Norway with a Baby

After our trip to the Lakes in May, we decided to take the next step in Traveling with a Baby: a fairly short plane flight abroad, which would allow Junior to use his passport and give us some practice before flying to California later this year. We chose Norway because we wanted a child-friendly, well-equipped country, which wouldn't be too hot in summer. It certainly wasn't hot...

Our trip to Olso started out with a pessimistic weather forecast, which sadly proved to be quite accurate.



Fortunately, we also found that Norway was child-friendly and well-equipped, starting with baby seats on the bus between Gardermoen Airport and Oslo city centre.





We settled into our apartment on Arbinsgate - it was a new experience for Junior to have such a big floor at his disposal.



We began exploring the city close to home.


The Royal Palace, covered in scaffolding


Fountain outside the National Theatre


Junior photographer




National Gallery



I particularly enjoyed the exhibit of Christian Krohg paintings at the National Gallery, including this one of an exhausted mother rocking her baby to sleep.


Harbour and Akershus Fortress

Between rain showers, we looked at the sculptures in Vigeland Park.










Victory - blue sky!

We explored Akershus Fortress and got some nice views of the fjord.











We even caught the changing of the guard as we were leaving.



One of the highlights of the trip was finding the Oslo Opera House, with its slanted roof. It hadn't been built when S worked in Oslo ten years ago, so it was a new attraction for all of us. As a bonus, we had blue skies and the roof was so bright that we found it hard not to squint.






Can you see our reflections?





Annoyingly, the weather was uncooperative again the morning we decided to visit Holmenkollen Ski Jump.


You would think it would be hard to miss something so big, right?


View of Oslo from the bottom of Holmenkollen Ski Jump


Peeking out of the fog



Finally, we gave in to the rain and decided to spend a day indoors. First, we went to the Kon-Tiki Museum.



If you don't know the story of the Kon-Tiki raft, I'd recommend reading the wikipedia page for a brief overview. S and I didn't know much about it, and found the museum fascinating.





Next, we had a quick lunch at the café inside the National Maritime Museum. After being cooped up in the Ergo all morning, we let Junior crawl on the floor and he made a new friend.



Next stop was the Viking Ship Museum.



I was amazed at how well the ships were reconstructed, and also at how little they know about Viking culture.





The only thing left to do was shop! I had seen some gorgeous sweaters in a tourist shop near the Town Hall, and spied an Oleana shop across from the National Theatre. After a fair amount of deliberation (and some advice from Facebook friends), I decided that I needed to bring this home with me...



Isn't it lovely?

All in all, it was a great trip and Junior was a good traveler. It must be in his genes.