Late summer travel | Oslo at double speed, another kind of Norway

I have always had a weak impression of Northern Europe. Generally speaking, it’s just about the crazy weather, tall and handsome Nordic people, seafood, unique geographical features, and avant-garde ideas and modern music that I don’t particularly understand. To be honest, when it comes to my favorite Lego, I rarely think of it having anything to do with Northern Europe.

But come on, Denmark, which is not much further north than Germany, really didn’t squeeze into the Nordic countries by enclaves and outlying islands?

I am not particularly good at geography or history, so I rarely read the surrounding information carefully before traveling to a city. With the stereotypes I had heard from hearsay, and the exhaustion of natural landscapes accumulated for ten days, Oslo gave me a head-on blow, reminding me of an important thing: for me, what I love most is still the condensed version of human modernity. A city that keeps pace with the development of civilization and industry.

And this song has nothing to do with Norway and Oslo, it just sounds good to me today.

Thanks to me being an experienced driver with many years of driving experience, I was able to complete a seamless change of guard after my third brother drove continuously for 4 hours, passing through the desolate Rondane National Park, and we arrived in Oslo 2 hours earlier than expected. The front desk where I picked up the keys was two blocks away from the apartment building. I chatted with the girl on duty that she had spent three months as an exchange student at Yunnan University and had been to Beijing. She found Beijing to be an intimidating metropolis. It seems that because others praised my hometown, I was quite proud of it. After registering, I forgot to take the key card. After parking the car, I walked back here and picked up the key again.

The blue city tram shuttles on the road in front of the apartment building. There are rows of old buildings and shops and coffee shops that have opened one by one. It has only been a few days. City life makes me feel really missed. The apartment building was filled with an indescribable smell, like a musty smell injected into the air, and the entire corridor was actively exuding a smell that was not worthy of showing off.

The man who cherished his life immediately opened the reservation website to see if any guests who had left reviews had been troubled by this smell. The manager simply left an explanation: This apartment opened last year used a 19th-century building, and the renovation methods were adopted. Instead of the old paint formula, green wall paint made entirely from plant extracts exudes the smell of industrial raw materials that modern people are unfamiliar with. It must have been the smell that people were most familiar with and excited about during the early industrial era of European construction.

We decided to walk to the city center. This distance is not far or close, but fortunately we can pass through the courtyard of the Oslo Palace, otherwise we would have to go in a long circle. From the map, the apartment area is the embassy district of Oslo, and the Portuguese Embassy is nearby. It is completely different from the heavily guarded embassy district in Beijing. At least the style of the European embassy district that I know is not much different from the ordinary offices in Beijing. In terms of solemnity and luxury, the office in Beijing has even won more than ten awards. grade.

We were not able to successfully find the embassy building of any country from the buildings surrounded by freshly colored green plants. Walking along a slightly downhill road, we soon reached the back entrance of the Oslo Palace Gardens.

This street felt very much like a certain street in the English Garden in Munich. It was a fleeting sense of déjà vu. After the pedestrian crossing light turned green, it quickly disappeared as we ran across the road in a hurry. At 6 o'clock in the evening, the sun was still high in the sky and tilted slightly to the west. It was impossible to capture the golden light in the photo. We dodged swarming bees and children riding mini-bikes on a poorly maintained garden path, feeling the leisurely Oslo people staying in a free park.

We didn’t pay much attention to whether the palace was closed or past opening hours. Our itinerary was always like this. We drove during the day and arrived at night. If we hadn’t taken advantage of the next morning to go sightseeing, we would have basically missed the attractions that were open during the opening hours. Just say goodbye. I have never felt regretful. The scenery along the way is all new. It doesn’t matter who I miss. It doesn’t count. I said it doesn’t count. The third brother, as for the third brother, has long been tired of the magnificence and similar decorations and historical stories inside European buildings. If I tell him with a look that I don’t need to visit this church or that palace, he will definitely be ecstatic.

To be fair, the number of refugees wandering the streets in Oslo is not very impressive. At least we only encountered a girl holding a paper cup from a fast food restaurant and confidently shaking the cup to ask for money. However, there were many of her friends behind her. Compatriots, they seemed to be just wearing ordinary clothes and going out for a walk, looking for money from anyone who looked kind, and forget it if they couldn't. At least I looked up and saw that she didn't even bother to show me a pitiful look.

I wanted to quickly escape from the homeless people who made me feel unsafe on the busy street in front of the palace, so at the end of the small road where Tesla whizzed by, we entered the Theatercafeen opposite the National Gallery of Norway. After a few days of watching Norwegian, I believe this restaurant is called "Cinema Cafe".

The old and elegant decoration in the store is so charming, and the crowded distance between the tables is full of the European-style characteristics. It is definitely a local restaurant. The white thick tablecloth and the clinking goblets at the next table, the polite smile of the waiter and the neat little waistcoat. I have eaten enough pizza and instant noodles among the mountains and rivers of the fjords and glaciers. I deserve to eat more decently. of.

Oslo's huge City Hall Square became an excellent starting point for us to take a walk after dinner. This tall brick-red building looked particularly unreal. It formed a circular fortress with the surrounding short merchants. Rickshaws came from the middle of the square. Walking through, I startled the pigeons trying to find food under the seats of the outdoor restaurant. Tourists look for angles that allow the viewfinder to take in the panoramic view of the building, and smile seriously at the camera.

If I told you that the auditorium in this building is where the Nobel Prize is awarded every year, would you think: "So this is it!"

Behind the City Hall is Aker Pier. Walking along the pedestrian path closest to the sea, the Modern Art Museum at the end has quietly become our secret goal. There is a row of restaurants facing the sea, and each door is crowded with people waiting in line. The sweet-looking ice cream cart is on the other side. There are also many deck chairs facing the sea on this side. They have smooth modern lines. On each chair with different shapes, there are casual people lying on them, admiring the limited-seat Oslo sea view. .

The small bridge of Stranden gives an excellent silhouette angle of Aker Pier. It can be regarded as the sunset that finally arrives, coating the building in front of you with a radiant golden edge. Most of these ten-story high-rise buildings have brown-red exterior walls and sleek metal exterior parts. They are like a high-end and clean version of the ideal London or San Francisco. They were a more perfect realization of the ideals when people built houses in a certain era. Oslo is the oldest capital city in Scandinavia, with a history that can be traced back 1,000 years. But at this moment, as far as I can see, it is undoubtedly a modern city enthusiastically active in 2019, full of vitality and amazing creations. force.

I couldn't help but stop and sit on the circular concrete platform in the middle of the building, looking up at the city sky squeezed by the roof lines. If this clip represents the entire style of Oslo, then I really like Oslo. If Aker Pier is just an experiment in connecting the city to modernity, then I just love this pier, so damn much.

When I turned back to the apartment, I almost went back the way I came. A huge rat ran across the street in front of me. A CM or a TV series was being filmed in front of a retro cinema. I don’t know. The shared bicycles are all electric scooters, and they come in XXL size to accommodate the Nordic people's bodies. We bought hot milk from a coffee shop that was about to close, saw huge fresh salmon pieces in the supermarket for only RMB 80, and bought cherry tomatoes and blueberries. The cashier carefully checked our credit card and passport names and then said to us Good night.

Good night, Oslo.

▶︎ Practical information

🏨Hotel:First Hotel & Suites Oslo West

Reference price for single night in double room: 928 yuan/night

Apartment hotel with excellent location and good facilities. Parking space can be reserved (paid), no breakfast.

The front desk is not in the building. The hotel will contact you after booking to inform you of the check-in location.

🍴Restaurant:THEATERCAFEEN

Style: Western food

Address: Stortingsgata 24-26, near the National Gallery

Price per person: 200-300 yuan/person/excluding drinks

Business hours: Mon-Sat.11:00-23:00 / Sun.15:00-22:00

No reservation required during off-peak hours

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Heating has come to Beijing, and I was embarrassed to type "late summer travel" when writing the title. I can only say that my plans have not kept up with the changes. I have been seriously drawing a comic strip about the gym recently. My skills are average and my abilities are limited, but it’s great to have time to do what I like.

I haven’t written about the last day of self-driving on the Atlantic Road yet. This day should be before Oslo. I will compile the entire Nordic itinerary, although I think this route, to be honest, is not replicable. The two of us coded it by counting the days and stroking the map. Strictly speaking, neither my third brother nor I are travelers who are very good at doing preliminary work, so we are very confused.

In addition, the article has been renamed. Everyone does call me "I know", but even though I know what I know, there is still a lot that I don't know. So for this article that I sparsely maintain, I think it is more appropriate to call me "I don't know." Please don't disqualify it just because a word has been changed. It was originally very confusing.

That's it for the time being. It's getting cold, so please keep warm.