WEDNESDAY 29th March

During our 4th day in Norway we’ve visited its capital city
- Oslo. At 10 we were finally there, and could meet our
guide, who took us for a walk around Fjordbyen. We had a
chance to see Akershus fortress - a medieval castle that
was built to protect Oslo. It was king Christian IV who
had the castle modernised and converted into a
Renaissance castle and royal residence.



Then we visited a place broadly described in every
Norwegian guidebook - ‘ The Bank Square ‘. Also
called Bankplassen, it’s a square in the
neighbourhood Kvadraturen in Oslo, where the
Norges Bank and Engebret Cafe - a restaurant which
is well-known for the famous artists who have
frequently visited it, such as Henrik Ibsen and Edvard
Munch. Our guide talked about the purpose of the buildings that were there and how some of them have been repurposed over the years. She also showed us how some parts of the centre were from different eras. This was very interesting because it showed us that you don’t need to build new things in order to make a space useful again.



Around noon we’ve entered the Oslo Opera House
- the home of the Norwegian National Opera and
Ballet. The group was split in two smaller groups and we each went through the building. Everyone was astonished by the beauty of
this building - Tarald Lundevall, the man behind the
architecture of the Opera, most certainly did a
remarkable job.  The tour included an explanation of the choices that were made in relation to the architecture and the decoration. For example, the wood structure of the building wasn’t made by woodworkers, but by boatbuilders because they’re used to working with big structures.We were given an opportunity to go
behind the scenes and find out more about the work
of the opera’s employees. We even attended a
rehearsal of one of the shows which will soon be
officially performed.




After a lunch break we were walking along the Havnepromenaden, a walkway in the district of
Sørenga, guided by Jenny Ann Flø from Bymiljøetaten. She talked to us about a project she is involved with which involved using materials that could be reused in other places than Oslo. This was also very interesting because it taught us about durability of materials. In general, we thought the trip to Oslo was very educational and we picked up a lot of things to use in our own project.Having successfully caught a boat (whichwas not that obvious), we got back to our host families in Nesodden around 16.