Oslo...oh the strange things you can see!

even the visiting spaceships get graffitied
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Now I have the pleasure to tell you about one of my favorite countries, Norway.  Norway in the springtime is a magical place, bursting with flowers and a joyful energy that makes us happy to be alive!  Ah, so beautiful.

So the trip started out in Oslo.  Ok, not one of my favorite cities, but it was fine to wander about and get stuff done (necessity shopping, internet, etc.).  I found free internet at a young person's tourist info agency, so I did visit them a lot :)  They were really nice and didn't mind me hogging up one of their computers. The TI folks had printed out a homemade Tram Guide for me, i.e. take Tram 12 and here's this, and here's that, with some history and culture, which was interesting.

lots of old wooden ships to gawk at
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At one point on the tram tour I saw the big sculpture park and just hopped out and decided to wander about.   It was starting to get a bit darker, around 10pm, and the park was practically filled with folks hanging out drinking.  The sculputes were interesting to check out, all about human relationships at various stages of life.  And when some guys started yelling at me aggressively to come talk to them (they didn't take well to being ignored), I yelled at them in some made-up language, and that seemed to work well. :)

city hall...but I was more impressed with the flowers. ;)
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It was interesting were the strange things you see on the tram!  Like a guy all dressed up in an old-time costume with a huge bass drum attached to him, a guy who was standing at a bar and turned around, saw the tram, and just decided to wander in -- full GLASS of beer and all!  Also, I've noticed this elsewhere too, but it's strange that tram and bus drivers switch at random stops.  A little stop in the middle of nowhere, and the driver gets out and another one gets in.  Lots of odd things like that where you think "hmmmm."  As you can tell, just riding the tram was an experience in itself.

the fortress in the background
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I also took a boat to the Viking Museum island, and wandered around the fortress, open markets and various other places.  So Oslo was fine for a couple of days but I wouldn't want to live there. The hostel was weird and not so nice, and sadly had gotten the least-bad of the hostel reviews for Oslo.  I would have hated to stay in the one that got the worst reviews!

But I did meet some really cool roommates from North Dakota.  It was an older guy Roy (~70) travelling with his two daughters, although only Jody was there and the other daughter Annette was to meet them soon.  They were so nice and so much fun.  Our other roommate, a graduate student from Britain, had unfortunately had her wallet stolen right out of her cart in the supermarket just as I arrived.  How frustrating.  We all tried to help and Roy and Jody had sneakily left them some money and food when they left early in the morning.  She did get money wired to her, and the thieves had not gotten her passport, so all was not lost.

sea...glorious sea...
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The next day it was off to Flam...