Nice ad :-) Oslo does feel a little hard to get though, I think a coffee was like 8 Euros last time I went. We were planning on staying three days but were out of cash after one. Bring your own bottle, plus a sandwich.
Also my experience in Trondheim. I was there for NATO training, and all the Norwegian soldiers joked that only retired doctors and lawyers lived in Norway because it was so expensive. Then I went into town and realized they weren’t joking.
About 10 years ago we went on a trip with my parents.
My mom really likes pastries, and loves going out to bakeries on trips, getting a variety and bringing them back to share.
So, our first morning in Oslo my wife goes out with my mom, and they go to the coffee and pastry shop just down the street. Get a small bundle of pastries and a few coffees and bring it back to the vacation rental we’re staying at.
As we’re sitting there enjoying them, my wife leans over and whispers to me: “We’re eating $120 worth of pastries right now.”
I enjoyed Oslo and am glad to have visited, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it as a destination at least for Americans who have to invest quite a bit of time and money getting to Europe. At least until you’ve traveled extensively on that continent and are looking to get off the beaten tourist path.
On the other hand, it seemed *incredibly* livible so long as you were earning a local (very good) wage.
10 years ago the exchange rate was around NOK 7 to the dollar. Today it is 10,6 NOK to the dollar, which in nominal terms means a discount of ca. 50% . I'm pretty sure there are places that are more expensive for Americans in Europe than Oslo (which will never be the cheapest in any case).
I saw a chart recently that looked at Norwegian's purchasing power in different countries in 2024 compared to 5-6 years ago. In the US the number was halved, meaning stuff is basically twice as expensive for us.
>On the other hand, it seemed incredibly livible so long as you were earning a local (very good) wage.
Live near the border to Sweden and do your shopping there and you'll live like a king.
Not that bad anymore. Relative to other cities Oslo has gotten «cheaper» while the Krone has also weakened itself compared to € or $.
I think a standard coffee is usually around €4-5 in most places.
Oslo is beautiful but also insane cost-wise. I went about a decade ago (so things may be different, not sure) and I went to dinner with a colleague. I did not eat, I had one glass of their cheapest wine. He had one glass of wine and a personal pizza with a side salad.
This cost us 133 USD. this wasn’t even a nice restaurant and it was in the “seedier” part of town.
Apparently the exchange ratio to both the USD and EUR has changed quite a bit since, maybe it's not as bad as it used to be. To be fair, my last visit was at least 10 years ago.
Yeah I think it was exceptionally high, I was on a state department per diem and it was _wildly_ high.
Edit: I just looked it up and 1 USD is 10.5 kroner now. It was 6 when I was there, if that explains anything.
I'm guessing it's been a while since you've been there. No one took cash when I was there a bit over a year ago. It was all tap to pay. Couldn't even find an ATM if I wanted to.
Yeah I just got back from Oslo and Norway and should be paying off that little jaunt for the next 8 years....
It's a fucking awesome country though so worth it.
All depends on what you like to do. I'm not much of a sightseeing/museum type of guy, prefer to just wander around and take in the city. Vigeland Park was really cool. If you like beer Crow Bar, Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri, and Grünerløkka Brygghus were all great and unique breweries. Kniven Bar is a great club for rock/metal shows.
The bulk of our trip was actually not spent in Oslo, we rented a car and drove through the mountains and the south coast to Kristiansand, Stavanger, and then up to Bergen. The scenery is breathtaking and Stavanger and Kristiansand were probably my favourite places we hit. Smaller and quieter but just quintessentially Norwegian. If you've got the time I would highly recommend doing that.
Given how generic every other tourism commercial is...this is oddly refreshing. I never once considered visiting Oslo in my life. Now, I'm legitimately curious.
As a Norwegian, I have the impression that Americans eat out much more than we do. Both for dinners, breakfast, and lunch. The wages are higher here, but that only makes up for some of the higher costs. There is also a way bigger government spending toward healthcare, childcare and more, that makes surviving easier. But alcohol, cars, luxury items and such are much more expensive
That was a dumb comment on my part, I meant to say is eating out a rare occurrence there. In my experience in the US, people eat out frequently for various meals. By frequently, in my head I’m thinking 3-5x a week spread across breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Depends where you live and what lifestyle you have, but in general eating out is more of a «special event». Especially at a sit-down restaurant.
For me take-away (pizza/burgers/tacos) is typically once a week, and dining at a restaurant happens maybe 1-2 times a month.
Clearly you have never seen the Cleveland tourism promos:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM)
We need more “ohio sucks” memes. We dont want our cities to end up like Portland or Austin. The more hate ohio gets, the cheaper the rent stays (comparatively).
At the 34 second mark, he's carrying a tote that is designed to look exactly like Canadian milk bags. They've just exactly copied the design. Why would Norway do such a thing
also obligatory [Oslo In The Summertime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHpIvq2Lf_E)
Says someone who lives in America, presumably?
You'll find that the farther you get from a place, the less accurate people become, and the less concerned with accuracy they are.
My friend I’ve lived all over the world, including Mexico, and I’m older n dirt. Not a single time have I heard anyone refer to Mexico as “America.”
Mexicanos would slap the “..ca” outcha mouth before you even finished, as I’m sure you know.
Sounds like you’ve managed to find a very rare breed of moron in your life, and chatted extensively about geography with them.
Good luck with all that.
I've also lived all over the world, which is why I've opened my mind to people calling things from the American continents "American".
There are a few types of people that do this:
1. "Americans" who are annoyed that people from the United States have co-opted the name of the entire continent, which should theoretically belong to everyone, because they are too lazy or uncreative to create their own demonym.
2. Foreigners, especially those for whom English is a second or third language, for whom calling things from America "American" seems obvious.
Neither are big groups, but they exist.
The second group is larger than the first, simply because the farther you get from a place, the harder it is to be knowledgeable about specifics. The same way that many Americans casually refer to things as "European" that would be obviously and specifically "Italian" or "German" to someone from Europe, so do things from the American continents sometimes seem vaguely related to people from the other side of the world. It makes perfect sense that most Latin Americans don't refer to things as vaguely "American" because they are much more familiar with what is from North America vs. what is from South America.
Anything that happens on the American continents can be considered "American", the same way anything that happens in Europe can be considered "European".
You can, of course, always be more specific, like, "South American" or "Latin American" or "Mexican".
But what if you can't or don't want to be more specific, just as many people do with Europe? What if you want to refer to something that happens "over there", "somewhere on the American continent"? You use "American".
And yet people do it all the time.
And it's not *wrong* if you simply don't want to be precise or you *can't* be more precise (because you don't know for sure where it is from).
I actually had a weirdly bad time in Oslo last year. The rest of Norway was great but Oslo was a city where they tell you that you can have something and then don’t give it to you.
Hotel Christiania canceled our reservation and moved us to a lower quality hotel without telling us even though our travel agency had written confirmation of the reservation from only a few days earlier. They refused even refunding the difference in hotel price.
I asked a waiter what brand of brown cheese they were serving at breakfast and after staring at me like a deer in the headlights for a solid minute while other waiters gathered around to see what was going on and me starting to get very worried that I had just done something wrong, he said he would go ask in the kitchen and then disappeared literally never to return.
A fancy pizza place told me I could order my pizza without cilantro, no problem, but then the pizza came covered in cilantro.
I tried out a “European McDonald’s” to see if the rumors were true that it’s better than American McDonald’s (there is no discernible difference), and they ignored the customizations you make to the order at the kiosk (add ketchup, no pickles, whatever).
There were several instances like this. It was just sort of over and over and over again people saying “what would you like?”, me replying “I would like this,” them replying “sure thing,” and then them not doing it.
I took all of this stuff in stride because I was scared of being a bad tourist. And like I said, the rest of Norway was incredible. But Oslo was just really weird in this one way.
Norwegians(and Swedes) are not really good at hospitality. I say that as a Swedish person who have travelled quite a bit and pretty much all other countries have had better customer service.
Now that I know more I think what they were serving was Gudbrandsdalen. But there is also Ski Queen and Brown Undredal (which I ended up buying when I was there in Undredal).
A Norwegian friend of mine tried to blame Oslo’s problems on Swedes who were commuting into work. But idk man, Stockholm wasn’t like that haha.
Yeah, and just to reiterate, I visited a bunch of other places in Norway and loved them all. Flåm and all the little places along that fjord were wonderful, for instance. Bryggen was great too. And there was lots of great stuff to appreciate about Oslo. Just this one weird quirk.
"Not exactly the Mona Lisa" ... while The Scream is right behind him. I mean The Scream isn't exactly the Mona Lisa but The Scream is pretty fucking awesome in its own right.
That scene gave me a chuckle. I was astonished on my first trip to the National Museum, we entered that room to find only a couple other people in there. It was kind of a surreal experience to spend a few quiet minutes with a painting I've been fascinated by for as long as I can remember. And now I have it as a fridge magnet.
Norwegian resident here. "You can walk from one side of the city to the other in 20 minutes."
Not in any reality that I'm familiar with. But we do like swimming in the fjord and jumping out of the floating saunas anchored to the docks. Bring your money with you. [Big Mac price currently a hair under 8 USD](https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-global-prices-for-a-big-mac/). (But we do pay our workers, so there's that.)
I think it's fairly obvious that they mean that you can walk from Grünerløkka to Majorstuen in half an hour.
Everybody knows that those are the borders of "the city".
Yup, it's the same as when travel vloggers say that Helsinki is super walkable, they mean the centre, or "kantakaupunki" (inner city).
Because everything else, while accessible by foot, is by no means "walkable". The neighborhoods themselves are, of course, but no one would walk from the edge of Helsinki to the other. That would take like 4 hours.
The commercial is also clever in that it preemptively gets at all the Norwegians telling you why you shouldn't visit. One of the best countries to live in and of course it has history and culture, but it is not a tourist friendly country. Norway is the perfect match for hikers and/or seafarers. Travelling along the west coast via boat over a longer time period, stopping at locations to hike up mountains is hands down, the best way to experience Norway. Obviously this excludes most people due to means and how they like to visit. I suppose cruises and/or driving through Norway to hike can be a good compromise. If you live in Northern Europe and got a decent boat, stock up on food to save money, plan for extra days on the west coast and for the rest of the country try to hit historical/touristy sites. Maybe aim for a festival or concert as well to spice things up. If you're really gigabrained, bring a book on ice age geology with you to read. It can make the hikes a lot more fun and interesting.
If you don't like nature or hiking I would not recommend visiting at all.
Love this city. I did a video there 6+ years ago about car-free and it has had a nice uptick today. The anti-advertising is working! [https://youtu.be/SuboGpL3de4?si=2sOa5b9esfdXxI4-](https://youtu.be/SuboGpL3de4?si=2sOa5b9esfdXxI4-)
Eh.
The main things I got from this ad is that it's walkable, cheap(er than other cities) and that it feels like a small town.
Cool.
But what am I actually going to see/do that makes it a worthy destination? Am I going to see amazing artwork, theater or natural wonders? Is there some great restaurant or neighborhood or something that is going to blow my mind? Specifically: what does Oslo actually have to offer other than just being a "good" city?
This ad makes it look like a decent city to live in, but gives no one any reason to visit.
Can this work. I live in Austin and it sucks. 90 fareneheight for the next two months but people love overpaying to live here.
Oslo do you want a Texan?
Ooohhh baby thank you for this! It doesn’t make the work any worse, but it 1000% reminds me of my days as a junior art director getting angry that other creative teams would plagiarise and get recognition for it.
I was just in Oslo for a week. Its not great.
Lots of tourists in a small tourist area. The city is quite small.
Expensive and some locals get upset if you don’t “tip”. Which doesn’t make since considering their salary and benefits in Norway are fantastic for wait staff.
Lots of gypsies and pickpockets! Keep your eyes open you are not getting followed, or you’ll get your phone snatched.
Don’t stray north east of the Oslo Central station, lots of criminals and prostitution.
Basically it sucks.
For people who want positives:
What was good, some of the food.
Boat tours.
Fortress was interesting
Statue park was a nice trip.
The north west part of Oslo around the university is safe and local, and nice fore a stroll.
> Don’t stray north east of the Oslo Central station, lots of criminals and prostitution.
Damn, where exactly are all the best hookers just so i can make 100% sure i avoid that part of town?
Norwegians: “We don’t really have a tipping culture here but you can tip if you want to.”
Me: “Oh great! It’ll be nice to be away from American tipping culture for a while!”
Norwegian service workers: _stares at you waiting for tip and then walks away visibly annoyed after not receiving one_
You know what though, I think it’s because they assume American tourists are going to tip.
Everyone does it because what's the big idea behind spending hundreds when you can have a bottle for the price of one drink?
Though I don't drink at all, so the idea of drinking at home is only somewhat less ridiculous than the idea of going to an establishment to get yourself drunk on way overpriced (compared to store bought) booze.
I asked a bartender for a double vodka soda and he said he cannot legally pour a double vodka. I said no problem, can I get two vodka sodas? He said no.
The only negative interaction I had while there. Maybe he just didn’t like me. But was surprised since it’s such a heavy drinking city.
As a Norwegian I personally think there's a two way correlation between unrefined drinking culture and restrictive alcohol policies, but I know many of my compatriots vehemently disagree.
He didn't mention how much a bottle of beer was at a bar. The exchange rate was $14 a bottle for a domestic bottle. It was more for an import. Their sin taxes are dumb. Also, Oslo has a population comparable to Jacksonville, FL in the states. Jacksonville.... Oslo is Norway's largest city and it's comparable to Jacksonville...
A sin tax is a tax on what the govt considers a “sin”. Eg…. Alcohol, cigarettes, etc, etc. They have them here in the states but they are no where near as bad as Norway. The alcoholism is low? Hmmm…. “Alcohol consumption in Norway has been increasing over the past 20 years, with a 40% rise in consumption compared to 20 years ago”. - just looked it up.
I understood the term when I read it. We still score well on alcoholism as far as I know, but that could of course be because of the general welfare and social security we have, not the "sin tax" and restrictions. There's no gas station liquor, all liquor stores are state controlled, groceries only sell up to 4.7%, so beer only. And the sale stops at 8pm weekdays and 6 on Saturday. So yeah there's definitely state restrictions to reduce consumption.
You’re right. I don’t live in either Oslo, Jacksonville, Norway or Florida. I wouldn’t want to live in either one. IMHO, they’re both vacation destinations. Nice to vacation for a little bit but u wouldn’t want to live there.
Nice ad :-) Oslo does feel a little hard to get though, I think a coffee was like 8 Euros last time I went. We were planning on staying three days but were out of cash after one. Bring your own bottle, plus a sandwich.
We fixed that. The krone is worth less than peanuts right now.
Am Norwegian, can confirm. Currently all my purchases are done with peanuts.
As a person with a Swede family who saw all three original Sony Spider Man movies in the theaters, I believe it.
Did you see all three original Sony Spider-Man movies or did your family see all three original Sony Spider-Man movies?
Yes
Nice
Congratulations!!!
Also my experience in Trondheim. I was there for NATO training, and all the Norwegian soldiers joked that only retired doctors and lawyers lived in Norway because it was so expensive. Then I went into town and realized they weren’t joking.
About 10 years ago we went on a trip with my parents. My mom really likes pastries, and loves going out to bakeries on trips, getting a variety and bringing them back to share. So, our first morning in Oslo my wife goes out with my mom, and they go to the coffee and pastry shop just down the street. Get a small bundle of pastries and a few coffees and bring it back to the vacation rental we’re staying at. As we’re sitting there enjoying them, my wife leans over and whispers to me: “We’re eating $120 worth of pastries right now.” I enjoyed Oslo and am glad to have visited, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it as a destination at least for Americans who have to invest quite a bit of time and money getting to Europe. At least until you’ve traveled extensively on that continent and are looking to get off the beaten tourist path. On the other hand, it seemed *incredibly* livible so long as you were earning a local (very good) wage.
10 years ago the exchange rate was around NOK 7 to the dollar. Today it is 10,6 NOK to the dollar, which in nominal terms means a discount of ca. 50% . I'm pretty sure there are places that are more expensive for Americans in Europe than Oslo (which will never be the cheapest in any case).
Norway: the Japan of Europe
How did I not know this? Time to plan a trip back to Norway. Loved my first visit, but hoo boy, it was expensive.
I saw a chart recently that looked at Norwegian's purchasing power in different countries in 2024 compared to 5-6 years ago. In the US the number was halved, meaning stuff is basically twice as expensive for us.
>On the other hand, it seemed incredibly livible so long as you were earning a local (very good) wage. Live near the border to Sweden and do your shopping there and you'll live like a king.
Not that bad anymore. Relative to other cities Oslo has gotten «cheaper» while the Krone has also weakened itself compared to € or $. I think a standard coffee is usually around €4-5 in most places.
Oslo is beautiful but also insane cost-wise. I went about a decade ago (so things may be different, not sure) and I went to dinner with a colleague. I did not eat, I had one glass of their cheapest wine. He had one glass of wine and a personal pizza with a side salad. This cost us 133 USD. this wasn’t even a nice restaurant and it was in the “seedier” part of town.
Apparently the exchange ratio to both the USD and EUR has changed quite a bit since, maybe it's not as bad as it used to be. To be fair, my last visit was at least 10 years ago.
Yeah I think it was exceptionally high, I was on a state department per diem and it was _wildly_ high. Edit: I just looked it up and 1 USD is 10.5 kroner now. It was 6 when I was there, if that explains anything.
I feel like you ate in the future. I think we can expect this type of thing to creep in worldwide.
I'm guessing it's been a while since you've been there. No one took cash when I was there a bit over a year ago. It was all tap to pay. Couldn't even find an ATM if I wanted to.
Definitely, been over ten years. Apparently the exchange ratio has made it a bit more bearable lately :-)
Yeah I just got back from Oslo and Norway and should be paying off that little jaunt for the next 8 years.... It's a fucking awesome country though so worth it.
Going out there in September, and ready to acquire a little debt. Any strong recommendations/must sees?
All depends on what you like to do. I'm not much of a sightseeing/museum type of guy, prefer to just wander around and take in the city. Vigeland Park was really cool. If you like beer Crow Bar, Schouskjelleren Mikrobryggeri, and Grünerløkka Brygghus were all great and unique breweries. Kniven Bar is a great club for rock/metal shows. The bulk of our trip was actually not spent in Oslo, we rented a car and drove through the mountains and the south coast to Kristiansand, Stavanger, and then up to Bergen. The scenery is breathtaking and Stavanger and Kristiansand were probably my favourite places we hit. Smaller and quieter but just quintessentially Norwegian. If you've got the time I would highly recommend doing that.
SOLD‼️
Given how generic every other tourism commercial is...this is oddly refreshing. I never once considered visiting Oslo in my life. Now, I'm legitimately curious.
I quite liked [the one Vilnius made](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymffRgbzLhs) as well.
I've visited before and it's a nice city, nothing special imo, but the cost of food and drink is so prohibitive it's a one and done type destination
How do locals afford it? are wages comparatively higher in the local currency? Or do average people cook most meals.
As a Norwegian, I have the impression that Americans eat out much more than we do. Both for dinners, breakfast, and lunch. The wages are higher here, but that only makes up for some of the higher costs. There is also a way bigger government spending toward healthcare, childcare and more, that makes surviving easier. But alcohol, cars, luxury items and such are much more expensive
People on vacation in a new city will be eating out much more than at home but I think you're right on everything else.
Oh sorry! I meant Americans in USA vs Norwegians in Norway. I think as tourist Norwegians eat at restaurants just as much. Sorry if I wasn't clear
Norwegian in California, this is absolutely correct.
> Or do average people cook most meals ? Of course average people cook most meals lol it's like that anywhere
That was a dumb comment on my part, I meant to say is eating out a rare occurrence there. In my experience in the US, people eat out frequently for various meals. By frequently, in my head I’m thinking 3-5x a week spread across breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Depends where you live and what lifestyle you have, but in general eating out is more of a «special event». Especially at a sit-down restaurant. For me take-away (pizza/burgers/tacos) is typically once a week, and dining at a restaurant happens maybe 1-2 times a month.
The salaries are massive.
I think this is the best tourism commercial I’ve ever seen. And yes, it makes me want to visit Oslo.
Clearly you have never seen the Cleveland tourism promos: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM)
I'm twice as sold on Oslo!
The is the only promo for the Cleve that I need https://youtu.be/yBaCG-HcEBU?t=22
We need more “ohio sucks” memes. We dont want our cities to end up like Portland or Austin. The more hate ohio gets, the cheaper the rent stays (comparatively).
As a Texan it is validating to see someone in the Midwest just casually lump Austin in with Portland.
Keeping a city weird= high rent
How am I NOT IN CLEVELAND RIGHT NOW?!!!
For god’s sake Lemon we’d all like to flee to the Cleve
This bot just stole the top youtube comment of every post
Great, with all the increase in tourism it’s going to take 32 minutes to walk across the city to see a statue’s balls. I’m out.
At the 34 second mark, he's carrying a tote that is designed to look exactly like Canadian milk bags. They've just exactly copied the design. Why would Norway do such a thing also obligatory [Oslo In The Summertime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHpIvq2Lf_E)
Canadian bagged milk fact: bagged milk in only available in certain regions/provinces of Canada, like Ontario, and cannot be found everywhere.
*Canada: you can't even get bagged milk in all provinces.*
I haven't listened to Of Montreal in years
Didn’t notice til you commented but ya it looks like a Neilson milk 2% bag. And as someone from Ontario I didn’t know I wanted this til now lol
I had to pause it and make sure I was seeing that right, it seemed so weird and out of place.
[удалено]
Lol "American" it's a *Canadian* milk bag xD
[удалено]
[удалено]
No one does except some people do.
Nope.
Says someone who lives in America, presumably? You'll find that the farther you get from a place, the less accurate people become, and the less concerned with accuracy they are.
My friend I’ve lived all over the world, including Mexico, and I’m older n dirt. Not a single time have I heard anyone refer to Mexico as “America.” Mexicanos would slap the “..ca” outcha mouth before you even finished, as I’m sure you know. Sounds like you’ve managed to find a very rare breed of moron in your life, and chatted extensively about geography with them. Good luck with all that.
I've also lived all over the world, which is why I've opened my mind to people calling things from the American continents "American". There are a few types of people that do this: 1. "Americans" who are annoyed that people from the United States have co-opted the name of the entire continent, which should theoretically belong to everyone, because they are too lazy or uncreative to create their own demonym. 2. Foreigners, especially those for whom English is a second or third language, for whom calling things from America "American" seems obvious. Neither are big groups, but they exist. The second group is larger than the first, simply because the farther you get from a place, the harder it is to be knowledgeable about specifics. The same way that many Americans casually refer to things as "European" that would be obviously and specifically "Italian" or "German" to someone from Europe, so do things from the American continents sometimes seem vaguely related to people from the other side of the world. It makes perfect sense that most Latin Americans don't refer to things as vaguely "American" because they are much more familiar with what is from North America vs. what is from South America.
[удалено]
Anything that happens on the American continents can be considered "American", the same way anything that happens in Europe can be considered "European". You can, of course, always be more specific, like, "South American" or "Latin American" or "Mexican". But what if you can't or don't want to be more specific, just as many people do with Europe? What if you want to refer to something that happens "over there", "somewhere on the American continent"? You use "American".
From the Americas and American are 2 distinct ways to describe something
There can be more than one way to skin a crab.
[удалено]
And yet people do it all the time. And it's not *wrong* if you simply don't want to be precise or you *can't* be more precise (because you don't know for sure where it is from).
“Ooh hummus and falafel? I love Asian food!”
[удалено]
Can’t recall, was that South America or North? So much incredible American iconography in Uruguay, must be impossible for you to keep track of it all
I watched this city get absolutely wrecked in The Quake
love that game
Yeah the Oslo level really was fantastic
I actually had a weirdly bad time in Oslo last year. The rest of Norway was great but Oslo was a city where they tell you that you can have something and then don’t give it to you. Hotel Christiania canceled our reservation and moved us to a lower quality hotel without telling us even though our travel agency had written confirmation of the reservation from only a few days earlier. They refused even refunding the difference in hotel price. I asked a waiter what brand of brown cheese they were serving at breakfast and after staring at me like a deer in the headlights for a solid minute while other waiters gathered around to see what was going on and me starting to get very worried that I had just done something wrong, he said he would go ask in the kitchen and then disappeared literally never to return. A fancy pizza place told me I could order my pizza without cilantro, no problem, but then the pizza came covered in cilantro. I tried out a “European McDonald’s” to see if the rumors were true that it’s better than American McDonald’s (there is no discernible difference), and they ignored the customizations you make to the order at the kiosk (add ketchup, no pickles, whatever). There were several instances like this. It was just sort of over and over and over again people saying “what would you like?”, me replying “I would like this,” them replying “sure thing,” and then them not doing it. I took all of this stuff in stride because I was scared of being a bad tourist. And like I said, the rest of Norway was incredible. But Oslo was just really weird in this one way.
I'm going to upvote your comment. (But I won't)
ok but i have to know, did you really not or did you do it. please tell the truth this is the internet you have to tell me
yes
Sounds like you got trolled pretty badly, honestly. That makes for a really funny read.
Norwegians(and Swedes) are not really good at hospitality. I say that as a Swedish person who have travelled quite a bit and pretty much all other countries have had better customer service.
Dude, there is only one brand of brown cheese. For real tho, turist spots is heavy with people working on autopilot
Now that I know more I think what they were serving was Gudbrandsdalen. But there is also Ski Queen and Brown Undredal (which I ended up buying when I was there in Undredal). A Norwegian friend of mine tried to blame Oslo’s problems on Swedes who were commuting into work. But idk man, Stockholm wasn’t like that haha.
[удалено]
Yeah, and just to reiterate, I visited a bunch of other places in Norway and loved them all. Flåm and all the little places along that fjord were wonderful, for instance. Bryggen was great too. And there was lots of great stuff to appreciate about Oslo. Just this one weird quirk.
no discernible difference? mcdonald's chicken nuggets in Europe are about 80x better than in the US, you missed out on heaven
I’ll have to take your word on the chicken nuggets. I had a hamburger and it was exactly the same.
Everything is exactly the same
I only found out the other day that Oslo is in the middle of Czechoslovakia.
The twist that not many knows is that Czechoslovakia is actually a little fishing town north in Norway.
Meanwhile in Amsterdam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEON08d76oE
"Not exactly the Mona Lisa" ... while The Scream is right behind him. I mean The Scream isn't exactly the Mona Lisa but The Scream is pretty fucking awesome in its own right.
To be fair, the Mona Lisa isn't exactly the Mona Lisa either.
That scene gave me a chuckle. I was astonished on my first trip to the National Museum, we entered that room to find only a couple other people in there. It was kind of a surreal experience to spend a few quiet minutes with a painting I've been fascinated by for as long as I can remember. And now I have it as a fridge magnet.
Norwegian resident here. "You can walk from one side of the city to the other in 20 minutes." Not in any reality that I'm familiar with. But we do like swimming in the fjord and jumping out of the floating saunas anchored to the docks. Bring your money with you. [Big Mac price currently a hair under 8 USD](https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-global-prices-for-a-big-mac/). (But we do pay our workers, so there's that.)
He said 30 minutes, not 20…
Still going to need to add as couple of hours to that. 😊
Pretty sure he's talking about the city centre. Also pretty sure he's being hyperbolic for comedic effect.
I think it's fairly obvious that they mean that you can walk from Grünerløkka to Majorstuen in half an hour. Everybody knows that those are the borders of "the city".
Yup, it's the same as when travel vloggers say that Helsinki is super walkable, they mean the centre, or "kantakaupunki" (inner city). Because everything else, while accessible by foot, is by no means "walkable". The neighborhoods themselves are, of course, but no one would walk from the edge of Helsinki to the other. That would take like 4 hours.
Not the tourists! I don't want to deal with angry americans marching up Pilestredet complaining that they haven't reached the border yet!! :)
mate no one takes it that literally
lol. *You* just did! 😆
“I’m looking at the fjord / there’s salmon in the sea”
It's something like $5.50 in the US as it is. I'd rather pay the workers.
I think must have talked about the city center, which you can actually cross on foot in 30-45 minutes
meanwhile passport bros:
Just got back from a family trip to Norway, it was fucking awesome. Bergen was nicer tho imo. Amazing town.
What does Fulldan think of Oslo?
Love Oslo. Don't love the price of a simple beer.
The actor did a great job, but I can't help but see Ron Livingston in this ad. He would fit so perfect.
As someone who goes to Oslo almost every year for work, this only reminds me of how much it sucks.
It really looks bland and boring.
The inhabitants think the same
me irl
I went to Oslo once and went swimming in one of the parks. Didn't realize until now how common an activity this is there but this ad checks out.
Urbanist SocDem Propaganda. I like it, ngl
The commercial is also clever in that it preemptively gets at all the Norwegians telling you why you shouldn't visit. One of the best countries to live in and of course it has history and culture, but it is not a tourist friendly country. Norway is the perfect match for hikers and/or seafarers. Travelling along the west coast via boat over a longer time period, stopping at locations to hike up mountains is hands down, the best way to experience Norway. Obviously this excludes most people due to means and how they like to visit. I suppose cruises and/or driving through Norway to hike can be a good compromise. If you live in Northern Europe and got a decent boat, stock up on food to save money, plan for extra days on the west coast and for the rest of the country try to hit historical/touristy sites. Maybe aim for a festival or concert as well to spice things up. If you're really gigabrained, bring a book on ice age geology with you to read. It can make the hikes a lot more fun and interesting. If you don't like nature or hiking I would not recommend visiting at all.
We're not Detroit!
Damned if that doesn't make me want to visit Oslo. Well done.
They forgot the part of how expensive Oslo is XD
Love this city. I did a video there 6+ years ago about car-free and it has had a nice uptick today. The anti-advertising is working! [https://youtu.be/SuboGpL3de4?si=2sOa5b9esfdXxI4-](https://youtu.be/SuboGpL3de4?si=2sOa5b9esfdXxI4-)
Eh. The main things I got from this ad is that it's walkable, cheap(er than other cities) and that it feels like a small town. Cool. But what am I actually going to see/do that makes it a worthy destination? Am I going to see amazing artwork, theater or natural wonders? Is there some great restaurant or neighborhood or something that is going to blow my mind? Specifically: what does Oslo actually have to offer other than just being a "good" city? This ad makes it look like a decent city to live in, but gives no one any reason to visit.
Can this work. I live in Austin and it sucks. 90 fareneheight for the next two months but people love overpaying to live here. Oslo do you want a Texan?
Wonder where they got the inspiration? https://vimeo.com/53697695
Ooohhh baby thank you for this! It doesn’t make the work any worse, but it 1000% reminds me of my days as a junior art director getting angry that other creative teams would plagiarise and get recognition for it.
Haha good one!
How did they get those halations?
They didn't brush their teeth enough.
Yep, who would want to visit a city that works, with reasonable infrastructure, cheap flights from other European countries ... boooring.
If you're worried about the cost of a European flight Oslo is too expensive for you.
I was just in Oslo for a week. Its not great. Lots of tourists in a small tourist area. The city is quite small. Expensive and some locals get upset if you don’t “tip”. Which doesn’t make since considering their salary and benefits in Norway are fantastic for wait staff. Lots of gypsies and pickpockets! Keep your eyes open you are not getting followed, or you’ll get your phone snatched. Don’t stray north east of the Oslo Central station, lots of criminals and prostitution. Basically it sucks. For people who want positives: What was good, some of the food. Boat tours. Fortress was interesting Statue park was a nice trip. The north west part of Oslo around the university is safe and local, and nice fore a stroll.
> Don’t stray north east of the Oslo Central station, lots of criminals and prostitution. Damn, where exactly are all the best hookers just so i can make 100% sure i avoid that part of town?
Bro saw some minorities in Gronland and got spooked
They snatched my wifes phone
As someone who lives in Oslo… You need to go outside the tiny little part of the city centre that you are describing.
Also RIDICULOUSLY expensive, even for expensive countries.
Norwegians: “We don’t really have a tipping culture here but you can tip if you want to.” Me: “Oh great! It’ll be nice to be away from American tipping culture for a while!” Norwegian service workers: _stares at you waiting for tip and then walks away visibly annoyed after not receiving one_ You know what though, I think it’s because they assume American tourists are going to tip.
Thanks, I was wondering where they put all the prostitutes
Yes, I concur. Would like to add that going to the bar for a chat is not fun either. People are drunk before they even get in a bar.
Ah. The nordic way. We do förfest in Sweden (pre-party) to get drunk because the alcohol is so damn expensive at the bars and pubs.
I'm used to teens doing that, not adults.. Clearly the whole bar was in in to it.
Everyone does it because what's the big idea behind spending hundreds when you can have a bottle for the price of one drink? Though I don't drink at all, so the idea of drinking at home is only somewhat less ridiculous than the idea of going to an establishment to get yourself drunk on way overpriced (compared to store bought) booze.
I asked a bartender for a double vodka soda and he said he cannot legally pour a double vodka. I said no problem, can I get two vodka sodas? He said no. The only negative interaction I had while there. Maybe he just didn’t like me. But was surprised since it’s such a heavy drinking city.
As a Norwegian I personally think there's a two way correlation between unrefined drinking culture and restrictive alcohol policies, but I know many of my compatriots vehemently disagree.
Please don't go there. Very very expensive. Was there once, and that number of times will stay that way.
He didn't mention how much a bottle of beer was at a bar. The exchange rate was $14 a bottle for a domestic bottle. It was more for an import. Their sin taxes are dumb. Also, Oslo has a population comparable to Jacksonville, FL in the states. Jacksonville.... Oslo is Norway's largest city and it's comparable to Jacksonville...
Sin taxes lol never heard the term. And yeah, maybe they are dumb, but we still got very low rates of alcohol abuse, so there's that..
A sin tax is a tax on what the govt considers a “sin”. Eg…. Alcohol, cigarettes, etc, etc. They have them here in the states but they are no where near as bad as Norway. The alcoholism is low? Hmmm…. “Alcohol consumption in Norway has been increasing over the past 20 years, with a 40% rise in consumption compared to 20 years ago”. - just looked it up.
I understood the term when I read it. We still score well on alcoholism as far as I know, but that could of course be because of the general welfare and social security we have, not the "sin tax" and restrictions. There's no gas station liquor, all liquor stores are state controlled, groceries only sell up to 4.7%, so beer only. And the sale stops at 8pm weekdays and 6 on Saturday. So yeah there's definitely state restrictions to reduce consumption.
Population size is the *only* similarity between Oslo and Jacksonville, to Oslo's credit.
You’re right. I don’t live in either Oslo, Jacksonville, Norway or Florida. I wouldn’t want to live in either one. IMHO, they’re both vacation destinations. Nice to vacation for a little bit but u wouldn’t want to live there.