Somewhere in the Middle: Trolls + Fjords = Norway

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In previous years, C & I usually spend about 6 weeks out of the summer visiting our family in the US. We always have an amazing time... hot sunny days, playing in the pool everyday, shopping, visiting friends & family. I really missed not going this year but since this may be our last summer in Belgium I thought it'd be nice to do a little traveling here in Europe. But where?

S didn't want to go somewhere hot & I wanted to avoid super crowed tourist areas. And August is notorious for being the one month where Europeans close shop and travel to their hearts content. So I logged onto Ryan Air and searched for the cheapest flights... Norway 15 Euros RT, hmm? We've never traveled to any of the Scandanavian countries & I've always wanted to see the Fjords. Plus the weather in August is supposed to be the best. But for some reason planning a trip to Norway seem a bit overwhelming. When I shared my feelings with S he said, "Why don't we stay in Belgium and we'll do day trips." Yeah, right. lol! We have a tough time getting out of the house before 12pm unless we have a plane to catch! Day trips? Yeah, that's not going to happen. So I got to work, booked the flights to Oslo and began my research. Luckily, I knew two other families going to Norway so they both shared valuable information with me. In less than 2 weeks we arrived in Oslo.

Oslo is a gorgeous city. I absolutely LOOOVVVED it!! So much to see & do. And the weather was perfect. We took it pretty easy on our first day.

After checking into our hotel we ate lunch. Norway has a reputation for being one of the most expensive countries in the world. In 2010, Oslo was rated as the 2nd most expensive city in the world. So I prepared myself.

As we looked over the menu at the Italian restaurant (think a small scale Macaroni Grill), S looked at the prices and said, "these prices aren't that bad." "Really?" I said. So we ordered... we had two appetizers, S had a salad and C & I shared a pizza, and three sodas. Now I'm good with converting Euro into dollars but as soon as we start using different currency it takes me a while to get used to the different rates. Being that S is a math/science whiz I let him do all the Kroner calculations. Little did I know he was using the wrong currency rate! lol! Which explains why he thought things weren't that expensive. So instead of our lunch costing around $50 it was about $100! And the ice cream cones S thought were $3 were really $8! lol! I don't even want to mention how much soda was! Needless to say, I ate pretty healthy in Norway and stayed away from soda & ice cream! lol!

C loved all the street performers dressed in gold & bronze. He wanted to take photos with all of them.

We spent the first part of our morning at the National Gallery to see Edvard Munch's The Scream. Afterward, we visited the Munch museum which was really interesting. We normally don't do too many art museums with C since they can be a bit boring for him. But the Munch museum was completely different.

They gave C a little card with stickers of Edvard Munch's art work. Instead of the stickers being an exact replica of the art piece they were close up images of a tiny section of the art work. So finding all the stickers was challenging but fun for all of us. It encouraged you to really evaluate & appreciate Munch's art.

After enjoying a snack at the museum we took a bus to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. This park is a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

C enjoyed playing at the park and I loved admiring all the sculptures.

The Vigeland Park is actually the largest sculpture park made by one single artist. You'll find more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. By far my favorite pieces by Vigeland were the wrought iron gates.