Pretty in winter with bags of culture and history. (Oslo)

Member Name: Vandersar

Product:	Oslo
Date:	30/08/09 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Museums, art, history, weird stuff.

Disadvantages: World's most expensive city.

One of my most interesting, and ultimately rewarding, weekend breaks was to Oslo the Capital City of Norway. My girlfriend booked us tickets a few years back as I'd become really interested in the paintings of Edvard Munch and wanted to see the museum in his home town of Oslo.

It's not often a holiday is ruined by international criminals before it starts; unfortunately this was what happened to us. Weeks after booking the tickets some international art thieves stole the world-famous 'Scream' picture as well as another of his more famous works. Obviously we were slightly miffed that one of our Christmas break's main attractions had been made less attractive but the tickets were already booked. Thankfully the paintings have been recovered and can now be seen, under heavy security, in the Munch museum in Oslo. Munch is a really unique artist and his museum is well worth a look for anyone with artistic interests.

On arrival in Oslo, I was slightly annoyed to then find out I'd been tricked by my girlfriend: we weren't exactly in Oslo. We'd actually flown to Oslo Torp: A few rusty sheds stuck next to a runway in the middle of nowhere. At this point, I'd like to stress that there is an airport actually in Oslo, but Torp is the equivalent of flying to an airport called London Norwich. Be careful before you book.

'Never mind' I thought, a quick train journey and we'll be in the hotel....Not so. We'd rented a car: or to be more precise, a wreck. I seemed to remember agreeing to a little driving but alarm bells should have rung when the company we got the car from was the uniquely-named 'Rent a wreck'. Half an hour later we were driving down the motorway in a blizzard surrounded by hills of snow in a 1994 Ford Fiesta.

Thankfully we arrived unscathed and booked into the Thon Hotel Munch in the centre of Oslo. The city is beautiful in winter but so cold so be sure to take lots of thick clothes and above all gloves. The temperatures dropped to -15 on our first night and I really didn't know whether my hands were still there after an evening walk.

Our walk actually took us to the beautiful Vigeland sculpture park (it's free) with lots of weird and wonderful creations by another Norwegian artist called Gustav Vigeland. These include a 14 metre high tower made up of intertwined humans, many variations on family life and my personal favourite: an angry, stomping baby.

The following morning we went into the centre and to the Munch museum. The metro was simple, cheap and easy to navigate. This is the only time I'll use the word cheap in this review however. Oslo is a very expensive city and you will certainly pay more for meals and any other shopping you undertake. We paid almost £30 for Pasta and some drinks in one pub; thankfully we'd bought a lot of food with us the previous night so this was a one-off. If youre going on a longer trip, you either need to be minted or be able to get out of the city to one of the cheaper suburbs as Oslo was recently voted the world's most expensive city.

The city centre is very pretty with street entertainers and a good range of shops on the main road Karl Johan gate. Again, expect to pay more than you would in England for most things; although a part of the city called Gronland has cheaper shops run by immigrants which can do better deals on food, clothes and jewellery.

The harbour is quite busy but there is the viking ship museum and other naval-related attractions there. Perhaps the biggest surprise I got was the Children Art Museum which has hundreds of creations by children around the world. This was advertised as 'seeing the world through the eyes of a child' and I was really impressed by the variation and quality of the work.

After a good night's sleep, we woke on Sunday and scraped 8 inches of snow off our wreck before driving back to Torp. As a weekend we fitted loads of cultural stuff in but Oslo is a modern city as well with lots to offer all kind of tourist. An excellent weekend break but beware the airport you choose and take lots of spending money if you want to shop or eat out.

Summary: Worth it but your wallet will suffer.