Day 20: Oslo, Noway
Thursday, June 4th, 2026,
We magically wake up Today in Oslo, Norway. It's getting more and more difficult to wake up and know where you are these days. It reminds me of that flight travel montage in the movie Flight Club, except with a positive spin on the situation.
"You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time." Except this is an Asian and European and Nordic Adventure around the World, and this is your life, and it's finally Starting one minute at a time. If you've never read the book Fight Club, stop what you're doing right now and grab a $5 copy from the internet, it's a short read at 195 pages and big font. Make it the next book you read, its Exceptional. I even quoted it in the Prologue of my PhD Dissertarion (https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/items/3e392ef3-31a6-4fb2-9d57-2edf6f6edf5c). Above that, it's also one of the few Movies where the Movie is either as good or better than the book. That's even more rare.
What makes it more confusing is we wake up on a Cruise Ship! It doesn't really seem real and we pack up our backpacks (have I mentioned both Holly and I are Traveling the World with only my 30L and Holly's 32L backpacks!!!???, that's one of my most crowning Accomplishment I'm incredibly Proud of!!!!). We go to the top deck and view the sights for an hour before docking in Oslo. The views are much like the nature around Vancouver and Vancouver Island, but on in Steroids. If Norway was in the MLB Baseball it would have gotten a fine, and gotten a lifetime ban from making it into the Hall of Fame. Just more Fjords, more Islands, more Trees, more Nature, more everything. Really cool and different house and cabin Architecture too.
Before we leave the boat we do the one thing on the trip we vowed never to do, and even worse, we liked it. I guess that's what comes with getting old, we booked a 3 hour Bus Tour of Oslo. We had no idea what to do, and it is the biggest city in Norway, and Norway is HUGE, so we figured this was the best way to get our bearings before exploring on our own, see what we think is cool before walking their first. It turned out to be an AWESOME decision, because we drove through all the major streets of Oslo, got a cool guided History of the Country, and we would have taken all day just to walk the streets.
We learned that the people have a large trust historically with the Government, and the Government controls almost everything in a Monopoly. Even the liquor stores are called Vinmonopoly, haha! The town looks cool and also looks like it would have some sweet nightlife.
The bus then takes us to thee most Awesome park that we would have never been able to get to on our own. It is Vast and learned the history of the hundreds of Statues in the Park by a single man commissioned by the City.
It took him over 50 years of conceptualizing, planning, and Building to complete it. The formal name is called The Vigeland Park, or Vigelandsparken in Norwegian. But I call this park Penis Park, because the many hundreds of statues were all Naked! I took some of thee Best Statue Penis Pictueres I've ever taken. After my European Backpacking Adventure 14 years ago, Penis Statues were everywhere, and that was missing on this trip. Paris and Rome liked the Penises, but it seemed like Germany and Scandinavia doesn't, until now. There was nice attention to detail in each sculpture as I've highlighted in the pictures below.
I got my Penis Picture fix for the entire Trip here, regularly walking away from our on-foot guided tour to get closer to the Penisis. But the Statues told a story, the Artist never described the Statues, never gave a reasoning or names, he wanted to leave to the viewer our own Interpretation, which I think is Cool, and my interpretation of it was thar there were a lot of Penisis in Penis Park! But in all seriousness, the Statues of Penis Park told a Story of Life and Death. Many of the areas had Statues of babies and then young kids, and then young adults, amd then Old Men with Old Penises, and then Death.
One of the main areas you walked in a gigantic circle to see the Statues and the process of life amd death with many intricate depictions of deeper meanings at each stage of life. Each more more intricate than the next. I will Always remember Penis Park, I came for the Penises, Stayed for the storytelling of Life.
There were a total of 200 and some Statues, all created by one artist and our Tpur Guide said only 3 of the Statues had clothes on, but I couldn't find them in the sea of Penises.
We then get into the bus and go up a ski hill where they do that crazy sport where you get launched 100s of feet into the air traveling over 100 km/hr amd land, and that's what they do here and it is Cool! It's also where they had the Olympics like 50 years ago or something like that. It then, out of absolutely nowhere, Torrential Downpourd Cloud Water in an Absolute Monsoon of water. It must have neen over half a decade since I've seen that much rain come down, I was absolutely lucky I bought my Nordic Jacket on the cruise ship or else I don't think my Gen Z Japanese Jacket would have handled it. My Gen Z Japanese pants for the latest Spring Fashion was dragging through pools of water and by the time we made it back to the bus, it felt like I was wearing two Giant Green Trash Bags soaked in water on both of my legs.
After we get dropped off at the bus, we try to find a place for food and plan out the rest of our day. We find a 3 story coffee house that is a Totally Awesome called Espresso House and have North American Giant sized coffees for the first time since Vancouver. We are absolutely Thrilled as we have been getting those little tiny cups of European Coffee all trip. We also have a really Tastey Grilled Focaccia and find a nice table on thr 3rd floor. We either stay the night here in Oslo, wake up for the 6:30 AM train to get into Bergen Norway at 1:30 PM. Butbwe decide to take the Overnight train at 11 PM tonight to get into Bergen at 6:30 AM, effectively removing the need to pay for a Hotel, and giving us 7 extra ours in a smaller city, which is our goal to eventually get to Berggen and use that ad a jumping off point into Renote Nature Daytrips. I then have a #2 Adventure that I won't go into detail here, and wr start exploring Oslo on foot.
We walk around the streets of Oslo and it is a much nicer place we thought it would be. The pictures online make it look not so pretty and very Industrial, but it's Huge and has many nice parts to explore.
Another thing you may or may not know about me is that I got really into Chess about 5 years ago. And ever since I go through periods of time obsessed with it, enjoying playing online and falling asleep to YouTube videos of game recaps by a YouTuber that goes by the name Agadmator. It just so happens we are in Oslo, Norway for the Annual Norway Chess Championship!!?? This wasn't just any Tournament, it's a Suoer Tournament that only happens only about a handful of time over the entire world. It has literally thee Greatest Chess players in the World playing, Magnus Carlsen who is the Michael Jordan of Chess, he's the Best player in the World and arguably thee Greatest Chess player in History. Then there was the current World Champion Gukesh, the current Women's World Chapion Ju Wenjun, and also includes Westly So, Alireza Firouzja, Vincent Keymer, and Praggnanandhaa. I know all of these players, what they look like, it's like celebrities to me, I'm a Nerd.
We just so happen to be in the same city of this Tournament, and it was just because of Magnus Carlsen playing in his Home Country down the street from where I was standing, but ALL of those players together in the same Room, with a chance for me to be in that same room and Watch them Play!!!???!? I ABSOLUTELY Had to try and get into the event to watch. We looked online and they were all sold out, no suprise, but being a few minute walk to the Venue I absolutely had to try and get in. We looked up the wrong directions, as it was being played in the Oslo Public Library, but the New Fancy one. Google Maps is sending us in literal Circlesarounf a hole in the ground demolition sight until a nice lady told us there's a new Library. After about 40 minutes walking, we find out that the venue was only a 7 minute walk from where first started, and I can hear The Universe Laughing at me, and all I can do is laugh back.
We make it to the Oslo Public Library called Deichman Bjørvika, snap a picture, and go in. It's a Beautiful and Huge building and we find our it is on the second floor. Doors opened at 4:15 PM local time for the event and we get to the front desk of the tournament at Bout 4:35 PM. I go to Ticket counter and I can't belive I'm actually here, at Norway Chess in Oslo amd I just hapoen to stroll on it, just some random guy from the other side of the World who happens to be at the Holy Grail of his Nerd Chess Obsession!!!!
I ask of there's any tickets left, and they said that they released day-off tickets earlier and that they sold out of those too. My stomach stops in sadness but it was to be expected doing this on such short notice. I maybe would have gotten tickets if we didn't get lost walking here but that'd just how it is. There's a Merch Table so I buy my next new Shirt of the Trip and I can hear my Mom Happy in Excitement that I bought more clean clothes on this trip! This is now the 4th shirt on the Trip and I'm starting to be overpacked.
But then, being my Birthday Trip and all, there was still some Birthday Magic around, as I like to call it. One of the younger staff members letting people inside who already had tickets was nice enough to tell us that many people do not stay the entire Day of the tournament, so there was still a chance for me to go in!!!???!? Simply extatic I was sooooo Hapoy at the chance to be able to still going in, so we wait patiently hoping for the chance. That's when something Epic happened, out of nowhere a bunch of Cameras and Video guys walked up and Magnus Carlsen himself walks a few feet from where I wasz right there in the Flesh!!!!???? I throw Holly my Phone and she takes photos of me staning there next to him as he gets interviewed by news stations. He made direct eye contact with me as I was the first person of the fans to notice he walked in, and then you can see in the photo that he looked right at Holly too! It was just like seeing him in YouTube, and it was very Surreal. I also got a picture with Westly So, as they both came to the tournament a little late, and they were both playing each other today.
Then my Birthday Magic came out in full force, and I get the Nod and Golden ticket to go inand watch the game, only 15 minutes after the games atarted!!!! I was next to a little boy and his Mom who said they were coming for Days to try and get tickets, and I was Happy to be walking in with them too. We got our Wish!!!!
I just wanted to say thank you Sooooooooooooo Much to Holly, because this would have never Happened without her. She was a big Proponent for wanting to come to Oslo instead of going to the more remote and Picturesque city of Bergen for all the nights instead, as I didn't think it would be worth sacrificing an entire day just for the offchance I could make it in a sold out event. But she pushed for it, and we made it in, and I Absolutely Couldn't be more Happier and Excited to have this most Magical Experience!!!! I can't believe I've seem sooo much on this Trip, and the Adventure is still able to bring me Experiences better and better and more unique than the last, I really can't believe how Amazing this Across thr World Adventure 2026 had been!!!!!
We make our way into the playing Hall, and no pictures or phones are allowed, but I'll Always remember that day watching my very first in-person professional Chess Tournament and it happens to be unexpectedly in Norway on my Trip Around the World with the nest plauers in the world! We find seats and sit in thr back left-hand side of the playing Hall. We sit right in front of Alireza Firouzja and Vincent Keymer for their game, and two boards next to them I have a clear view of Magnus Carlsen playing Wesley So. At the bery far end on the opposite side of the playing Hall is Gukesh and Pragg and have an obstructed view of them. In-between then are the Women's games paying simultaneously.
The really cool thing is that we are at the closest seats next to the drinks and snacks table so throughout the day we see all the players up close every time they get up to grab a bottle of water, a snack, or to use the bathroom, it was thee Perfect Spot!!! At the beginning I tried to make eye contact with the players when going to get water and throught the day I caught Alireza Firouzja and Vincent Keymer checking out Holly as they passed by, hahahaha!!!! Alereza messed up his foot about a month ago and and so gets pusjed arounf in a wheelchair for bathroom breaks. It was sooooo Cool checking out Magnus Carlsen walking about the playing Hall, as he got up more often than most of the players, and between playing moves he would checkout other games that were going on and analyzing them, it was really cool to see. If you don't knowbthe format of Classical Games, they play for a really long time. The games last 5 to 6 hours, but I know Chess well enough to follow the games and I try to guesstimate their next movies. Holly is a Trooper as she was there too and I felt bad she wasn't exploring Oslo instead, but she wanted to experience something that ment a lot to me, and that's just one of the many reasons why Holly is soooo Amazing!!!!
I followed mostly Mangnus' game at first, and I'm thr middle game I guess 3 of 4 of Magnus' moves in a row! Alereza and Vincent's game was really intense, where they played on increment, about 20 seconds each for the last 30 moves of thr game and was a real treat to see them in a long time scramble. Towards the end I focus on Gukesh and Pragg's game as Gukesh Sacrifices an entire Rook with no pieces captured in return!!??!? Magnus ends up losing, being the first time he's lost muktipr games in a Classical Tournament since back when the iPhone 3 came out!? Alereza ends up winning his match, and Gukesh loses his match as he was unable to convert his bishop pair Attack down a rook. The Women's World Campion also loses. It was an Amazing Experience and I'll never forget it.
After we leave I go to the bathroom, and Norwegians are TALL!!!! I go to the Urinal and I am barely tall enough to pee into it, I'm not a short person at all and I felt like a little kid using the Adults Urinal! If the Urinals were any taller I'd have to use the Toulets to pee instead, or have to aim vertically upwards.
Holly and I then make our way to the waterfront and walk on top of the roof of the Opera House. It's a really Cool building where they actually designed it to make it possible to walk up to the very top of the building from the ground and it's a Really Cool building. We see Awesome views of Dowtown around us amd it's a nice moment. It's getting late so we make our way to the Train Station to grab our Backpacks we stored in the Lockers earlier and head to our overnight train that leaves at 11 PM. We grab some food at a Bakery that is still open.
We had an idea, but really didn't actually understand the Epicness of the Train Ride we were about to go on. Words can't describe its Epicness. We are in the Land of the Midnight Sun here in Norway and a little over 2 weeks until the Longest Day of the year, so even though its a nught train there is only abour 2 hours of Darkness during it.
Even after all the things we've seen Traveling the World on this trip, we were still Utterly Blown Away by what is regarded as thee most Scenic and Beautiful Train Ride in the World going between Olso to Bergen, Norway.
-Chris
This featured blog entry was written by ChrisJohnstone from the blog Johnstone's Totally Excellent Adventure!.
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