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One Day in Oslo

Oslo, Palace
Scandinavia is fairly uncharted territory for me. Prior to a few weekends ago, I’ve not been further north on this planet than Edinburgh, Scotland. When my friends wanted to visit Oslo, and asked me to join them, I could not pass up this exciting opportunity to reconnect with some of my oldest friends, and explore a new place with them. I am still astounded that this beautiful country, as rich and ancient as it is, feels fairly unscathed by humanity. It is home to incredible history, gorgeous fjords and breathtaking landscape, culture AND the Norwegians are known for their affinity with basic human rights! Norway has been described to me by various people as ‘very Northern European’, ‘impressive’, ‘cold’ and ‘expensive’. Needless to say, I have also arrived at some of the same conclusions, but I’ve discovered much, much more.

Here is a photo journal of my travels:
Light at Night in Scandinavia
When I landed on the Friday night, it was already past 11 pm. The photo doesn’t do it much justice, however I was taken aback by how LIGHT it was outside. I was on the train around midnight, and the sky was still a blue colour. After moving to England, I realized how much daylight the northern countries get during the summer months, but I’ve never seen it not be night at night. My visit coincided around the first day of Summer, so unsurprisingly, I was witnessing the longest day of the year in one of the more northern countries of the world!
I got to our Airbnb and my two friends were already there and asleep. We had a very busy day ahead of us, so I tried to sleep, even though it was very hot in the room.
baker hansen Oslo
The next morning, we were STARVING. After getting ourselves sorted, we wandered around the Nationaltheatret (National Theatre) Area in search of some breakfast. Essentially, we decided on what we were going to eat based on which cafe we saw first. We chose Baker Hansen and we were not disappointed. They have a wide selection of breakfast cakes, desserts and breads. Since pretty much the three of us are gluten-free (when we can be), we were surprised at the variety of gluten-free options they had. Apparently, Scandinavia has one of the highest percentage of gluten-intolerance in the world, so it’s really easy to find options for people who can’t or choose not to eat gluten.
Breakfast in Baker Hansen, Oslo
I opted for a yummy latte with a ham and cheese sandwich on this delicious bread. I hadn’t had bread in ages, so it was a nice treat.
ferry boat ride in Oslo
After finishing our breakfast, it was time to explore Oslo. We wanted to see the peninsula part of Oslo (Bygdøy) and check out some of the museums. We boarded up on a ferry and travelled by water to get to where we wanted to go.
The Bygdøy neighborhood is where a lot of the museums live. The Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskiphuset),  The Fram Museum (Frammuseet), The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum), Kon-Tiki Museum, and The Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities (Holocaust Sentret).
Viking Museum, Oslo
Since we had only a day in Oslo, we decided it would be best to not spend money or much time on the museums. We stepped in to the Viking Ship museum because I am really into Viking history. I snapped a photo of a 9th century Viking ship, and even though I was from the ‘unpaid’ vantage point, I still feel like I got a good sense of what it looked like. This ship is apparently one of the best preserved viking ships found!
Cargo Cafe - Coffee in Oslo
After the Viking Ship Museum stop, we ventured around more of this neighborhood. I saw this cute little coffee truck near the Kon-Tiki Museum. The Kon-Tiki museum follows the adventures of one of Norway’s most famous explorers. Thor Heyerdahl is famous for crossing the Pacific Ocean on a Kon-Tiki raft but also for numerous archeological excavations around the world.
Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo
After walking around the museum grounds, we wanted to check out the beach/natural park nearby. There is a large grassy area perfect for walking and picnicking. If you continue walking through Huk, you will arrive at the sandy beach area, and possibly come across some nudists.
Huk in Oslo
Huk in Oslo
If I was to take a panorama, on the right of this image, you would have been in for a real treat. It was a nudist beach. I strategically avoided that area whilst taking this photo, but it is very clear that Norwegians live by a ‘carpe diem’ mentality. At least, they do when it’s a sunny day.
Me in Oslo by the Water
Around the rocky part of the beach, children were having the time of their lives. We all stopped to reflect what a nice childhood they must have, and what fun memories they were creating. These little girls were laughing and jumping into the water from their slippy-slide, with no care in the world. I can just imagine how fondly they will reflect on those moments. It was just so refreshing to see so many locals soaking up the sun and enjoying life.
Oslo by the water
We took advantage of the beautiful day too. Since two of us live in England, where sunny weather is not always a guarantee, it was nice to just sit by the water and relax, whilst working on our tans. We watched the boats float by and just took in all the beautiful Norwegian Landscape.
After regaining the will to walk more, we took our ferry back to the city centre to explore more of the other neighborhoods.
Traveling in Oslo, Norway
[Me, in front of the Parliament building]
Oslo, Norway, Centre, Travel Blog
Lunchtime was rolling around and we were all getting peckish. We hadn’t selected a restaurant previously because we wanted to just ‘go with the flow’ and have the freedom to stumble upon interesting looking locales. Thankfully, one of my friends, C, had done a bit of research into the different neighborhoods in Oslo. We decided that Grünerløkka, a hipster/modern neighborhood, was the direction we wanted to walk towards. As we walked through the beautiful city streets, we quickly learned that this was a good choice!

Neighborhoods in Oslo, travel Norway

Mathallen Market in Oslo
We accidentally arrived at the Mathallen Oslo Food Hall. Food-wise, there were so many options to choose from! You could do your typical market shopping and buy your meat, cheese, fruit, or whatever. Or you could sit down at any of their restaurants, ranging from Scandinavian cuisine to Tapas.
Market in Grunerlokka
Menu Skandinvia, Mathallen Oslo
Restaurant Skandinavia, Oslo
I opted for the restaurant Skandinavia and chose their Elk Burger without a bun, and some fries. It was really delicious but also quite expensive. Was it worth it? Every last bite!
Enjoying a drink in Mathallen Market Oslo
One of the cool things about this bar at the food hall was that you could buy your food from whatever restaurant you wanted, and buy your drink from the bar. Since we are three people with very different tastes and likes, it was perfect because we could each choose the food we wanted, but eat it together and drink together!
Little treats in Oslo
Although I was trying to eat as paleo or at least as gluten-free as possible, I really couldn’t resist buying these macarons. There was even a champagne flavor! I think my favorite was the blueberry.

flower shops in Oslo
Oslo is surprisingly full of flowers – flower shops and gardens line the streets and parks. One of our next stops was the botanic gardens in Oslo.  It was another one of our random finds. The gardens were such a nice experience. I took SO many photos, that I will probably have to do another post about it. They have over 1800 plant species, and just pretty gardens to walk through.

Botanic Gardens in Oslo
After flooding Instagram with all of my flower photos, we decided we had enough of gardens, and that we wanted to see more of the city.

Dattera Til Hagen, Fun bar in Oslo
Another random but cool find was the Dattera Til Hagen bar with the coolest back garden. They had fun, colorful murals and decorations. We couldn’t help ourselves and had to stage a 15 min selfie photoshoot next to the wall.

Friends in Oslo

enjoying a cidre in Oslo
As you can tell, I got sunburned. IN NORWAY. Oslo is not the most tropical of places. However, my pale skin is not used to all of this UV radiation. So, I burned. This light apple cider was the perfect way to cool off and take in the fun, Oslo atmosphere.

Brasserie Paleo, Oslo, Norway
We had dinner (and breakfast the next day) at this fabulous restaurant called Brasserie Paleo. This deserves it’s own post as well, so I will go into it later!

Ending the Night in Oslo
After the long day of walking, we were spent. I think I had 30k+ steps on my fitbit that day. I was exhausted because I didn’t have much sleep, as well as quite a bit of alcohol. Our final stop for the day was an outdoors bar near the boardwalk. The photo was a bit blurry because of the lighting, but I was definitely in my happy place. I can’t even remember the name of the bar or where it is exactly, but it was so cute! They had blankets for everyone, so I snuggled up with my gin and tonic and my blanket and just chilled. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Oslo Neighborhoods
The next morning, we only had a few hours before I had to catch my train back to the airport. We brunched (the most amazing food) at Brasserie Paleo and then walked around the city centre a little bit more.

Statues in Oslo
Royal Palace of Oslo
The final stop of my trip was the Royal Palace of Oslo. It was very pretty and the official residence of the royal family of Norway. I thought that it was very cool that we could get so close to the building. In London, you can’t get very close to Buckingham Palace because of the guards and fences.

Apparently, Norwegians are just very chill people, which was something that really comes across in all aspects of their culture. Oslo is very clean and tidy, and for a big city, it’s fairly quiet. Coming from the UK and my dealings with the rowdy Brits (especially on a Saturday night), this was a bit of a culture shock. Where were the bar fights? Where were the loud talkers at the restaurants? I didn’t see them anywhere!

I had a an AMAZING time in Oslo. It was so amazing to be able to reconnect with some of my high school friends in a foreign country. We all live in different parts of the world, and it just goes to show how small our world is nowadays, that we can all meet up and explore a new place together!
Have you ever been to Scandinavia or even just Oslo? What did you find interesting about their culture?
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16 Comments

  • Reply Rosa

    Amazing photographs, it looks like a wonderful trip – I’ve always wanted to visit Norway.

    http://ohduckydarling.com

    July 10, 2017 at 9:49 am
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Thanks Rosa! It was a really wonderful, albeit quick, experience!

      July 10, 2017 at 8:54 pm
  • Reply Alisha Valerie

    It really looks like you had such a wonderful time! Thanks so much for sharing it with us, I enjoyed reading about your trip. ??✨

    With love, Alisha Valerie. x
    http://www.AlishaValerie.com | http://www.twitter.com/AlishaValerie

    July 11, 2017 at 2:36 pm
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Thanks for stopping by Alisha Valerie 🙂 It was a fun trip. Now, I need to figure out where to go next!

      July 12, 2017 at 9:44 am
  • Reply Hannah

    You got so many gorgeous photos! It seems like you had a really good time!xx

    Hannah | luxuryblush

    July 11, 2017 at 6:29 pm
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Thanks Hannah! Oslo is a very photogenic city! It was very pretty and there was so much nature all around!

      July 12, 2017 at 9:45 am
  • Reply Kayleigh Zara

    The food looks absolutely amazing from your trip, I have to say the champagne macaroon sounds to die for! I also really like the look of the flowers x

    Kayleigh Zara ?✨ http://www.kayleighzaraa.com

    July 12, 2017 at 5:47 am
    • Reply caffeineberry

      I think the food was the best part! I never had such amazing gluten-free bread before and the macarons are just amazing!

      July 15, 2017 at 3:51 pm
  • Reply Alice

    I’ve actually never been to Scandanavia at all but your photos look lovely so may have to add it to the bucket list! Those smoothies look tasty also.

    July 12, 2017 at 7:54 pm
    • Reply caffeineberry

      I didn’t get to try the smoothies, but I’m sure they were fantastic. Definitely add Scandinavia to your bucket list! It was so much fun and there is so much to do!

      July 15, 2017 at 3:53 pm
  • Reply Gabija Barkute

    Looks like you had an amazing trip, just look at these photos! I went to Oslo a few years ago and can’t wait to explore more of Norway in the next few years!

    Gabija | everylittlethingblog.weebly.com

    July 12, 2017 at 8:46 pm
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Glad you liked my photos 🙂 Hope you can return soon!

      July 15, 2017 at 3:53 pm
  • Reply Steph // Steph's World

    It looks like you had a fab time in Oslo 🙂 Also, your photography here is amazing! I love reading travel posts like this as it feels like I am there with you. \

    Steph xx
    http://www.stephsworld.com

    July 13, 2017 at 8:51 am
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Thanks Steph! I had an amazing time there 🙂

      July 15, 2017 at 3:54 pm
  • Reply emma rankin

    Wow, it’s so pretty, never knew it looked like this

    July 13, 2017 at 10:26 am
    • Reply caffeineberry

      Thanks Emma! Yea, Oslo is definitely worth a visit! It’s so picture-esque!

      July 15, 2017 at 3:55 pm

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