Oslo, Norway

To start our trip we flew to Oslo, Norway.  It was an direct 2 hour flight from London so not bad at all.  My mom & Leonard's journey was a bit longer as they travelled from Oklahoma City to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Oslo.  They were troopers though and were ready for action as soon as they landed last Friday.

Oslo is a beautiful city and we had great weather.  Temperature was in the low 70s and it was sunny for the most part.  The people in Oslo were extremely friendly and everyone spoke English so it was very easy to get around.

Before our trip I had been warned that the Scandinavian countries were very expensive with Norway being the most expensive.  We honestly didn't think too much about it since London is expensive and we're used to it now.  Let me tell you, we were in for sticker shock.  London is affordable compared to Oslo.  For lunch Cory and I shared a salad, Brady had a kids meal, I drank water and Cory had 2 beers.  Over $100 tab.  Cory's beer cost approximately $25 for each pint.  The Kids meal was about $18 and the salad was around $40.  Holy Cow!!!  We certainly could not afford to spend too long in Oslo.  Good thing we would be getting on a boat with all of our meals included.

While we were walking around the city center, we were able to catch the changing of the guard.  Every day there is a parade up to the palace before the changing of the guard takes place.  Brady loved watching the band and seeing the soldiers march up to the palace for their ceremony.  I found it a little odd that you could basically walk right up to the front door of the palace.  Can you imagine being able to go knock on the door of the White House? 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around the city.  Oslo has some beautiful buildings and  museums.  The Opera House is very new and is supposed to look like a glacier.  We also saw a very old fortress.

That evening my mom watched Brady for a bit so Cory and I could have a drink in an ice bar.  This is something that Cory has always wanted to do so he can now check this one of this list.  It was fun, but I will say it was extremely touristy.  I think we thought it would have more atmosphere when in fact we enjoyed our drink with a tour group of about 25 people who were all I would estimate between the ages of 55 - 75 and a few other random folks.

Saturday morning we had a little bit of time before getting on the boat so we went to a Statue park.  Brady was able to enjoy the playground (which is what he had requested to do while on vacation) and we saw some pretty cool statues. 

After the park we headed to the boat.  On the walk to the boat we saw where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.  I did not know that it was located in Oslo.

Picture from the boat as we were leaving Oslo.

More Baltic Cruise posts to come.