Highlights of Oslo

 Oslo  No Responses »
Jun 072010
 
Oslo_Royal_Palace

A few impressions of Oslo Norway.

A great transit system for a city of some 1.5 M. There are 6 underground train lines, surface tram lines and a good bus system. There is both a high speed and normal speed train to the airport.

Karl Johan Gate (see picture below) is a multi-kilometer pedestrian mall downtown. A number of the side streets are also blocked for the first block back from it. A very nice feature for a livable city.

Nature is left beside roads and sidewalks. Walking from the train station to the university campus each day, the grass was not planted an manicured for the most part. It looked like the path had just been dropped through the woods with very natural vegetation left. Very nice.

It is expensive in the restaurants etc. A waitress from Sweden said she made twice as much working here as at home. Houses seem to start around $1M with condos for about one-half that. The very nice area on the water that is called Aker Brygge is at least double for the condos. It is a bit like the False Creek development in Vancouver but only 5 stories high.

Photo:

Looking down Karl Johan Gate in Oslo to the royal palace.

Travel to Oslo

 Oslo  No Responses »
Jun 052010
 
London

I have been trying to write this post for 2 days. This is the third try. Suffice to say, I have been reminded that when your document is in the Internet cloud, you should save periodically as you can lose it all if you lose your connection to the cloud! And, the WordPress app for the iPad has some challenges – it is good but sometimes doesn’t permit simple things like copy and paste.

Interesting duty-free at the Oslo airport. There is a duty free as you arrive. So, locals get of the flight and immediately go into the duty free! In a country with significant taxes and where many fklights are international (small country) this must be a real advantage.

There is a great high speed train from the airport downtown. After a 24 hour elapse time trip, it was great to just sit for a rapid 20 minute trip through rolling green countryside.

I visited the Fram museum today – chronicles the Arctic and Antarctic explorations of Norwegian explorers. Did you know that some of the islands in Canada’s Arctic were transferred from the Norwegian government to Canada in 1925!! Some amazing stories.

Photo:

Enroute, I spent a few hours in the Heathrow airport outside London. This image is from my families visit to London a few years back. Heathrow is still an expensive place to visit.