After Helsinki, we arrived in Oslo, Norway and spent a few days there.
This included a walking tour (like always), many delicious meals (Oslo Street Food Market, Café Cathedral, Girotondo Pizza, Taverna’n), and 10,000+ steps every day.
After spending time in Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, I see how similar and homogenous Scandinavia is, largely due to close proximity and politics over the centuries. This trip reminded me how much I love the cleanliness, eco-consciousness, safety, and minimal design of Northern Europe (although, I haven’t missed how expensive things are here).
While these countries have similar characteristics (like eating reindeer meat and lingonberries and having similar flags) there are of course things that make each city unique.
For example:
- The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every fall at Oslo’s City Hall.
- Oslo is called Tiger City and there is a tiger status at the central station, because the popular Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote about a fight between a horse (representing the safe countryside) and a tiger (meaning the exciting and happening city).
- To thank England for their support during World War II, Oslo gifts London a Norwegian Spruce Christmas Tree that gets put up in Trafalgar Square each year. Fun fact: Brev and I were able to see this tree on our Christmas trip to London this year.
- Freia Chocolate (1920) is Norway’s most popular chocolate brand, known for their milk chocolate (Melkesjokolade). Their tagline is, “A little piece of Norway.” We went to their store in Oslo and thought their chocolate was delicious (although we’ve never met a chocolate we didn’t like). 😉 We also saw Freia’s electric illuminated advertising sign in Oslo, which was the first of its kind in the city when it was put up on Christmas Eve 1909.
The Jo Show 