It rained the whole drive up to Oslo, and since we had planned on camping, we were weary of the circumstances. We even put another campsite which offered cabins into our GPS. Right as we entered the vicinity of Oslo, the sky opened and the sun peaked through so we decided we could pitch a tent. We went to the original campsite which was Ekeberg camping and were able to set up our tent right before it started to rain again. Regardless of the dry fluke in the weather, this was far from comfort, but when looking at the price tags of hotels in Oslo, the campsite which was far from cheap for a campsite seemed like the only affordable option. Soon enough we were headed to Oslo on a city bus. It was only about 15 minutes by bus and then we were free to sight-see. After unwillingly paying close to 10 Euros each for a sandwich at 7-11 we went to look at the palace and City Hall including the room in which the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place.

I was surprised to see that the building along with the statues around it reminded me of Russia and its towering communist structures and massive statues depicting people hard at work.
Afterwords we went shopping again since Hendrik’s shoes were completely soaked from putting up a tent. They were also old and worn and we had planned on going hiking. So he bought himself shoes that could withstand the wet. Clothing was not more expensive than it is in Belgium, but finding food which wasn’t going to be more painful to eat than not to eat even though our stomachs were rumbling because of the price was a challenge. Now this challenge awaited us and we had to find somewhere to eat that wouldn’t bankrupt us. It was about 3 times as much we would pay in Belgium and 5 times as much as the US. We were able to connect to the internet on an unsecured network and looked up the “best deal” restaurants in Oslo on TripAdvisor. The first one was hardly a deal let alone even appropriate price and the second was a real Chinese restaurant, and we prefer the westernized ones. Near it there was a kebab/pizza shop which was relatively decent priced. We both ordered a pizza and it turned out that the pizzas were huge, we both had half left for lunch the next day.
Afterwords, we wandered around some more and visited the opera house. Oslo was definitely trying to revitalize its harbor, but if they want to succeed in having a Sydney-like harbor they need to get rid of the massive highway that pretty much encircles the opera house. The only way to access it is by pedestrian bypasses over the streets. The Opera House itself is amazing and more impressive than Sydney’s. It stuck out on the harbor like a beacon of light reflecting in the water. The whole thing was encompassed with a relatively flat roof so you could walk all the way to the roof for views of Oslo. People just hung out at the top playing cards and socializing. The inside was pretty neat too. It was very modern and the design did not disappoint.