Dave and Vera's Blog: Day 9 (Monday August 1) Oslo

Oslo's famous ski jump. The thing is huge, and needs to be photographed from a distance to take it all in. They have a zip line going from top to bottom in the summer, but the cost was $100. There was all kinds of activity going on, including roller-skiing (a way to practice your cross country skiing) and even target practice for the biathalon. Norwegians love the outdoors.

Gustav Vigeland's sculpture park. This is a must see. There are hundreds of statues depicting all stages of life in a never ending cycle.

Our tour guide Yahel encouraging us to touch the sculptures, as the artist intended. By the way, Yahel is originally from Israel, having moved to Oslo after marrying a Norwegian she had met in South America. She took up the tour business so she could live somewhere warmer in the winter. Now with two kids in school, that is impossible.

Akershu Fortress. We took a wonderful stroll through the old castle grounds, and visited Norway's WWII resistance museum.

Snohetta, based in Oslo, designed the opera house. Snohetta was also the designer of the 9/11 memorial in New York. The opera house is located directly across the street from our hotel. Rick Steves upgraded the Oslo portion of the tour, as the city is full of kids participating in an international youth soccer tournament.

You would think that a country rich in oil reserves would not be promoting electric cars. Not so in Norway, or the rest of Scandanavia for that matter. It is hard to see, but this is a line of electric cars lined up and having their batteries recharged. Norway has a tax rate of between 25% and 100% on cars, unless they are electric. Then the tax is waived. We see lots of Teslas. Norway is also putting much of the revenue from their oil in a trust account for the future. Quite different from the US and much of the rest of the world. The drop in oil prices is hurting them, but not like places like Saudi Arabia.