Oslo, part 1

Today, I started off with a typical Oslo activity - walking along Karl Johans gate, which is a main street in downtown Oslo. I was doing Rick Steve's walking tour, which also stopped at a couple of places along the way.

However, the tour didn't include anything too exciting, especially since the city hall was closed until September 21st to visitors. So, I decided that since it wasn't raining too bad (just kind of misting, which was most of today) I would go see Frogner Park. The statues by Vigeland were very cool to see and the park itself was nice too.

I then went to the Nobel Peace Center and museum, which was much more interesting than I expected. They had an exhibit with a bunch of pictures and stories about people who were seeking asylum in Norway or other counties and some of the difficulties they have to go through. There was also a large exhibit about the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Martti Ahtisaari, who was the president of Finland and is now an international peace mediator. One of the things he is well known for is for negotiating the independance of Kosovo.

I have also made some general observations about Norway:
- Everything is ridiculously expensive. I knew that it would be more than France, but I didn't realize by how much. What I can't figure out is why - I've heard it's since there are many very wealthy people in Oslo, but I also can't imagine that is why a 700 mL (about 24oz) bottle of water costs $4.50 (and water fountains, like in France, are nearly impossible to find).
-Convenience stores are very popular. Actually, this gets kind of out of hand. The chain Narvesen has stores all over the place, often in close proximity to one another. However, unlike Walgreens, they sell mostly food and that's about it. 7-eleven stores are also common, but they don't sell gas, just food as well.
-Theft must be quite a problem, since almost all stores have those alarm gates when you exit. Maybe if things didn't cost quite so much this wouldn't be a big issue?
-Everyone speaks English. I'm sure there are some Norwegians that don't, but I certainly haven't seen them. This does make things much easier travel-wise, that's for sure.