During my next business travel in January 2011, I had been to Oslo, capital of Norway. This time I flew Turkish Airways (via Istanbul). Its a good airline, especially the entertainment systems and food. I had some time to see around its hub,Istanbul airport while going. But while coming back since my flight from Oslo was delayed I run across two terminals which were far across and just boarded the flight on time.
Weather. Norway in winter is cold. When I came to know that I had to visit Oslo, I checked the weather to find that temperature was -25 degree C. And when I visited, people were happy that winter was almost over, but temperature was still -11 degree C. I remembered my school geography where we read about places up north where sun never rises during winter. In Oslo, there was sunshine for few hours. There was snow all over. This was my first city where I saw people well use to living in cold. But for me, I had a tough time walking in the snow filled streets.
Food. I had couple of business meals in the nearby restaurants. One was a Spanish which served buffet and where exotic food of different kind kept coming in, one after the other. The other was Japanese Sushi (its a big hit there). This on the other hand was not my favorite meal. First of all I could not use chop stick and secondly I did not fancy the taste. In other places, I normally ordered fish preferably salmon which was pretty good.
One afternoon while having lunch, we heard siren sound. I was a bit alarmed, but other kept on having their food. I then learnt that this was a routine test of installed sirens. These sirens have been in place from world war days, and had been used to alarm the citizens about attack from enemies. Somebody joked that this may be the best time to attack,as people may not know if this is a real attack or simply a routine test.
City. I was in Oslo for couple of days only and was mostly in meetings, so could not see the city. But while traveling to & fro airport, saw some of it. Norway is supposed to be one of the most prosperous country and the abundance shows. There were lots of boats and I remembered one of Scandinavian ex-colleague from Sweden who told me about his boating experience. Pakistanis form the largest expatriate population living in Oslo and I had my first hand experience as my cab driver was one of them. We had a very interesting talk in Hindi.
The airport gift shop reminded me of vikings as described in Asterix /Obelix comic books. Norway along with Denmark & Sweden have a rich history interwoven in war and collaboration. Again it reminds of Indian Continent present. Hope we would be able to live in peace and collectively prosper in near future.
Weather. Norway in winter is cold. When I came to know that I had to visit Oslo, I checked the weather to find that temperature was -25 degree C. And when I visited, people were happy that winter was almost over, but temperature was still -11 degree C. I remembered my school geography where we read about places up north where sun never rises during winter. In Oslo, there was sunshine for few hours. There was snow all over. This was my first city where I saw people well use to living in cold. But for me, I had a tough time walking in the snow filled streets.
Food. I had couple of business meals in the nearby restaurants. One was a Spanish which served buffet and where exotic food of different kind kept coming in, one after the other. The other was Japanese Sushi (its a big hit there). This on the other hand was not my favorite meal. First of all I could not use chop stick and secondly I did not fancy the taste. In other places, I normally ordered fish preferably salmon which was pretty good.
One afternoon while having lunch, we heard siren sound. I was a bit alarmed, but other kept on having their food. I then learnt that this was a routine test of installed sirens. These sirens have been in place from world war days, and had been used to alarm the citizens about attack from enemies. Somebody joked that this may be the best time to attack,as people may not know if this is a real attack or simply a routine test.
City. I was in Oslo for couple of days only and was mostly in meetings, so could not see the city. But while traveling to & fro airport, saw some of it. Norway is supposed to be one of the most prosperous country and the abundance shows. There were lots of boats and I remembered one of Scandinavian ex-colleague from Sweden who told me about his boating experience. Pakistanis form the largest expatriate population living in Oslo and I had my first hand experience as my cab driver was one of them. We had a very interesting talk in Hindi.
The airport gift shop reminded me of vikings as described in Asterix /Obelix comic books. Norway along with Denmark & Sweden have a rich history interwoven in war and collaboration. Again it reminds of Indian Continent present. Hope we would be able to live in peace and collectively prosper in near future.
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