Weekend in Oslo June 2006

First night in Oslo | 23 Jun 2006

After a smooth flight into Oslo (taking in the gorgeous scenery when flying over Norway) we boarded the coach to take us into oslo (we had flown with ryan air to the torp airport....coach tickets were 210 NK student return). Once in Oslo we had to find out way to our hostel. Oslo was not quite like I expected, knowing that it was one of the most expensive cities in europe i expected the city to be pristine, elegant and pretty, but the city centre where the train/bus station is seemed quite industrial (There were no factories etc but the buildings seemed to be in that style). After a bit of wandering round and walking in circles we managed to find the main street in Oslo (karl johansgate). We were staying in a hostel called Sentrum Pensjonat, which was on one of the roads off karl johansgate. It took us a little while to find as the sign for it is pretty small. It's located in whats known as the red light district, but its nowhere near as bad as it sounds. There were admittedly a few prostitutes a little further down the road, but they were pretty inconspicuous and we didn't even notice them until we went out the next night. the hostel itself was excellent. For £22 each per night we had a big 4 bed room, with our own tv, dvd player and fridge and there was also a sofa and table in there (plenty of room) and we had breakfast included in the price. We were sharing a bathroom, but this was never much of a problem as it was never busy and I have to admit the showers were some of the nicest that i've ever come across in a hostel!

Unfortunately the hostel seemed to be the only thing in Oslo that was reasonably priced. On our first night we went in search of food, being tired and not wanting to spend £70 on a meal in a restaurant we just went into the nearest 7eleven (equivalent of a spa in england) to get something quick and easy to eat. We got a bit of a shock when a miniscule amount of chicken curry and rice (seriously small) and a small bottle of water came to over £12! We also got a bit of a shock when we found out that they stop selling alchol between 3 and 6pm every day - this is in an effort to stop people drinking - thankfully we had brought a small amount of alcohol with us for the first night.

After our rather expensive snacks we went back to the hostel to get ready to go out for a few drinks. On the way back we noticed the vast number of people dealing drugs on the street. They do it so publicly and the police don's seem to bat an eyelid. Its so bizarre we saw people dealing right next to bouncers and policemen, everyone just seems to accept it. A lot of the people we saw in Oslo during out trip seemed to be stoned. It appears that their government might have reduced drinking, but its all transferred from alcohol to a much bigger problem drugs. If you've been to Oslo then you'll know what I mean!

After a couple of vodkas and drinking games we left the hostel and went for a wander up karl johansgate. There were a few nice bars/pubs here so we found one where we could sit down and went to order drinks. This was our first experience with oslo drinks prices. If you consider that in england you can get a decent pint for £2 or so then you will understand our shock when we found out that most beers were in the region of £8-9, and the cheapest (low quality) beer was still £6! Spirits were £8 for one unit not including mixers! We were in disbelief, but we bought out pint and went and sat outside to watch the Oslo world go by.

Locations Visited: Liverpool, Oslo

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