A bad play on words, I’m aware. But wow! No way this city is this amazing. Where is the ugliness? The parts that remind me of summers in Detroit (not on my grandma’s street, but those streets me and my cousins would bike just to feel good about out conditions). Typically I’d need to see everything a city has to offer (food, attitudes, behaviors, perceptions, drugs, hookers, etc.), but not this time. Have you ever stood on 33rd and 7th in NYC, right outside of Sbarro’s Pizzeria in the summer at night and felt that cool breeze running down 6th? You know that feeling of “I could live here forever” that comes with that?
Well, I could live here, in Oslo, forever. At least until that first Winter breeze comes and plucks me from the top of the Oslo Opera Hall. Houses stacked on the hills, canals running through the cooler parts of the city reminding me of childhood and water parks, and young East and West Africans stopping to have a conversation about basketball, racism, life, and photography.
Yeah, This is day one, and just a few more to go in this location. If you’ve been keeping up, you know I’m here working on my documentary, Seeking Asylum (click for more info). If they open their doors, I’d strongly consider walking in.
Looking forward to what tomorrow has in store. I’m yawning, so I know I’ll be up early, ready to see what smells are in the air. A few notes if you’re coming to Oslo:
1. Where I’m laying my head: Anker Apartments Hostel. Great price and great crowd of folks, and the meeting area has plenty of space. Oh! And it’s close to everything.
2. Flew into OSL, went down to Platform 4 on the train (because the bus was $27 and would take 45 minutes. Train was $11 and took half that time) and got off at Oslo S. Walked around the station a bit, took a few photos from the roof of the Opera hall, then hopped in the Uber and paid $12.
3. If you’re a street art fan, there is plenty of it. Charge the phone, grab the reserve pack and do it all!
