#63 Oslo, Norway

And this concludes my visit to the 4 big cities of Scandinavia - Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo (sorry for ignoring Iceland - it's too far!).

Oslo was the most expensive out of all of them - food is ridiculously priced! Although the museum prices were okay (about 50nok for students anyway) and a one day travel card only cost 80nok, and there are lots of free things to do too. In general, there isn't a huge amount to do and because it's so expensive I would probably recommend only staying a day or two.


I think the first thing that you notice in Oslo are the skyscrapers. There none in central Stockholm or Copenhagen, and it made a change - it feels like a modern city. Also, it's almost surrounded by wooded hills with houses, which is again different to the other cities.

Shiny!

Ooooh!

The main attractions include the Opera House, which is very close to the central station. I heard there was a great view from the roof, but I didn't realise that you actually walk on the roof. . .it's a great building, although the view isn't that great.

Look!

Casually walking on the roof!

Other attractions include the National gallery which houses the famous Scream painting by Munch (but this was closed for a week from the day we arrived - so unfortunate!), the Nobel Peace Museum (the other Nobel prizes are in Stockholm though) and the Ice Bar.

Then there is Carl Johans Gate which is the main shopping and restaurant street, and that leads up to the Royal Palace. The street is nice, it has a mix of high end stores like Chanel as well as everyday favourites like H&M. The Palace isn't very pretty, but it's worth seeing.

 Carl Johans Gate

The Royal Palace

We managed to see the changing of the guard!

One of the main highlights of Oslo is the Vigeland Sculpture park. It's about 20mins walk from the city centre, but it is really worth it. I am not interested in art, but this was very pretty and really interesting (and some of them were funny).

On closer inspection, the pillar is a mass of bodies. . .

 And here are just some pictures of around the city:

Nice street

Nice fountain

Norwegian Parliament

National Gallery

So Olso was nice, it wasn't fantastic but it was a nice city and I had an enjoyable time there, and would recommend a visit. If I had to pick a favourite out of the four cities, I would probably say Copenhagen, then Stockholm, then Oslo, then Helsinki (although I only spent a few hours in Helsinki, so maybe I didn't see enough to like it!).

#62 Abba The Museum

The facts: I went on a Saturday afternoon, and I was told to come back at an allotted time about 2 hours later - which is pretty good since it has only opened.
It costs 200kr, which is pretty expensive.
It's not very big- the rooms are packed with different things to see and take in - and unfortunately they are packed with people too. So I think they could have spread it out a lot more.
The Swedish Hall of Fame is small and disappointing.

 The phone didn't ring :(

 Nice costumes

 The recording studio

 The "Become a 5th member" hologram

 This quote on a wall near the end of the museum made me sad

 A wall of their releases

And a wall of all their awards

So, the "Become the 5th Member of Abba" hologram thing was pretty disappointing. The holograms are very cartoon-y, I had really expected it to be more realistic. Nevertheless your video is recorded online, so you can go back and download it and keep it forever! There is also the karaoke booths, a quiz with different difficulty levels, a music mixer thing, a video that puts you in the video for dancing queen (although it doesn't look quite right), a thing that takes a picture of your face and then puts it on a cartoon Abba member - and then you can dance as them. There is also a disco room blaring Dancing Queen for those who feel they want to dance (no one did). They had lots of pictures and quotes from songs and tvs playing their songs and stuff all over the museum, and basically anything about Abba you ever wanted to know.

Swedish Music Hall Of Fame

This was pretty much the room

The Swedish hall of fame was disappointing - there are so many famous songs that have been written or produced by Swedes and they barely got a mention in a list on a wall. . .They really could have done a lot with this museum, and I feel it was just shoved onto the side of the Abba Museum to fill in space. They have different rooms with some information and samples of songs that were popular from the 1920s to today. It was nice but it could have been a lot better.

Just to point out that I am not a big Abba fan, I just know the singles like Dancing Queen etc etc. The museum provides a lot of background about each member, how the band started, the stories behind some of their songs, their recording equipment, outfits, albums, awards etc. There is also the interactive things like the karaoke, quiz, dancing, music mixer etc which are fun. There is really a lot, but it is all very close together, and I think they could have made it bigger and easier to see at a more comfortable pace.

If you're an Abba fan you simply have to go, but if you're not it's still interesting and I would recommend it!

#61 Gröna Lund - Stockholms Amusement Park!

Last week, everyone's favourite place in Stockholm - Gröna Lund, opened its doors for the summer! This amusement park is located in the middle of Stockholm, on the edge of the island of Djurgarden. My favourite thing about Gröna Lund is that all the roller coasters give you not only a heart attack, but a fantastic view of Stockholm!!

{I didn't have my camera with me, so I will return this week and update this post asap with some fantastic pictures!}


I bought the Green Card for 220kr, which gives me free entrance, but no rides. However, it also gives me free entrance to all the concerts they have on during the summer. Most of the acts are Swedish and I don't know them, but there are a few big names like Fun, Kesha, Tenacious D, Slayer and Loreen.

On Saturday I went to see American band Fun, which was, well, fun! We also got the daypass, so we went on as many rides as we could until we were sick (for me, this was unfortunately literally!). Most of the lines were about 15 to 20mins which was fine, and then after the concert at about 9pm the lines were only 5 minutes long, which was fantastic! The park doesn't close until 11pm, so I would definitely recommend sticking around until closing when there are very short lines.

The roller coasters give a great view of Stockholm, even if it might be a little difficult to appreciate when you are being hurdled upside down at breakneck speed! Some of the rides also extend out over the water which is super cool too!
My favourites were Insane (the white and purple one), Twister (the wooden one), Jetline (the big blue one), and Kvasten (the red one). I didn't try the free fall ones because they make me really sick afterwards, but there's 3 of them and they're popular! There's also the new ride Eclipse, the worlds highest star flyer! It swings you around Stockholm and gives you the best view, but there are also usually lines of about an hour.

"Insane" rollercoaster

 Eclipse starflyer

 Jetline (blue) and Vilda Musen (purple) intertwine throughout the park

 Kvasten taking off

 The drop in Twister, it looks okay but it's steep!

Some of the extra play-to-win games

Some of the rides include: rollercoasters, waltzers, tunnel of love, bumper cars, sudden drop rides, kiddies rides (mini rollercoasters, spinning tea cups, carousel etc) ghost trains, and then lots of stalls were you have to shoot in the circle or something and you win a teddy bear, or a giant box of chocolate (but these all cost extra, between 15kr for one try and 100kr for a few).

Ticket info: Entrance to the park costs 100kr, and it is 310kr for a day pass for all the amusements (so 410kr total). Most of the rides cost about 60kr, so it could be cheaper to just buy some 20kr coupons, depending on what you want to go on. Other options include a Green Card for 220kr for free entrance all summer (no rides, but includes entrance to the concerts). You can only get tickets online if you have a nordic credit card, so your best option is the ticket office outside the park.
The park is located on Djurgarden, get the ferry from Slussen or the tram from Sergels Torg.

The park at night, as seen from the ferry

#60 Absolut Spirit Museum Stockholm

A museum about vodka you say? Well, not exactly. The Absolut sponsored museum features some artworks and paintings  that show the Absolut bottle, some insightful poems about alcohol, and a few interactive type exhibits. It is quite small and does not include any free shots, but it's not bad.

Andy Warhol artwork

This was cool

 Very random feature 

 Alcohol trees?

There were some. . .poems? I'm not sure if that's what they were, but anyway they made some interesting comments on alcohol use. There were also things that you could spray to give you the smell of things used in alcohol such as elderflower or liquorice which was fun!

They also had a button you could press which showed how alcohol was made, and a "hangover room" which was disappointing - you enter a little room that looks like a bedroom or something, lights flicker, and you listen to someone complaining they have a headache and call in sick to work.

The alcohol thing

The Hangover Room

There was a video room where you could lie down and watch as someone went from being sober to really drunk, which was nice. Also, there was a temporary exhibition on liquorice, but since I hate the smell and taste I didn't spend much time in there. 

So for 100kr this museum probably isn't the best value, and if you only have a limited time (or budget) I would recommend you visit somewhere else. But it is quite interesting, and it fills in some time if you want! It is located on Djurgarden, beside the Vasa museum.

#59 Valborg i Uppsala (or a Swedish festival)

Walpurgis Night (aka Walpurgisnacht, or Valborg in Swedish) is a celebration at the end of April in some European countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. It marks 6 months from All-Hallows Eve and is usually celebrated with bonfires etc. In Sweden, it is celebrated most in the college towns of Lund in Southern Sweden, and Uppsala which is only an hour north of Stockholm.

So I went to Uppsala to see what the craze was about! The weather was pretty bad, it was very windy and although there were patches of blue skies, it rained heavily twice, which really put a damper on the festival atmosphere. Traditionally, students would engage in strawberry eating and champagne showers in the halls of the college, but now it is more or less like any other festival with young people - lots of alcohol!

 Marching band

 The streets lined with people!

To enter most of the parties, you needed a Nation card (Nations are basically like American fraternity houses) which we didn't have. We walked by some of these parties (at 3pm in the day) and they looked wild, but there were lots of people having fun outside too. 

This one was pretty crazy

One of the traditions we saw is the waving of the sailor hats you earn on graduation from the Carolina Redviva buidling. They had a big countdown timer, and a huge crowd gathered when it hit zero - but it was terribly disappointing! All they did was wave hats from the balcony for a few seconds - everyone cheered, and then it was kind of awkward. . .maybe it is something you have to be Swedish to enjoy?

 Hat waving time!

There was a huge party in the Economics park, it was basically young people everywhere sitting on rugs and drinking and having picnics. It was a pity the weather wasn't so nice, but people were still having a lot of fun. People had brought big speakers with them, so you could hear different music as you walked around the park. The only bad thing was how dirty it got - the place was disgusting by the time it hit 6pm! There were lots of police around checking nothing got too crazy, and also looking after the drunk people too which was nice. 

 Check out the party!

 What a mess...

My biggest surprise about Uppsala was that there was no bonfire! I thought it was a big part of the celebrations, but there was none in central Uppsala which was disappointing. Luckily some of my neighbours had built a small one right outside my house, so I still got to experience it when I got home!

Mini bonfire!