We arrived in Oslo without knowing anybody, any of the things we needed to see, or even how to find the nearest W.C. though we've done that in paris, in london, in dublin; seeing the city with a local is a precious expirence. When we checked in Gung showed us the entire apartment. It is clean, prepare to take your shoes off, and it is so much better than the hostels you've probably been sleeping in for the past couple weeks. There's a map in the rooms that highlights things to do, but if you talk to Martin for five minutes you'll realise you won't need it. Martin, and his wonderful mother, came in the first morning to clean up the kitchen. He was drinking orange juice and Vodka and asked us if it was ok if he smoked a cigarette. Me and my traveling companion looked at each other and said "This your apartment, of course." We were going to trek the city, like we usually did hoping we to stumble on art (most of the time as a traveler you just see lots of buildings) but we lingered and had some after breakfast snacks with Martin. The five of us, Martin and his mother, the brilliant indian entrepreneur who, if your lucky, still has the room next to yours, and my traveling companion. We talked for hours, we laughed alot, got into some conversations on buddhism and tequila. Before we left to look at statues Martin invited us to the park with his family later that night . We saw satues, that was solid. But the park! We showed up downstairs at the scheduled time and Martin asked if wanted anything to drink; there was alcohol in the fridge. Note, its a kind of tradition for guests to bring a bottle of spirit from their home country. The previous guests must have been from London bcause there were two bottles of London dry gin. We grabbed it and went grocery shopping with Martin, his family, and a pair of very nice Filipino girls that were staying with them. We rode the bus, a fun expirence by the way (you'll see what i mean when you're there), and got to the park. They cooked chicken, his wife played polo with the girls, and we had some Norwegian beers with Martin's awesome friends. They made us laugh and we swapped traveling stories. The park is very Oslo, so many people were down there doing what we were doing. We met a group of college students and went out to a club with them later. The next day we checked out and spent a couple days kayaking in a private house overlooking some scenery, but it wasn't as fun as that first night in Oslo.
Stay at Gung and Martin's, it is the cultural center of oslo.
Don't forget the tequila.