On Feb 2, 2014 we brought our friend and Saab fan secretly to Trollhättan less than 1 week before his wedding. New Saab 9-3 Aero is a part of the story. http://www.goo.gl/pi8cs1 - here you can read about the trip and see photos. Also extended photo gallery is available on
http://www.goo.gl/LaLHFn. The video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRQDR-2k6g
Trip program for Saab Dream Trip 2014 with Saab 9-3 Aero MY14!
1. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
I was not paid a penny for all the brand names in the program, with logos it looks more beautiful though
Friday 31.01
Time
7:40
Action
Arrival to Oslo, Gardermoen, flight DY1187
from Helsinki with Norwegian
Costs
Depends on your luck ;)
Train to Oslo Central Station (Oslo S) with NSB
Having pølser – Scandinavian hot dog at the
Oslo S – with a cup of nice coffee (have you
ever wondered that «Norway has a particularly
strong affinity for coffee and is the second
highest consumer of coffee in the world» (from
Wikipedia).
8:00 – 10:00
Buying Oslo Pass 24h at Ruter's Service Point
near the station which lets you enter the
museums and using the public transportation
for free (see more on www.visitoslo.com).
Taking the city map from a very friendly girl at
the counter.
NSB ticket one-way: 90 NOK
Oslo Pass: 290 NOK
Pølser: 35 NOK
Coffee: 30 NOK
Around 75 USD / 55 EUR altogether
2. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
10:00 – 10:20
Taking a bus #30 to Bygdøy, a peninsula on the
western side of Oslo
Free with Oslo Pass
Visiting Kon-Tiki Museum and paying tribute to
Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian ethnographer
and adventurer (in 2014 is his 100th
anniversary)
Free with Oslo Pass
80 NOK/13 USD/10 EUR without
(28% of the price of Oslo Pass
already covered)
10:20 – 11:10
Opening hours: 10:00 – 16:00
Visiting Fram Museum and paying tribute to
Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian polar explorer
Free with Oslo Pass
80 NOK/13 USD/10 EUR without
(56% of the price of Oslo Pass
already covered)
11:10 – 12:00
Opening hours: 10:00 – 16:00
3. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Watching waters of the Frognerkilen bay with 5
Norwegian polar explorers immortalized in
bronze in the South Pole monument which King
Harald opened in November 2011
12:00 – 12:05
12:05 – 12:20
Free with and without Oslo Pass
Opening hours: 24/7
Walking through the luxurious surroundings of
Bygdøy to the Viking Ship Museum
Visiting the Viking Ship Museum where there
are three Viking ships, Oseberg, Gokstad and
Tune. We spent less time there although it is a
nice museum as well.
Free with Oslo Pass
60 NOK/10 USD/7 EUR without
(76% of the price of Oslo Pass
already covered)
12:20 – 12:40
Opening hours: 10:00 – 16:00
12:40 – 13:50
13:50-14:20
14:20-14:40
Going by bus #30 to Solli, eating Chicago Pizza
at the Peppes Pizza – Drammensveien and
going to National Theatret metro station
Metro trip through Oslo from National Theatret
to Holmenkollen
Climbing the hill to Holmenkollbakken, a large
and famous ski jumping hill. Whew, good
workout.
Oslo Pass gives some discount for
Chicago Pizza but it doesn’t help you
wallet since the pizza itself being
good for 3 people is 240 NOK with
the discount + 80 NOK for local beer
Free with Oslo Pass
4. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Visiting Holmenkollbakken – going to the very
top and enjoying the panorama, visiting the Ski
museum one can find Ole Einar Bjørndalen’s ski
and rifle – in Sochi Olympics 2014 he again
proved his greatness in biathlon winning gold
Free with Oslo Pass
110 NOK/18 USD/13 EUR without
(114% of the price of Oslo Pass
already covered)
14:40-16:10
16:10 – rest of
evening
Going to Oslo Hotel Apartments (Kjølberggaten
29, Gamle Oslo) at Tøyen metro station and
checking in. At this moment we don’t want Oslo
anymore – only some beer tasting. But we still
need the beer. I selected several
manufacturers: Ægir Brewery (from
Flåmsbrygga), NØGNE Ø and Haandbryggeriet.
In the closest Vinmonopolet at Grønland metro
station we were able to get NØGNE Ø (#100
and Half a World Away) and Ægir Brewery
(Skumring Dubbel). All those ales gave us lots of
enjoyment with their vivid distinctive tastes.
Good beer (such as Nøgne Ø # 100)
is 80 NOK/13 USD/10 EUR per bottle
(the beer has alcohol content 7-12%,
so the price is fair since 5% beer is
priced around 40 NOK)
5. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Saturday 01.02
Time
08:00
08:00 – 10:00
11:40 – 12:00
12:00 – 12:20
Action
Getting a D-type car of Scandinavian origin at
Hertz at the Gardermoen Airport – the car
proved to be brand new and very comfortable
Costs
Get car
Sat, Feb 01, 2014 at 08:00
Return car
Mon, Feb 02, 2014 at 21:00
I’m trying to navigate Oslo city without a map.
That is the best city to train navigation based
on intuition since there are so many streets
with one-way traffic and many unexpected
dead ends. Skøyen? No way! I need Tøyen. At
least one hour I was moving back and forward
looking for the hotel in Tøyen. My trip
companions are in the hotel having taken
shower and already eating in the restaurant.
Going to Grünerløkka, the lively district along
the Akerselva river
Drinking, perhaps, the best coffee in Oslo at the
micro roaster and espresso bar of Tim
Wendelboe (Grüners gate 1 –
www.timwendelboe.no). Tim himself is a
professional Norwegian barista who won
several barista championships and he is able to
select the best beans from place around the
world. We chose two Kenyan blends and one
Ethiopian.
Road tolls are around 30 NOK from
the airport to Oslo
40 NOK or around that – it is
definitely worth paying the price
6. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Walking around – crossing the Akerselva river
which is very small, going up the hill through
street Telthusbakken with the old houses and
looking at the Gamle Aker church
(Akersbakken, 26).
12:20 – 13:10
13:10-13:30
13:30 – 14:00
Free
Going to the Det kongelige slot or Royal Palace.
Looking at the changing of the guards which
happens every day at 1.30 pm whatever
weather conditions are.
Free
7. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
The next place – National Gallery. The
collection of the museum is nice and the
atmosphere is great – you can come close to
any painting and see every detail of some
complex landscape painted by Norwegian
painter. Being to close, though, turns on the
alarm, we tested. The world famous Scream
painting is also here.
14:00 – 15:15
80 NOK/13 USD/10 EUR
Visiting Hard Rock Oslo which is near the
National Gallery. One of the trip companions
wanted a T-Shirt from that place.
15:15 – 15:30
Around 250 NOK/41 USD/30 EUR
for the T-shirt
8. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Visiting Oslo City Hall – there is a huge
decoration made by Henrik Sørensen.
15:30 – 15:50
Free
Opening hours (Saturday): 10:00 – 16:00
Going back to the hotel, passing by Oslo Opera
House. It a nice modern building but in the
summer, in my opinion, it should look much
better because of the better contrast of its
white color with surrounding areas. In winter it
is too much of white snow around. We had no
energy anymore to walk around so only did
photos from the distance.
15:50 – 16:20
Free
Some more beer tasting and relaxing. We didn’t
go anywhere since there is 3 hour time
difference between St. Petersburg and Oslo.
However, before the trip I selected several
places where we could spend our evenings.
Amundsen Bryggeri & Spiseri (TripAdvisor:
Ranked #48 of 846), Stortingsgata 20 – I would
try local Amundsen Pale Ale
16:20 - rest of
evening
Beerpalace (TripAdvisor: Ranked #135 of 846),
Holmens gate 3 Aker Brygge. There is Peppes
Pizza nearby, so it is possible to eat pizza.
Smelteverket (TripAdvisor: Ranked #180 of 846)
at Mathallen Food Hall, Maridalsveien 17 A. It
was selected because it has the longest bar
counter in Norway – 25 meters
There is also Akvavit to try – Scandinavian
flavoured spirit with caraway or dill spices
9. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
We didn’t visit some of the places:
- Norsk Folkemuseum on Bygdøy, an
open-air museum with many old
wooden Norwegian houses including
Gol Stave Church build in 13th century
(price is 110 NOK) – in my opinion, it
may well substitute or complement
some of the ship museums in summer.
- Mathallen Food Hall (Maridalsveien 17
A), a market where traditional
Norwegian food is sold
- Sunday market at Blå (opened 12:00 –
17:00 every Sunday), a handicraft and
second-hand market at Grünerløkka
- Damstredet street – the other street
with old houses (we walked along
Telthusbakken)
- Oslo Cathedral and Kvadraturen
district, the historical center of Oslo
- Akershus Fortress, a medieval castle;
- The Vigeland Park, where there are
more than 200 weird sculptures of
Gustav Vigeland;
- For winter – Spikersuppa, an ice skating
rink between the National Theatre and
Parliament, open every day in winter
and free for everyone.
- For summer - Hovedøya island with the
ruins of a Cistercian monastery from
1147 and nice beaches
- For summer - Frognerbadet Open-Air
Public Bath, an outdoor swimming pool
next to Vigeland Sculpture Park with
two 50-metre pools
Oslo Pass allows you not only using the public
transportation for free but also parking a car on
public parking lots (blue sign P with parking
time) for free. The parking rules and the
maximum parking time allowed must be
followed. Meaning: if the parking sign says
maximum 3 hours, you will have to move your
car after 3 hours even if you have a 24-hour
Oslo Pass.
If you have an electric car (and there are so
many Tesla cars in Norway – amazing!), there
are some parking lots allowing you to stay for 8
hours
10. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Among the food specialties I selected some
cheeses:
- Brunost («brown cheese»), a
caramelised brown Scandinavian whey
cheese (more of dessert than cheese).
Ekte Geitost («real goat cheese»),
brunost made with goat's milk only.
- Fløtemysost, a conventional variant of
brunost which is made of milk from
cows, and has a mild and bright color.
- Snøfrisk («snow-fresh»), a Norwegian
goat cheese made by Tine – it is good
to put it on bread and enjoy with beer
- Gamalost («old cheese»), a distinctive
Norwegian cheese made from skimmed
cow's milk
- Nøkkelost («key cheese»), a Norwegian
cheese flavored with cumin and cloves
Some dishes worth mentioning:
- Pølser, a hot-dog that I already
described
- Pølse i lompe, a Norwegian variant of
hot-dog. It consists of a sausage (pølse)
rolled in a potato cake (lompe) with any
topping
- Lutefisk, made from dried whitefish
prepared with lye in a sequence of
particular treatments – Scandinavians
have eaten lutefisk for centuries and
currently is it is moved into haute
cuisine
- Pinnekjøtt, made from ribs of lamb or
mutton that has been salted and dried
- Fenalår, one of the Norwegian's
favorite dish, dry cured lamb Leg,
Norwegian Prosciutto
The bread:
- Lefse, a traditional soft, Norwegian
flatbread
The dessert:
- Multekrem, cloudberry with cream
The chocolate:
- Freia-Melkesjokolade
11. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Sunday 02.02
Parking is free on Sundays – great day for any driver.
Time
06:30 – 10:30
Action
Travelling from Oslo to Trollhättan with one stop
at the gasoline station – we chose Preem in
Tanum. Preem is a Swedish petroleum
corporation owned by Ethiopian Citizen
Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi. We didn’t need
gasoline but we wanted a breakfast and gasoline
station was combined with Rasta, a restaurant
offering a nice selection of home cooked dishes
Costs
Road tolls are around 50 NOK on
the Norwegian territory
Concerning breakfast - don’t
remember exactly but dishes are
big – good value for money
Waiting for the opening of Saab Museum –
looking at NOHAB steam train nearby
10:30-11:00
11:00 – 13:40
Visiting Saab Museum – it covers the history of
the Saab brand of automobiles manufactured by
various companies since 1947. The collection is
fantastic – old cars, futuristic concepts cars, sport
cars and all are named proudly Saab.
80 SEK / 12.5 USD / 9 EUR
13. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
Walks around Trollhättan – it is very picturesque
city with beautiful cliffs along the shores of the
Göta älv river:
- first point Stromkarlsbron Dam (there is a
parking lot there)
-
Passing by Church in Trollhättan
-
Parking at Kreativ Kraft Åkersbergsvägen
8, walking on foot down the hill to the
Olidan Hydroelectric Power Station
13:40 – 15:30
14. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
-
Driving to Slussledsvägen 6, there is
another parking lot. Around there are old
and new Trollhättan locks
-
Driving along Olidevägen and parking
against the Olidan Hydroelectric Power
Station – opened in 1910 it still supplies
electricity and is operated by Vattenfall
(goo.gl/OTBBTE). It is possible to have a
guided tour in the station with Kreativ
Kraft – (www.goo.gl/388ruz)
-
Driving to the other side of the Göta älv
river to the Kungälvsvägen. There is a
parking lot and trailway to the viewpoint
on the cliff – such a fantastic view on the
Göta älv river, the Olidan Hydroelectric
Power Station and the city
15. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
15:30 – 16:30
16:30 – rest of
evening
Eating Pizza Kebab (mix of Italian and Turkish
technologies) at the Pizzeria Athena (TripAdvisor:
Ranked #7 of 54), Kungsgatan 70 B. The quality of
food is nice – there are many locals coming and
buying pizza. No alcohol, but you can take pizza
with you.
Checking in at the Hotel Trollhättan (Best
Western) and resting a little, having Sauna at the
hotel for relaxation and recovery.
Monday 03.02
Time
09:00 – 12:00
Action
Deep dive into Saab with Nevs: the test drive of
the new Saab 9-3 Aero, the presentation of Nevs
and a factory tour.
Definitely don’t forget to take photo at the
factory and at the Saab sign.
Costs
Priceless
16. Saab Dream Trip – Oslo-Trollhättan Jan 31 – Feb 03
13:00-17:30
19:50
Going back to Oslo Gardermoen, eating at Rasta,
filling gasoline at Preem on Swedish territory (in
Norway more expensive), visiting shops just
before the Swedish-Norwegian border where
chocolate, cheese and other tasty things can be
bought cheaper than in Norway.
Departure to Helsinki, flight DY1198 from Oslo
with Norwegian
Map with points mentioned above is here - goo.gl/5ocFiV.
You can always send me questions on eparadeev@gmail.com.
Road tolls are around 80 NOK on
the Norwegian territory
Depends on your luck ;)