Oslo
Upon our arrival in Oslo, we meet up with our first Servas host. Else and Karsten live in the heart of Oslo near Vigeland Sculpture Park with the sculptures and monolith by Gustav Vigeland. We stayed up very late learning about Norway, describing Texas, and discussing a mutual love of Spain. Else and Karsten were amazingly hospitable and our first Servas experience was great.
We got a good feel for Oslo during a busy day of touring the city. There was a thought-provoking climate change exhibit in the Nobel Peace center. Between that and the gorgeous nature photos by Steve Bloom (stevebloom.com) displayed in the area, Lauren and I were about ready to join Greenpeace and sail off to put the ice caps back together piece by piece.
Due to intervention from the travel gods, we had to abridge our stay in Oslo by a day. We caught the overnight train to Stockholm, Sweden that evening and got to our hostel at the crack of dawn. Needless to say this “Venice of the North” was impressive enough to cure our drowsiness, and we left to trek around our second Scandinavian capital city. We stayed on a small island in the middle of the city called Gamla Stan, or Old Town. Small pedestrian streets criss-cross the island and cars are found only on the parameter. The greater Stockholm area is littered with palaces, museums, parks, statues, and more islands. Never mind the nasty weather, Stockholm got us very excited about being in Sweden.
Tags: Travel
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