We'll Just Get Up With The Sun

Not exactly a good idea if you want to experience the first half of the day...  Keep in mind that we usually get up around 6am, so when we looked at the clock this morning and saw that it was 8:20 and still dark out we were shocked and more importantly hoping that we hadn't missed free breakfast!

After enjoying our Norwegian breakfast (salmon!!!!!) we headed off to the City Hall.  We've heard that City Halls in Scandinavia double as public meeting spaces and are often quite beautiful.  This City Hall was no exception, no wonder the Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded in this building.  The first two floors are open to the public and have amazing murals depicting Norwegian Folklore and History.

View of City Hall at the end of the street.

Front of City Hall

View of the harbor from the 2nd floor

Munch Room often used for Press Events

This was our only opportunity to see a Munch painting in Oslo since the museum is closed for the holidays.

City Council Room

Grand Hall from the 2nd Floor

Human Rights Room - Signing of Norway's Constitution

The French Revolution served as a human rights inspiration

Celebration of Freedom after Nazi Occupation

We were told most everything shuts down on December 24th by 1:00PM, so we rushed over to Oslo Cathedral and walked in as people were sitting down for Christmas Eve service.  After leaving the cathedral we noticed that one of the major department stores was still open so naturally we meandered in to do some shopping.  We discovered an entire level that sold Norwegian sweaters and traditional Norwegian clothing.  We'd love to learn more about how Christmas Eve is celebrated here since we noticed so many people wearing traditional clothing today.  The outfits were beautiful.

After dropping our bags at the hotel we walked over to the opera house before we lost the light. It's a beautiful modern building right on the harbor.  We unfortunately couldn't get in so after a short photo op we headed back towards the hotel in search of food and a reprieve from the bitter cold.  

We stopped at one of the two open restaurants we could find and then headed down the deserted streets of Oslo back to the hotel.