Touristy stuff in Oslo

So after a late night out in Oslo after the first semi final I had an exceptionally lazy day yesterday (Wednesday) I did very little during the day but sleep in, write eurovision blog, nap and read (life is tough on holidays). Then I went out with Jørgen and a few of his mates. First stop was a new little place in Oslo called the Whiskey lounge, it was really a very cool little bar with snugs and the like. Very quaint... Obviously most of the drinks were whisky/whiskey based but I wasn't drinking them... mainly due to the insane prices. But I did find an amusing scottish brewery that make a beer called the ''trashy blonde'' (you know you shouldn't). I also found another Scottish beer called the ''Fail Ale''... so yes I had to buy one instantly. We then wandered around in the city trying to find a couple of people and eventually called it a night around 3.

I also found out yesterday that Greenspeak (The company I worked for prior to leaving for this trip) has decided to close its doors. Meaning that when I get home I have no job... So I'll probably shift into full time student mode when I get back and do the three subjects I need to get my masters (rather than draw it out over another 18 months). Then the search for employment will begin... (engage sarcasm mode) oh how I can't wait... This may also slow down any plans for moving out...

Today I decided to do the touristy thing before the Eurovision Semi tonight so I went to the Nobel Peace Prize museum... That was a pretty cool place. There was a small(ish) exhibit on Obama, he being the most recent winner... and I can see the justification better now for that. And the majority is on South Africa and Nelson Mandella and Desmond Tutu... That was really interesting, both of those guys are really cool guys. I didn't know most of Mandella's history until today and I didn't quite get the Archbishop either. But yeah... wow... It's hard to comprehend for me what everyone there was going through. And whenever I visit somewhere like that, or the Bloody Sunday museum in Derry I always wonder how I would've reacted in those situations... Would I have the guts to be one of those people in the crowd facing down the cops who are going to shoot at you... That's some serious balls...

Oh well, something a little bit deeper to think about before I go to the shallow tackiness of the Eurovision

EDIT

So I've not had as much chance to blog on as the last few days. So I've decided to just add on the other touristy stuff I did here and I'll write another Eurovision post for the second semi final and the dress rehersal this afternoon.

Anyway yesterday I went to the Folk Museum, which is just a big museum that is celebrating Norway. I got the ferry over, which was nice, and the bus back. On the ferry on the way over I did overhear (yes eavesdropping is a bad habit... I'm a bad man) two Americans talking to some Eastern European guys say ''So you're hear for this Euro thing... What is it?'' Only Americans could accidently go to Oslo during one of the biggest touristy visitor weeks of the year and NOT realise.

Anyway the folk museum was kinda nice and interesting, I took a lot of pics that I obviously haven't been able to upload yet. I was particularly impressed by the little farm houses with grass growing on the roof (It's YOUR turn to go mow the roof), the Sami exhibition and the Stave Church. The Stave church looks REALLY cool.

After that I hopped a few trams around to go to the shops that had caught my eye while here (because I DOMINATE Oslo public transport now). First up was Rockmerch because they sign said ''this shop rocks''. It was ok, but nothing I hadn't seen before. Then came Pentagon which was a weird urban/army disposal store. I liked all the old army badges and stuff for sale but the massive display of knives for sale, weird guns and old school rifles and armour etc was a bit to much... and the staff were a little creepy. Last of all came a shop called Dragon Hule... This place was super cool, kinda a little weird gothy shop full of emily the strange type clothes at the back but in the front it was pretty awesome. They has special ''Police Line- Do Not Cross'' and ''biohazard'' toilet paper (tee hee), some pretty cool Roman Dirge type sculpturey toy things (I particularly liked ''betrayal'') a new card game for me to look into (Dancing Dragons) and A REMOTE CONTROL ZOMBIE! That was hilarious...

And after that I met up with some German friends of Eirik, then we hung out for a while until I went to the Eurovision Dress rehersal, which I will write about (and the second semi) soon.

RE Edit

Today (Saturday) I slept in a bit and then did more sightseeing with Eirik and his German friends. We saw som e stuff in the city and bussed out to the big new ski jump they've nearly finished building. It is very big but I have trouble believing people don't ride bikes down it in summer. Anyway I got some great shots of the fjord (I hope) and then we came back in the early arvo giving me time to eat and blog (yay) and now it is eurovision party time.

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