The tiger in front of Oslo Central Station is one of Oslo's most photographed "inhabitants" and one of the first things that meet a visitor arriving at Oslo Central Station. Roviell Cablao travel to Oslo Norway.
When Oslo celebrated its 1000-year anniversary in 2000, Eiendomsspar wanted to give the city a gift. Oslo wanted a tiger, and that's what they got: a 4.5-metre bronze tiger made by Elena Engelsen.
The reason Oslo wanted a tiger, is the city's nickname Tigerstaden ("The Tiger City"), which most Norwegians are familiar with. The name was probably first used by Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. His poem "Sidste Sang" from 1870 describes a fight between a horse and a tiger; the tiger representing the dangerous city and the horse the safe countryside.
For the next seven days we are staying at the Christian Teeter Hotel. It is located one block from the National Theater and across the street from a park. The location of the hotel was great, but if we were ever to stay here again, I would look into the Hotel Continental. It is about a block away and looks more modern. The people at the front desk at Christian Teeter were nice, but did not provide us any real value when we asked them questions (e.g. restaurant recommendations).
The picture below of our hotel was taken from the park.
Our first stop today was the "Visit Oslo" tourist office at the Central Train Station. There we obtained a detailed map of Oslo and purchased a 7-day transit card, which allows us to ride any bus, tram, subway, or train within Oslo. From the tourist office we started Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour.
Oslo is a pretty compact city and we determined that our walking tour was going to cover most of the stops of Oslo’s Hop On, Hop Off bus. So we did not purchase tickets for the Hop On, Hop Off bus in Oslo.
The picture below shows a statue of a tiger prowling in front of the Central Train Station. This statue represents Oslo's nickname, Tigerstaden ("Tiger Town"). Oslo earned this nickname in the 1800s, as it was seen as an "urban tiger" by the simple country folk who visited what was considered the wild and crazy "New York City of Norway."
Below is a picture of Karl Johans Gate, a pedestrian boulevard that stretches from the train station to the Royal Palace. Normally, there are street musicians and artists along this street, but we didn’t see any today. This could be because it is Sunday, it is drizzling, or it is not the high season (July and August).
Karl Johans Gate, along with most of the downtown pedestrian streets, are heated during the winter to eliminate any snow build up,
On July 22, 2011, an act of terrorism killed 77 people in Norway. In an act of solidarity, thousands of Norwegian laid roses down in front of Oslo Cathedral. Iron Roses, the art work shown below in front of the Oslo Cathedral, serves as a memorial for those who lost their lives during that tragic event.
Karl Johans Gate with the Royal Palace in the distance.
The Oslo National Theatre.
About 30 tents have been set up in the park in front of Norway’s Parliament Building by Palestinian protesters who are demonstrating against the war by living there.
Oslo University.
In the morning, the weather was cloudy, then it would drizzle for a bit before the sun came out. This cycle repeated numerous times. However, the afternoon and evening were sunny for most of the time. :-).
For lunch we went to Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri restaurant.
Liten tur til Tigerstaden. Jeg klarte meg godt på norsk og forsto alt uten problem. Muntlig språk er fortsatt min svakeste ferdighet, men det er vanskelig å utvikle uten å kunne jobbe med og få tilbakemelding om det hver dag. Jeg er sikker på at, hvis jeg noen gang flytta til Norge, ville jeg bli mye flinkere til å snakke i en fei. Dessverre må jeg nøye meg med to norsktimer på italki i uke. Skulle ønsket jeg hadde råd til en time hver dag! #oslonorway #tigerstaden https://www.instagram.com/p/CWA4wpQIDIb/?utm_medium=tumblr
[ Sindre has always had somewhat conflicting feelings about Ola - wanting to prove himself, wanting to be good enough for him, wanting him, being jealous, wanting his attention and at the same time wishing he cared less. Above all, Ola is Sindre’s best friend bar none, and while he’ll happily fistfight him over football if need be and rib on him mercilessly when a harmless weak point appears, he’d never want to actually risk their friendship, because he’d never quite forgive himself if Ola was genuinely and rightfully mad at him. ]
The Oslo tiger in front of Oslo Central Station is one of the first things that meets a visitor arriving in Oslo. Oslo celebrated its 1000-year anniversary in 2000, by erecting the 15 foot bronze tiger made by Elena Engelsen. Oslo is known amongst #norwegians as the #tigercity . (Pic from a 2016 #tour) #tigerstaden #tiger #oslo #norway #bucketlist #bucketlistnorway #oslobucketlist #oslotour #travel (at Oslo Central Railway Station) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKKKGw3D40K/?igshid=8yrpx6ee35pl
#AWESOMENESS 👉 @nrwy_. Finisher! Beat last years time with 1h9mim, improved my PB on Marathon with 24mim. So happy with sub 5! #finisher #newpb @oslomaraton #oslomaraton #beardedrunner #improvment #sohappy #antiquit #gohard #oatmeal #lovethepain_official #altrarunning #suunto #42km #marathon #fitlife #beardedfitness #tigerstaden #oslo #sunnydays #beardlife #beardedviking #norwegianaussie #runhappy #correpe (at Oslo Maraton) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2t9d5dH-pH/?igshid=j4tgdm26gq1h
The Nordic capitols have joined the fray!! From left to right meet: Reykjavik, Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki!
My ramblings about them under the cut. I apologize for the length, I tried to cut out as mush as I could.
I’ve decided that from now on if and when I design capitols they’re gonna be gender-bent. And this is solely because DC was based off of Nyo!America
So all of their designs are loosely based on the Nyo!Nordics in one way or another
And their designs are up in the air still. I like where they are now, but I know they can improve.
Oslo (Ida)
Much like Nor, she’s very quiet and quite reserved, but she’s a little more playful and mischievous
She gets hyper focused on tasks and chooses to expend most of her energy on political matters and business. She’s a very busy girl
Nor calls her “Tigerstaden” as a nickname but not often. It’s probably her name in his phone or something similar
Wasn’t very strong when she was younger having gone through many fires that lasted days on end
Denmark helped back on her feet
She’s friends with DC and sends her Christmas trees every year
Get’s along great with Copenhagen and Reykjyavik.
Her and Copenhagen like to go cycling together
She does poses magical powers but not as strong as Nor’s
The little orbs hanging off her hair bow are both an homage to Norway’s hair curl and the several islands surrounding her
Copenhagen (Thora)
Wow she’s just a pleasant gal to hang out with
She’s very sporty. swimming, cycling, fisticuffs, running, you name it
Her and Den like to play handball together and she can be found hanging out in parks most of the time
Got super powerful in the 15th century when she was the capitol of both Norway and Sweden, then Sve dipped
That followed with several fires AND the plague left her kinda sick in the early 1700′s
Beat up both Britain and Sweden in various fights and sieges
Gets along great with the other capitols and tries to get them together as much as possible, seeing as they’re not as busy compared to the countries
Egg chair, no I will not elaborate
She’s an amazing story teller and likes jazz music
Stockholm (Hjördis)
She’s BUILT, like she’s very strong.
When she was younger she had a great relationship with Denmark, but seriously distrusted him right before and after Sweden left
She’s very very smart. Enjoys playing chess with Reyktavik
She hasn’t won yet
Used to vist the ABBA museum as a joke, but it’s just a part of her routine at this point
She’s very artistic. Her house is flooded with her paintings and sculptures throughout the years
Her and Sve have a little joke where he gives her a random piece of IKEA furniture as a present and she sends him a painting of said furniture for his birthday
He keeps all of them and she keeps all the furniture
Stoic just like Sve, but tends to be pretty harsh. This leads to her being ready to throw down
Helsinki (Matilda)
Nicknamed “Hesa” by Fin and the other nordics, but Sve calls her “Stadi”
Avid coffee drinker
The Finnish war hit her like a truck because of both fires and war
was under direct Russian control for a bit and it was a rough time all around.
Referred to as “Daughter of the Baltic” not really important but I thought it was cute
maybe the Baltic states just enjoy her company and is just doted on? I can’t imagine she’d be a fan of this though
Much like Fin, she really enjoys saunas. She also is an avid coffee drinker
Learned how to go from :3 to >:3 from Fin. Idk how else to explain it
The choker she wears is in reference to the possibility that “Helsinki” is derived from a Swedish word “helsing” which is a shoot off from the word “hals” which means “neck”
this in turn could be referencing the narrower parts of a nearby river
She dresses kind of casually because sis is just tired. She chooses to be comfortable over anything else
Reykjavik (Hekla)
Her name is shortened to “Rey” most of the time
She acts kind of spoiled
this is because Reykjavik was the only city in Iceland for a good long while
During WWII Britain, America, and Canada hung out there for a bit
Consequence of this: She really likes hot dogs now
She’s super good at chess, almost scarily good. She likes to play against Stockholm and they get IN to it
Watching their chess matches is peak entertainment for the other capitols
Has a little kitten as a pet! She takes him everywhere, but has a lot of strays she just feeds back home
doesn’t have too much experience with dogs so she’s hesitant toward them
Has never heard of McDonalds or Starbucks
She just...sleeps outside...in random places...without warning
she’s partial to a Swedish White-beam tree that was planted in the city by a Danish king (?)
Grat'lerer med dagen gamlefar! Begynner å kjenne det med åra snart kanskje? Uansett, du stikker vel innom for en pils senere? Storfest her, vett'u!
Takk, like så. Kom igjen, eg er ikkje så gammal. Byrjar å føla meg sånn berre når du kallar meg gamlefar. Men ja, gjerne. Om du spanderer første runde, Olamann.