Sophie’s World

National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel blog hosts a series called I Heart My City. Time to show off Oslo a bit, I think. It’s not all about expensive beer, ya know! You’ll find links to many of the sites on the Nat’l Geo blog post.

Fabulous photo of Oslo Opera House by Nebbdyret on flickr

Oslo is My City.

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is Vigeland Park, taking in Gustav Vigeland’s fabulous nudes amidst the scent of 14000 roses.

When I crave coffee, cake and cool jazz, I always go to Bare Jazz, watering hole and well-stocked record shop.

To escape the crowds on a Saturday afternoon, I sit down under a tree by medieval Akershus Fortress and watch life as it passes by.

If I want to have a beer and people watch, I go to Aker Brygge.

For complete quiet, I can hide away in the Nordmarka Forest, 20 minutes by tram from the city center. Except on Sundays, when everyone else is doing the same.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken next to the Angry Little Boy.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Grand Café it has to be a huge open shrimp sandwich.

Nomaden is my one-stop shop for everything travel-related, from books to bug spray.

When I’m feeling cash-strapped I go to Fru Hagen Café in the lively Grunerløkka district

For a huge splurge I go to Bagatelle, for its emphasis on local products and modern cooking (and two Michelin stars).

Photo ops in my city include the new Oslo Opera House and the best vantage point is the roof.

If my city were a celebrity it’d be Alfred Nobel of Nobel Prize fame, prosperous and peace-loving.

Considering it’s the world’s most expensive city, the most unexpected thing about my city is the wide range of inexpensive/free activities on offer.

My city has the most tall, blond, athletic men.

My city has the most tall, blond, athletic women.

In Oslo, an active day outdoors involves a long hike in the forest surrounding the city – or sailing on the fjord.

My city’s best museum is the Natural History Museum, where you can meet Ida, the oldest primate fossil ever found. 47 million years old, she’s our oldest relative.

My favorite jogging/walking route is around Bogstad lake.

For a night of live music - heavy metal or jazz - check out Blå.

Onkel Donald is the spot for late-night eats.

To find out what’s going on at night and on the weekends, read visitoslo.com

You can tell a lot about my city by watching people metamorphose with the arrival of spring.

You can tell if someone is from my city if they claim they were born with skis on their feet. They were!

In the spring you should watch the Russ (high school seniors) dressed in red and acting naughty, livening up the city (way too much for some people’s tastes.)

In the summer you should island hop in the Oslo fjord, stopping at Hovedøya to swim and explore medieval monastery ruins.

In the fall you should wade through the rustling leaves and chestnuts along Karl Johan, Oslo’s bustling main street.

In the winter you should rent a pair of skates and dance at Narvisen skating rink in the city center.

A hidden gem in Oslo is Huk beach, where you can wear a swimsuit if you want. Or not.

For a great breakfast joint try any branch of BIT, where you get free croissants with coffee before 10 o’clock.

Don’t miss 17 May – Norwegian national day, when all the schools parade along the streets and the royal family waves for hours from the palace balcony.

Just outside Oslo, a mere 30 minutes away, you can visit river city Drammen, where you can climb Kjøsterudjuvet Canyon or sit on a fountain at Bragernes Square and munch strawberries. Cross pedestrian bridge Ypsilon and listen to the River Harp, a cool sound sculpture reflecting variations in water flow and bridge oscillations.

The best way to see Oslo is on foot.

If my city were a pet it would be a cat, stretching lazily in spring after a long winter nap.

If I didn’t live in a city, I’d live near a glacier by the ocean.

The best book about Oslo is Knut Hamsun’s Hunger.

When I think about my city, the song that comes to mind is Fairytale by Alexander Rybak, combining traditional Norwegian folk music and modern pop (and winner of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.)

If you have kids, you won’t want to miss Bygdøy with Viking ships, Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki raft and the Polar ship Fram, used by Roald Amundsen for the 1911 race to the South Pole. He won!

Allemannsretten could only happen here; meaning that anyone has access to uncultivated land, including mountains, forests and beaches – regardless of ownership.

My city should be featured on your cover/site because it’s home of the Nobel Peace Prize, recently famous for being somewhat controversially awarded to Barack Obama.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that UNESCO was deciding which new properties to add to its World Heritage List and would Moldova’s Orheiul Vechi be amongst them? It wasn’t. It might not have been nominated this time. Orheiul Vechi is still on the Tentative List, though. Next time, perhaps?

13 new properties were added this time, nicely spread out in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa.

2 of the 13 were natural sites: the Dolomites in Italy and the Wadden See in Germany/The Netherlands. The remaining 11 - in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Peru, Iran, China, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde - were cultural.

Selection is based on a list of 10 criteria; at least one of which must be met. I like the first criterion: to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. I expect there’s a political side to this as well. Ideally, one would want the World Heritage List to cover sites around the whole world; every country represented, even. At least, I’m happy to see new countries added to the list – this time Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan. This will most likely mean more tourism (sustainable, one hopes) to countries that need the income.

The one in the UK is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal in Northern Wales; a construction marvel by famous Industrial Age engineer Thomas Telford. Yey Wales! Last summer, we became well acquainted with several of Telford’s constructions, both in Northern Wales and in England.

I’m also glad to see UNESCO taking seriously the demands they put on countries: During this session of the World Heritage Committee, 3 sites were put on the Danger List – in Colombia, Belize and Georgia; meaning those countries had better shape up or the sites will be removed from the list. For the second time in history, one site was delisted.

I would think having a site removed from the World Heritage List would be at least slightly humiliating for a country. Which is why I’m surprised Germany would let that happen to Dresden’s Elbe Valley. The Waldschlösschenbrücke, a four-lane bridge, is being constructed in the middle of the landscape, the Loreleytal. If only they had a Telford bridge.

Why it’s called the Loreleytal, I have no idea. The Loreley (or Lorelei) Rock is in the river Rhine, not the Elbe. Know the poem Die Loreley by Heinrich Heine? It’s about a maiden who lures river captains to their death by her beautiful singing. My mum used to sing it to my brother and me all the time. I knew it by heart long before I could actually speak German. All 6 verses. But I digress.

German newspaper Spiegel calls the removal of Dresden’s Elbe Valley from the WHL a disgrace – eine Blamage für Deutschland. Bundesbauminister Wolfgang Tiefensee, the Federal Minister (or Secretary for you Americans) of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs, even calls it a “Black day for Dresden and for Germany as a cultural nation”.

Well, the decision didn’t come as shock. UNESCO raised the issue several years ago and has reiterated it every year. They could have built a tunnel instead of a bridge. Is it perhaps simply a case of weighing the financial pros and cons? Building the bridge means more to the (local) economy than preserving a WHL site? Or is it political prestige or stubbornness?

Whatever the reason, it’s sad.

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