Today seems to be a good day to visit the Royal Palace, Oslo. Getting a ticket to the English-speaking tour is a bit of a shambles. Only ‘left-over’ tickets are sold at the Palace gates, and the main ways of purchasing a ticket is online (if you can print it out), from a Post Office (closed on Saturdays), or from 7-Eleven stores.
I find a 7-Eleven store, but the operator is unable to issue a ticket for the tour, so back to the Palace gates to stand in line for a ‘left-over’ ticket. It’s a half an hour wait, but eventually manage to get onto the last English-speaking tour of the day. No photography inside the palace is allowed, nor in the courtyard outside. We’re also told that we have to wear shoe covers. It’s all seeming like a bit too much hassle at this stage.
It’s all worth it in the end. Linn, the guide is excellent. The interiors of the palace are truly outstanding, particularly the painted walls and ceilings. One of the ceilings looks like a pastel Persian carpet painted on the roof. Linn explains that when the Palace was built in Oslo, the labour for a team of artists to paint the ceilings and walls was far cheaper than materials (such as gold leaf and ornamentation) and the only room on which the architect splurged on materials was the ballroom. Two hundred years later though, the ballroom looks like any other ballroom in a chateau or historic building in Europe, but the rooms that have been illustrated with paint are unique.
The Palace gardens are open to the public, with several ponds and walking trails throughout. It is full of locals walking their dogs, jogging or lounging in the sun. At the rear of the gardens is the suburb of Frogner, which is full of stately, well maintained apartment buildings, and which also appears to house quite a few embassies. Frogner also has a small shopping and cafe district, which has some upmarket clothing, jewellery and homewares stores. It is also home to the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
