Entering Oslo...it’s about the opera house!

The ship is so fun! Totally like a mini cruise ship! As we begin to enter the Oslo fjord, there’s a spot called Dronak that is of great significance to Norwegian WWII history. As the Germans were trying to sneak their warship ‘Blucher’ up the fjord, the Norweigan fortress saw them. Norway wasn’t officially at war with Germany, so they had to decide quickly whether they should fire ot not. Well, they did, and sunk the ship! This gave the Norwegian King and Queen and parliment time to escape and to set up an exile government in London during the Nazi occupation of Norway(1940-1945). Here’s a part of the fort

The fjord is beautiful, with fishing villages 

And, eventually, Oslo!

We disembark, and immediately head to the opera building, which was only built in 2008 but totally dominates this area of the harbor. 

  It’s built to look like a floating iceburg, totally out of Carrara marble! Here’s more iceburg-y angles!

In front of the opera house is a floating art exhibit. It’s anchored to the bottom of the harbor, and is meant as a warning...if we (the workd) allows global warming to continue, the remnants of iceburgs may just float right into the Oslo harbor!

We walked all over the top of the opera house. Even the surface is tectured like ice! At the top, Ulf had a close encounter!

Inside, it’s quite a contrast. One wall continues the ice theme, with a wall (by a Danish designer, of course) designed to resemble the light of an iceburg 


And the main part of the auditorium in oak slats that make this a very acoustically quiet room! 


Dunking into the first restroom I find...I never cease to be amazed at all the differences I find!

We follow our guide to the city hall, were we see the place where the Nobel Peace Prize is given each year on Dec 10th! 

Here’s the stairs they come down! 

We were initially confused, as we thought that was in the city hall of Stockholm...until we learned/remembered that all the Nobel prizes EXCEPT the one for peace is in Stockholm. Mr. Nobel said he wanted the Peace Prize to be awarded here...nobody knows why...but here we are! 

And after the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, a grand ball is held here at the Grand Hotel, right next to the Parliment building. Our hotel is about 1/2 block away. 

As we continue, we see a Norway experiment..a self driving bus ! It’s between the large cruise terminal and the city. If it’s successful, they’ll use them in the city, too!

Here’s the Parliment building. They have a similar system to other Nordic countries, where the parties muat form a consensus in order to pass legislation. I’m thinking we’ll learn more in the next few days!


Finally, we reach our very nice hotel, and are now having a cup of afternoon coffee to fuel up for our free time and tour later!