My weekend in Oslo

Went to Oslo for the weekend two weeks ago but was too busy with work to actually blog about it!

All I can say is that I learnt two lessons from the Oslo weekend:

1) Never complain about London's weather because it's absolutely freezing cold in Oslo! It's so cold that I can feel it in my bones even with 4 layers of clothing!! I shudder to think about it because the guy at the custom actually told me that this year, it has been a mild winter. Usually, at this time it's snowing heavily in Oslo!! (Though Billy was extremely disappointed that it wasn't snowing heavily!! He wanted to see snow everywhere...)

2) Never complain about prices in London. I thought it was going to be a cheap weekend because we got cheap flights and hostels BUT I was so wrong. Apparently, Oslo is the most expensive city in the world (excluding rent) according to this UBS report. Sigh, a meal in a decent restaurant costs about £40. And I thought London was expensive enough.

Anyway, enough about my complaints. I still had loads of fun - sometimes it's the company that counts! :)

Here's a recap of the the weekend in photos:

Sunset at Oslo. When we finally made it to the city centre it was time for sunset already! Yes, the sun sets at about 2-3pm in Oslo!

Oslo's one and only one outdoor skating ring with music at Karl Johans gate. Surprisingly, they were playing English pop and Christmas songs.

Activities such as skiing, ice-skating and tobogganing are Norway's national sports. We couldn't resist and so joined in the fun. The ice-skating was definitely the highlight of the trip. Since yours truly is not very good at skating, couldn't take any pictures while skating.

Kar Teck with his wannabe ice-skater ballerina pose. Hehee..

Night view at the main shopping street, Karl Johans Gate. Hehe... not really night actually. It's only about 5pm. Christmas is quite big here in Oslo so they have lots of Christmas decorations around the city centre. Think it's better than what we get on Regent Street :P

The Norwegian Folk Museum - we went there all the way just for the Christmas market but apparently the market ended last weekend! Should have gone for the Nobel Peace Centre instead. That's where the Nobel Peace Prize is given out!

The Viking Museum where there's loads of Viking ships. Vikings to Scandinavian countries are like Eiffel Tower to Paris so it's one of the must-see museum in Oslo! The above ship is the Gokstad Viking Ship, which was supposed to be a burial chamber for the Queen. Eeeee... that means it's a coffin!! Aaarrgggh...

The 4 lost "gu hua zai" in Oslo

Yipee... we finally saw snow on the second day! A picture to commenmorate the occassion! :)

And a group picture together for the snow - or should I say frost... heeheehee... it was still freezing cold though!!

And finally, the elusive Christmas market that we've been searching high and low for!! Looks quite pathetic compared to those I've been to in Austria. But I guess we're all too cold and hungry to care.

Well.. now that I've been to Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo I can say that I've had enough of Scandinavian countries. Next stop.... Hong Kong! :)