According to our tour guide, Oslo is an old, old city founded in the year 1046. Then after about 600 years, the city was destroyed by fire and rebuilt by King Christian IV as Christiania. Christiania is such a nice name for a city. I don’t know why they had to rename it back to Oslo in 1925.
Anyway, today is Oslo City Tour Day. After an early breakfast at Bocca, we hop on the bus for a ride around town.
Oslo City Hall
Carving above the entrance door
Built in 1950, Oslo City Hall houses the city council, city administration, art studios and galleries. On display are splendid murals by some of Norway's most respected artists.
The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is also held here on December 15 every year
That’s a beautiful tapestry and we covered it, hehehe
A glass structure/art installation of some sort. Our tour guide doesn’t have a clue what it is, too.
Oslo Opera House. Or at least a portion of it.
The pointing finger fountain?
Yellow and pink buildings
Our next stop is Vigeland Sculpture Park
The gate’s circles signify eternity, the dragons signify luck
Vigeland Park is the world's largest sculpture park by a single artist. It showcases Adolf Gustav Vigeland's lifework with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite
and wrought iron.
The park’s theme is Life. Each sculpture portrays Vigeland’s vision of the cycle of life, and the relationships between man and woman, adults and children.
Taking photos of the sculptures becomes boring after a while, so we decide to do some fun shots by imitating the statues.
Frances chooses an easy one and still manages to do it all wrong
Felisse wants to be a playful dad
And I am a crazy woman!
Florence hasn’t got a clue how she’s gonna accomplish this
Awww…
The Fountain (that has no water)
The 20 tree groups surrounding the fountain portray the life of man, from cradle to grave
Here they go again, this time copying a granite sculpture
Group photo on the Monolith Plateau
The Monolith, with 121 figures and standing 17.3 m high, was carved from one single granite block. This column with people drawn towards heaven
is said to represent man's longing and yearning for the spiritual and divine.
This little girl wants to be everywhere!
Behind Frances is the Wheel of Life. The wheel, a symbol of eternity, is executed as a garland of men, women and children holding on to each other. This sculpture
sums up the dramatic theme of the entire park: Man's journey from cradle to grave,
through happiness and grief, through fantasy, hope and wishes of eternity.
Next stop is the Viking Ship Museum. Trivia: Do you know that Vikings are tall, dark and handsome men who only take baths on Saturdays? To this day, Saturday is referred to as "washing day" in Scandinavian languages.
The Oseberg Ship was excavated in 1904-1905. Numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons were also discovered in the burial mounds. Yikes. Although seaworthy, the Oseberg Ship is relatively frail, and it is thought to have been used only for coastal voyages.
The Gokstad Ship is the largest ship in the museum. It is clinker-built and constructed largely of oak, making it unsuitable for long voyages. It is thought to have been made for warfare, trade, and transportation of people and cargo.
The Tune Ship was excavated in 1867 and believed to be built around AD 900
Bored with Viking ships, Frances decides to kill her sister
Oslo Tramway
Lunch is at Sofie’s Mat-Ol og Vinhus
Interiors House salad
Salmon in cream sauce Crema caramel
Auntie Babie and Auntie Atis enjoying lunch
Oslo Bysykkel has more than 1,200 bikes all over the city. Buy an annual bike card for 90 Norwegian kroner and you can use it to get and return bikes from any of over
100 bike stations in the city. How convenient is that!
We spend the afternoon walking around the famous Karl Johans gate.
Big dog
Like owner, like dog 
Where there’s souvenirs, there’s us!
Trafikanten
Oslo Central Station
Oslo is nicknamed Tigerstaden or City of Tigers. This large bronze tiger sculpture by Elena Engelsen was erected in 2000 to commemorate Oslo’s 1000th anniversary. 
Little kid hanging on the tiger’s tail
Color block fashion That’s a loooooooooong woman
Al fresco cafe
It is so nice to just sit out here, enjoy a cup of coffee and watch the world go by
With lovely music playing in the background, too
But we have to rush back for dinner so… 
I grab a bottle of my favorite dark chocolate milk from the convenience store and enjoy it while walking. Cocio is love.
The 7-Eleven in Karl Johans is so sosy!
National Theater
We make a quick stop at Freia to buy some chocolates
I guess Felisse and I aren’t the only chocolate lovers here. That’s Ernest and Auntie Anita stocking up on supplies
My stash. It’s actually just Kitkat in more colorful packaging with a name I do not dare to pronounce.
Dinner is at Kinesisk Peking Szechuan Restaurant
Hot and sour soup Beef with onions
Mapo tofu Chicken with peppers
Steamed salmon Chinese style This is actually quite delicious
Chinese pechay Oranges
After dinner, we walk around the city to burn off the calories.
Blair Witches
Shit Shop
We got lost for a bit
But found our way back. Whew.
Red beetle
Villa Paradiso
After burning off the calories from dinner, our tummies are ready for some midnight snack
Pollo Bianco pizza
Prosciutto di Parma pizza
Me, Frances, Felisse, Ernest and Erwin at Olivia