Cities have vibes, personalities, characters. I am a firm believer that a person's personal vibe can match with a city's, and those are the places that you sometimes hear someone say, "I could see myself living there." Up until now, my list of locations where I felt my personal vibe match a city's vibe was pretty small. In the US, it consisted of Washington, DC, and Boise, Idaho. And perhaps places like Atlanta, Georgia, or Albuquerque, New Mexico, but I'm not fully sure about those. Abroad, the list is even shorter, consisting of only Port Louis, Mauritius, and maybe Toronto, Canada, although Toronto is in line with Atlanta and Albuquerque. So if you're keeping track, I could only see myself enjoying living long-term in Washington, Boise, or Port Louis. And would consider Atlanta, Albuquerque, and Toronto. Not an extensive list, but that list has just grown by one: Oslo, Norway.
Slottsparken (Palace Park)
My love of Oslo started from the moment I stepped off the train from Stockholm. There was a pep in the step of the people in the train station. People were smiling and laughing, even the people with headphones in. There were people buzzing around outside the train station (this was a Sunday late afternoon). It just felt...right. My following three days, out and about walking and seeing the sights, just added to my love of Oslo. Whereas Stockholm felt sterile and forced, Oslo was relaxed and natural. There was a diverse group of people on the streets of Oslo, and those who didn't match the blond hair/blue eyed stereotypical Scandinavian look or look like they were direct descendants of Erik the Red--especially those whose heritage comes from places like Somalia, South Sudan, and Pakistan--actually blended in with the crowd. And then the beauty of the city didn't hurt either, especially with all of the green space everywhere!
This is not to say that Oslo was perfect. Some things were just bizarre, like (1) the prevalence of unicorn balloons everywhere, including one on my floor in the hotel (and strangely, these balloons never seem to deflate). Other things made me think someone needs to bop Norwegians on the head. For instance, (2) just because the temperature got to 65 or 70 does NOT mean it's shorts weather. Or a time to go sunbathing in a park. Those temperatures are still on the cooler side. (3) Then there's the cost. Oslo is consistently rated as one of the most expensive cities in the world, and it shows. I've basically decided that I'll just deal with four days of Oslo expenses later. (4) Separately, Norwegian doesn't sound like a real language to me. I have a hard time explaining what I hear when people speak Norwegian, but the best approximation I can come up with is that it is a bunch of Germans trying to sound out English words and accidentally getting into a spitting competition (I told you this was hard for me to describe!). And finally, (5) this sun things needs to be sorted out. The sunset after 10pm, with a light-ish twilight until about midnight, which then returns by about 2am for a sunrise not long after 4am is really messing with my internal clock.
But overall, I loved Oslo, and here are a few of my favorite photos:
Bislett Stadium, 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics
Det Kongelige Slott (Royal Palace)
Operahuset Oslo (Oslo Opera House)
Fields on Bygdøy Peninsula
Vikingskipshuset (Viking Ship Museum)
Aker Brygge Marina
And for the video that makes me incredibly happy, here's a song I've heard a lot here in Oslo. I don't understand Norwegian (see #4 above), but it's such an infectious and happy-sounding song!
Stockholm is a beautiful city, and May is a wonderful time to visit it. With daytime temperatures in the 60s and low 70s (and even one day where it made it to 81!) and a sun that's out for 18 or so hours, the air is comfortable and there's plenty of time to get in your sightseeing. As much as I loved these elements of Stockholm, the city's layout did not fit with how I like to explore new cities. Spread out over 17 islands and with a pretty significant mainland portion, Stockholm's street grid did not allow me to make an easy loop around to everything I wanted to see. Instead, I kept finding myself forced back onto one of the bridges connecting the islands, a frustrating endeavor. In the end, over my 3 days in Stockholm, I walked almost 35 miles through city blocks of Norrmalm and Gamla Stan, around the more residential island of Sodermalm, through the King's former hunting area of Djurgarden, across to the suburban-feeling Kritineberg, and up to the urban parks of Bellevueparken and Hagaparken.
I also had a hard time with the currency. Unfortunately, it it's not dollars or euros, I feel like it's fake money. With an exchange rate in the 8.7 Swedish krona (SEK) to the US dollar range, I had difficult figuring out relative prices. Was my 10 SEK candy bar a good deal or a bad one? What about my 100 SEK pizza?
With Stockholm behind me, tomorrow I move on to Oslo. Hopefully its layout is more conducive to me making a loop, because I already know that the currency situation will continue to be problematic (8.4 Norwegian krone (NOK) to the dollar)! And so right now, I leave with this Voice UK 2015 audition, that I STILL can't get over. One of my favorites.
In my first trip back to Africa since leaving Sudan in January, I felt like I experienced two extremes of the continent. Lagos, despite its size, felt organized. There was a rhythm, a pulse, to the streets. Highways connected major points, and there was a noticeable drive in the local population. Yaounde felt different. It was more chaotic. Even many of the main roads were one lane in each direction, twisting and turning through neighborhoods and lined with an odd assortment of shops and half-finished buildings. The people were also much more subdued, rarely, if ever, cracking a smile. Helpful, but passive.
A Yaounde Sunset
Lagos felt modern, ready to push the limits of the 21st century. Yaounde felt traditional, plugging away down a well-trodden path.
Every time I travel, no matter where in the world I go, I learn a little something new about myself. On this trip, I discovered that big and crazy isn't necessarily my nemesis. Both cities had their charm, although I much preferred Lagos. Yes, I like the suburbs (the hustle and bustle of big cities can exhaust me), but big and organized works for me. In Lagos, the craziness somehow felt predictable, even if the predictability was that the traffic would be unpredictable. Yaounde lacked the organization I crave in my life.
While I think I've known about this trend for some time, I appreciate being able to take trip to new places, honing my understanding of myself. And so this week I'll go off for another two weeks, this time to Scandinavia. I look forward to seeing what I learn about myself!
In honor of Mother's Day, here's some #MomQuotes courtesy of Jimmy Fallon.
