Day Nine - Oslo
After our experience at 0.12 in Copenhagen, we looked for a breakfast buffet at the city center hotels, but found that they stopped serving before we were ready to wake up. We ultimately ate at Egon in the mall attached to the central station and discovered a Norwegian chain that offers somewhat generic options of good quality.
Once again, we used Ruter—a very useful public transportation app that allows you to enter your destination, choose from the routes and schedule displayed to purchase a ticket in the app—to find our way to the Norwegian Folk Museum, an open air museum that includes buildings from all around Norway in a single large site. The Folk Museum is a must see, and is close to three other Viking and maritime museums including Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki.
Back in the city center, we went to Oslo City Hall, across the street from the Nobel Peace Center, on the recommendation of YouTube.
Along the entrance to the building are large wooden carvings of Norway folklore and history. Click the thumbnails below to open a larger window.
Inside the main hall, the walls are painted with brilliant murals and frescoes depicting Norwegian history, culture and civic life.
When I travel, I like to find restaurants serving authentic versions of local dishes, so I was surprised to find few Norwegian restaurants in Oslo. (That will wait for Bergen.) Most restaurants are Chinese, Thai, Italian, and more than a few serving US barbecue. My hypothesis is that people cook a lot at home—eating out in Scandinavia is not cheap—so when they eat out, they want food they don’t cook at home; it’s a guess.
We were thrilled to hear about Den Glade Gris, again on YouTube. The vibe is relaxed and the food was delicious: Neck of pork with baby potatoes, rustic vegetables and red wine sauce for Steve, and Schnitzel for me. If I’m in Oslo again, I’ll visit The Happy Pig.
