City Hall and the Opera House

Peggah and I went to city hall yesterday because it was suppose to be open for free and you could look around. But they were closed :sad: So we went around the back of the building because it was so pretty to take pictures when the security gaurd came out and asked us if we always took pictures laying on the ground (we were layign on the ground) We said we were just trying to get some good shots of the outside since we couldnt go inside. Then he asked us if we wanted to have a look inside. We were like, yes!! So he let us in and it was seriously like a palace of marble! The big room was so beautiful, words cannot describe it. It was like being in a church with how big itt was. And these magnificent murals were painted on the walls and it was just unbelievable. He let us go upstairs and look at all the other rooms and I couldnt believe this was there city hall. It really was a palace, I swear. He then proceded to give us a personal tour, just Peggah and I, while City Hall was closed, too every room, explaining the murals on the wall, letting us take a zillion pictures, turnign on all the light for us so we could see the rooms all lit up to their glory, he took us in this one room where this giant priceless painting was hanging, I dont remember by who, and I couldnt they ever let people near it. Then he took us to the library!!! :thud: I almost passed out. The books in there were sooooo amazing. The oldest one that I could find was 1877! He said he was very sad by how much the people dont care about the building or the things in it because no one takes care of anything. Some of the books were upside down, they had these giant tapastries that were hundreds of years old hanging on the walls and they were fading and fallign apart because no one wanted to do anything about blocking the sun out from them. He said they take it for granted. Inlaid in the marble (everything was marble) were these amazing wooden floors laid out in a pattern that he said no one alive could replecate and the people who use the rooms, instead of lifting up that chairs to move them, they just drag them across the floor anf scratch the shit out of them. I was apaled!! How could these people not care about a buidling that was so beautiful and magnificent. I would kill to have something that glorious in the States that we could see. Then he asked if we want to go up on the roof!!! We were beside ourselfs. So we had to walk up a whole bunch of stairs then take an elevator the rest of the way up (it had to of been 30 stories or more at the top) And as soon as we got on the roof, the bells started chimming to the hour. It was sooooo loud but soo cool. There must of been about 20 bells in the tower that played a long song every hour and a couple of notes every 15 mintues. Then we walked up this plank thing to a walk way all around the roof and my breath just left my chest. The view was just undescribable. You could see all of Oslo plus some, the moutains, the islands in the fjords, the ski jump in the moutain, everything!! We totally got snap happy with the cameras. I mean, how many chances woudl we ever get to see the city like this? The gaurd stood up there with us for an hour !!! He pointed out all the different things, the castles, the fishing boats, the islands, were the moose are, the different parts of town, were all the museums were, where the viking ships were, were the real Palace was at, the University. I mean everything. Then we asked him about the cost of living and such and we just talked about everything while we watched the big cruise liners leave the port and the different boats coming and going from the docking marina’s. It was cold and windy and raining a little but I didnt care. He told us that in the summer, it cost 20 krons to stand on the top like we were for only 3 minutes!!! We were us there for an hour, and had the run of the entire building to take pictures and see things that the public doesnt get to see. It was the most amazing thing ever. I will probably never get another chance like that again! I feel so incredably lucky. That gaurd was just so nice it was unbelievable. I would show you pictures, but Im over my limit for the month on Flickr (which ends like, tomorrow). Then Im going to get post happy and show you all the pictures so you can see all the things that I saw. It was just so beautiful.
And Oslo’s new Opera House, oh my god. Its also all marble and white Italian at that! You can walk up and down the sides of it and go on top (as you saw in the pictures above) and its buildt to that it looks so elementle, literally coming up out of the water. We have nothing on the buildings over here. Their amazing. And the whole inside of the opera house is solid oak. Its gorgous. I wish we had an opera house that beautiful at home. And the luckiest part? It just opened after 8 years of building on April 17th, the week before we got here. I will also post more pictures of that as well when I get a chance.
I guess were driving North for skiing this weekend. I really want to stay in Oslo to finish seeing everything, because today is a Holiday for them and a lot of things are closed. Plus its raining. But in turn I also want to go see the north because the country is sooo beautiful, and Im determined to see a moose and a raindeer, because there wild here. I guys everyone saw a couple mooses coming home from Sweden last weekend, but I missed it :sad: