What is paradise?
I do believe paradise would have lots of bikes, and lots of people riding them. Paradise would also weather suitable for athletic activity, cool but not cold. The sun would shine. Flowers and greenery would be in abundance. Splendid monuments would rise. The place would bustle, but it wouldn’t be busy. People would be friendly and abnormally good looking (or at least abnormally well-dressed, and thus the same impression). It would be clean, filled with lots of art. And there would also be lots of cannons, for fun.
You’ll have to live with embedded Instagram photos for now, which links will probably break in a few years, and Google photos later, since I can’t fix the photo upload on my wordpress until I get home and get the ssh keys to login to my server.
That was much my experience with Copenhagen, and it has been again with Oslo. I loved Copenhagen, and Oslo is a repeat in many ways, although with a distinctive character. Oslo is bigger and is more modern – you can clearly feel the wealth being poured into the city by the government, largely I think from oil profits. Several massive new public buildings (museums, libraries, cultural centers) were new, being built, or renovated. Copenhagen however felt more cosmopolitan, older, and with a stronger sense of culture. Oslo is also the least touristy European city I’ve been to – perhaps in part because the tourists are overwhelmingly German, and mix fairly well into the local populace.
But let’s get back to the bikes for a second. I didn’t ride myself here at all, because unpacking and repacking my bike I deemed too much work for a such a short stay, so my interactions were entirely in wistful glances. Shortly after clambering off the train from the airport, I saw a recreational cyclist on a mountain bike going flying past. I had to double check if they were on an e-bike or not – they weren’t although plenty of people here are. And that fellow was not alone, I’ve seen lots of people riding bikes quite quickly here in the heart of Oslo – both those in kit on racing bikes and those on more commuter-style bikes. In America, I ride quickly near-ish to people and I get yelled at by various self-important middle-age people. Too many Americans like to complain about things simply because they are unfamiliar with them. Here it is accepted that speed can be done safely, and it’s not just the bikes but also the motorized rental scooters which move along at a rapid pace.
And the weather does seem to be nicer here for cycling than Copenhagen. Yes, it’s raining fairly often, but not every day like was my experience in Copenhagen – and that was in August. Here in spring, they seem to be getting no more rain than we do back home, although perhaps in more, smaller rain showers. And the sun is hot. You can clearly feel that this place is further north and the sunlight more intense. That said, it is only in the 50’s F here most of the time – which combined with the intense sun makes perfect t-shirt weather. I’m warm but not sweaty all the time like most trips I’m on, and it’s really nice!
It’s also probably just as well that I am not a sweaty mess, because then I would stand out even more from the well-dressed crowds. All the women could be models, and all the men are well-styled as well. Lots of hair gel in play here among the guys, much better looking hair certainly than mine, but eh, I don’t think hair should be gelled. This clashes with the fact that these well-dressed people appear to have fairly boring jobs – the high flying banking, finance, and technical jobs I would expect don’t appear to be as common. There are lots of guys doing construction jobs… and nice dressed, younger, more liberal-looking strapping Nordic people doing construction jobs, who clash greatly with the look of the average American construction worker. That said, the economy seems to be thriving on oil wealth, and I’m not sure how well they will do when that money begins to fade.
And as for the tourists? They are mostly German, and the average age is much older. Young people don’t seem to come here as much, and especially not young Americans. Asian tourists are also noticeably fewer than their hordes of the Europe and Australia. It gives the tourist seen a much more relaxed and friendly feel. Take for example one of my roommates at the hostel, a 71 year old British women who is on her 25th solo cycling trip. I was reminded of the old Bilbo from Lord of the Rings, “I want to see mountains again, Gandalf!” Apparently, old people want to see fjords and mountains. Also Norway has a reputation for being more expensive – it is, but not I would say, that much more so – which may drive away the younger and poorer crowds.
Another unusual group of people? The beggars. Yes, the beggars here are much more service based. One has a set of shoe polishing gear. Several do art of various kinds – mediocre art you definitely overpay for, but definitely gives off a very different vibe than pure begging. The street sellers (crowding all tourist hubs, but none here) seemed to have merged with the beggars – not that there are too many beggars either, the city exudes a feeling of wealth overall.
What is lacking is a feeling of true age. ‘Old Town’ Oslo burned down in the 1650’s, and wasn’t much of a city to begin with. Oslo appears to have remained more of a large harbor town for most of its life rather than a true city, at least until recently. Also the style appears fairly timeless to my casual eye, with mid 1800’s brick buildings looking rather like 1600’s and even some 1900’s buildings.
To digress briefly on this matter, there is a crazy museum here, the ‘Folkmuseum.’ It is literally a museum with a grounds full of historic buildings moved there from across Norway. Most of these are wooden, and looking strikingly like some early prairie houses I have seen in America- which probably shouldn’t be that surprising. The stave church there is wonderful. But the museum, filled with essentially a bunch of log cabins, is also a powerful reminder than Norway was until quite recently very limited in resources. Their greatest existential worry for most of their existence has been Sweden – their military museum tells of a thousands years of fortresses being built almost all for the reason ‘of better preparing for Swedish invasions.’ Which I find kind of amusing, from a modern perspective.
But at the end of the day, these people here were Vikings and you can’t beat that. The Viking Ship museum was as wonderful as expected, as was the short but high-impact Vikingr exhibit at the history museum. Short, because it was basically one room, but high-impact because in that room was one of the best collections of Viking material you could find anywhere.
Overall, I don’t think I could have had a better place to start my trip. Oslo is a very well balanced city that has everything, but not too much of anything. Nice history, nice sights, nature close to the city, friendly people, and travel friendly transportation. Well, the history alone would have won me over, since I do rather have a fondness for it. When the massive new public library and Munch museum open in 2020 on the waterfront near the opera house, there will be a very nice tourist mecca setup and I could see the city becoming much more of a tourist destination – now it is mostly a portal to people looking to cycle/hike/wander the mountains and fjords to the north. I wish I could have done some of that wandering of the fjords myself, but perhaps next time….
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