December 30, 2023

A while back (probably more than a decade now) I went to Oslo several times for work. It was a pretty cool experience at the time but I never really took in the city apart from some wandering in the evenings.

Our day started the same way my work days did with the large breakfast buffet at the Raddison SAS Scandinavia and it was snowing outside. Just a solid way to start the day.

With full bellies, we first ventured out to take in some Norwegian history.

We wandered through a Christmas market. We were most disappointed when we saw what appeared to be a churro vending machine but was just the ordering kiosk.

From there we ventured to the harbor and on to go visit Akershus Fortress.

We started with the Norwegian Resistance Museum which was a very different view than the typical view of WWII history in the US. I had seen some of it before but the view of the occupied who won later was a change. We stopped through the Armed Forces Museum which had a bunch in the warehouse in Ukraine.

With the sun setting, we grabbed a Ban Mhi and went back to the hotel to prepare for our concert Ylvis! You may remember them from their song The Fox (often referred to as “what does the fox say.”). We went to the Rockefeller Concert Hall to see the show.

Walking in the venue looks like many others I have been in but of course with lots of Norwegian. The band was great. I had not seen much in the way of pyrotechnics before and they did it. I had not even been to a concert where they celebrated the state of Massachusetts and threw McDonalds burgers at the audience and they did it. I had not been to a concert that celebrated diplomats like Jan Egeland and they did it. Two men dressed in fox suites … they did it. Overall it checked a lot of items on my concert bucket list and was a fun show.

After wandering Oslo to find some late night food we ended up at a kebab place.