One Must-See spot for every visitor to Oslo is Vigelandsparken, the famous sculpture park. We headed there on our first full day in town, after finding some sweet scores at a local shop. (Who are we kidding? It was the thrift store. It wouldn’t be a K & P Adventure if we didn’t do a little thrift store shopping, right?)
The following day, we started the “Great Goose Chase of 2010”: trying to rent skis in Oslo. Goose chase, you ask? Shouldn’t it be easy to find a pair of rental cross-country skis in the capital of the nation that INVENTED the sport? Well, that’s what we thought too. Turns out that we were wrong. After hours of sports shops, T-bane rides and dead-ends; we ended up at a tiny one-man hut near the top of one of the hills that surround Oslo. It is the only place in the whole city that rents skis! We asked the man behind the counter why that was, and he was as baffled as we were. He said that it was ‘crazy’ that more places don’t rent, and we agreed. We spent the days before the hut trip warming up on some flat terrain behind the student village where I live. Paul caught on quickly and by the final day of his visit, he smoked me up the six-kilometer climb to Ullevålseter.
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| City Hall, New Year's Eve |
For New Year’s Eve, Paul and I headed down to City Hall to watch the fireworks display put on by the city. It turns out that more than just the city puts on fireworks. The plaza in front of City Hall turns into a firecracker war-zone, with inexperienced pyro-technicians (aka whoever wants to buy a firework) setting them off left and right. We managed to avoid stray fireworks and the show overlooking the Oslofjord was pretty incredible. I was glad to ring in 2011 with Paul, and even more glad to have all of my limbs attached at the end of the night.
Earlier in the week, a friend of a friend had described their visit to the Norwegian Musuem of Science and Technology, and it sounded right up our alley. I think what really hooked us was when he said “It is great for kids, but we had fun anyway.” We made a day of it, and were not disappointed. The upper floors had information about the progression of music players through the ages, modes of transportation, computers, Norway’s role in oil extraction in the North Sea, and advancements medicine. On the bottom floor was the hands-on portion, complete with a thermal camera, mega-Tanagrams, and an entire display on alternative energy sources.
The second museum that we visited was the Norwegian Folk Museum. It is a collection of buildings from around Norway from all periods of time, and visitors are able to stroll through the open-air museum and be part of the time period in which the building are from. The central attraction of the museum is the Stave Church, an incredible piece of architecture that was brought to Oslo in 1884. It has a long history, and it took 3 years to even get it to Oslo from Northern Norway because of snow conditions! 
Eating out in Oslo is an expensive proposition, but thanks to many generous Christmas donations from friends and family, I took Paul out to a charming restaurant Tullins Café. The atmosphere was almost as cool as the tables, which were inlayed with old lockets, jewelry and photos. The food was fantastic as well!
It was more than hard to say goodbye to Paul. Just as I was getting used to life together again, my apartment turned from messy and loud to clean, quiet, and more than a little lonely. Since my return to the States in the summer is still open, we don’t know when we will see each other next. He has given me a huge gift by supporting my decision to move away for an entire year. Thank you, Paul! You are incredible.
It was the greatest Christmas present I have ever received to have Paul with me for three weeks. I want to THANK both sets of parents for helping make all legs of our vacation possible!
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