Viking Country

I started walking into the busstation in Oslo, when a guy stops me. I really need to pay attention when I'm walking because Erkki was standing there waiting the whole time. I even recognized him from his pictures when I did look up.

Oslo is the point in my trip where I commit my first illegal act.

We walked a short distance towards the subway station.  When I mentioned that I didn't have an Kronors yet, he said I wouldn't need them here anyways.  Unlike the London tube, you don't have to swipe your ticket to enter the station.  They have people randomly pop up to check any make sure everyone has a ticket. Erkki said that they rarely check, we weren't going that far, and they aren't good at enforcing the
citations anyways.

So I boarded the subway illegally. Without a ticket.

I would be a repeat offender the rest of my stay here.

Erkki lived with three other guys (and two cats Sonic and Silver), and everyone was actually Swedish, not Norwegian.  One was his brother, the others he had known for a very long time.  Throughout the whole of my stay I didn't see much of the brother or the one flat mate.  Erkki, his flat mate Billy, and I played some cards and had a few (what they considered to be shitty, but tasted better than Bud Light) beers.  We decided to go out, beer in hand, as apparently that's not a big deal here.
I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life.

Between the three of us, my stomach and face hurt from laughing the entire time.  Nothing in particular, just people watching mostly.  On the way back, we stopped at a kebab stand.  For those that have never experienced a real kebab, I don't mean shishkebab (sp?).  A kebab is essentially a pita like bread in a cone shape filled with assorted vegetables, meat (lamb usually I think), and a sauce that can range from a garlic greek yogurt to a spice curry sauce.  They can be compared to a gyro I suppose.  I hadn't had one in a long long time. Probably since Maastricht when we used get kebabs at Nora's (the only place to eat open late).
The next day, Erkki took me to central Oslo and showed me around.  The opera house in Oslo has stairs all around its exterior, and visitors are able to climb to the top and look out over the sea.  Oslo is situated in the middle of several hills, and it would have been a rather pretty view if it wasn't for the plethora of cranes surrounding the shore.

We walked to the "castle", which was really more of a fort type structure set upon a hill.  Then, we made it to the Nobel Peace Prize center, which was a must on my destination list.  There was an entrance fee, and Erkki didn't seem near as interested in it as I was. So, I said I would return on my own the next day.
We walked down Oslo's main strip on the way back. Lots of shoppers, tourists, street performers, etc.  It was a beautiful day, and people were enjoying it.  We even took our coats off half way throught the excursion.

That night, Billy cooked a traditional dinner of Swedish meatballs and boiled potatoes. It went a little something like this...

Swedish meatballs

Erkki and I were the "retarded team" that rolled the meatballs...

It was sooo good.  The meatballs are basically beef, breadcrumbs, and onion (from what I understood).  They fry the meatballs in a pan, and then make a sauce in the pan using basically cream and soy sauce.  We were all miserably full afterwards.  You really couldn't stop. It was that good.
The rest of the night we slothed on the couch watching stand-up comedy.  Any physical activity would have been impossible after that dinner.

Food coma in Oslo,
Tegs