Olympics.
In 1979, the arena definitely looked different than it was in 2019. In 1979 there was no zipline across the entire arena as there is now.
The views are indeed majestic.
