Day # 3 - Oslo Sightseeing I

After spending the last two days almost exclusively setting up my room and making the necessary purchases, I finally had time today for an initial exploration tour of Oslo.

Kindly, the university organized a free bus tour with a tour guide for all exchange students. Our first stop was Homenkollen, the oldest ski jump in the world. Even though I'm honestly not necessarily interested in ski jumping or ski flying, it was incredibly impressive and somehow a little awe-inspiring to look down the 60m high ski jump. However, the actual attraction for me were the numerous Norwegians who ran up and down the entire ski jump until they were completely exhausted. In general, Norwegians seem to be an exceptionally sporty bunch, even though you can't tell everyone's physical fitness at first glance. If you trust the supermarket shelves, it seems that this is partly due to the great popularity of frozen pizzas and co. ;))

Afterwards, we continued to the so-called Vigeland Park, a truly impressive park where over 200 sculptures by the Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland were exhibited. To be honest, the name 'Vigeland' was not a term I was familiar with until now, but that doesn't mean much, since I'm quite ignorant when it comes to art. If I remember correctly, Vigeland wanted his works to not only symbolize human emotions, but also reflect the circle of life from babies to old age. Unfortunately, we only had 20 minutes to visit the entire park, so I will definitely come back here in the coming days.

Next up was the visit to the magnificent street 'Karl-Johans-gate', Oslo's main street. There you can find numerous cafes, international fashion chains, as well as the Parliament and the Royal Palace.

Our tour finally ended after 3 hours at the main harbor of Oslo, where the Oslo Opera House is located, among other things.

Conclusion of today's day: Despite its relatively manageable size for a capital city, Oslo is very diverse. And thanks to its numerous museums, parks, and street festivals, it will definitely not be boring here!