Norway.

My long weekend in Norway seems like a zillion travel days ago.

And, truthfully, it was. 

I've left the post about it looming since the beginning of June, so let's get to it!

Norway is a destination that's been on the "to do" list for awhile now. 

I've had the opportunity to visit many other major Scandinavian cities, but Oslo just hadn't made the destination list in the past few years. 

Our long weekend in June seemed like a prime time to head north, with the potential for great spring weather and the hope of avoiding the cold spells associated with cities at this northern latitude. 

Flights in and out of Oslo from Milan fly about once a day in one direction, so it's not easy to do a quick trip. Thankfully, we had a four day weekend, so we left late on a Wednesday night and flew back early Sunday morning. On our way there we were treated to a great view of the sunset from above the clouds.

In addition to the beautiful views during our flight, we lucked out with what has to have been one of Oslo's best weekends of weather. The skies were blue, the temperatures were just right...perfection!

We tried out the free walking tour during our first day in town. It didn't leave us with the best first impression of Oslo. The guide was difficult to understand, we were skipping things that we were interested to see and, at first glance, Oslo isn't outwardly beautiful.

Oslo's Opera House-
You can walk all around it and on its roof. Really cool!

The tour wasn't too long and we were able to explore on our own. We went back to the City Hall. This building was my favorite, for sure, and had the most impressive tapestries and details. This is the building where the Nobel Prize ceremony is held every year.

room where Nobel ceremony is held

We also wandered around the marina and then walked all the way out to the sculpture garden. It was actually so hot we took cat naps on benches before exploring around the park. I loved all the green space, but, quite frankly many of sculptures are super weird and not really interesting to me.

With the the Oslo Use-it map in hand, we walked through another part of the city the following day and found some handmade and vintage shops, along with some cool street art.

We took the metro out of the city to the end of the line and spent a couple hours wandering the Sognsvann Lake. So peaceful and clean! It was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of city life and easy to get to.

Lake water in Oslo. So clean!

That afternoon proved to be quite a fun day to explore Oslo. It was National Music Day so there were stages set up all over the city with varying types of live music being played. I thought it was really awesome and stopped to listen to several bands as I did a little shopping.

The first Saturday in June brings musicians out around the city!

We stayed here. This apartment was in a good location for us as tourists, so I'd definitely recommend it.

We ate here, here, here, and here. Two thumbs up for all four. The Indian place was probably the least exciting of all of them. And as you might expect, prices are high in Norway, so plan accordingly.