Oslo: Tweet by Tweet

Tech-savvy writer Jill Starley Grainger ditched the guidebooks and toured the Norwegian capital using Twitter. Here's what happened. Photography by Carney James Turner

See Jill in action in Oslo here

I knew I was on the right track when I read this from unexpectedT: “There’s an Italian restaurant in Grunerlokka. Forgot the name, but I dined with the Pope there.” And this from john_oates: “Oslo secret: Underwater Pub has opera, sung by students and pros, Tue and Thurs. Infor mal and fun.” Alas, I wouldn’t arrive until Friday!

With such quirky, insider information, I felt certain my weekend in Oslo was going to go beyond tourist-sight tick-boxes. The last time I used a travel guide (bought new for the trip), it was so out of date that it sent me to a shop that had long closed, a locals’ restaurant now filled with tourists and a hotel whose four-star rating had slipped to barely three.

Forget the guidebooks, I thought. I’m going straight to the people – or, in this case, the tweeters.

For those who haven’t the faintest idea what I’m on about, Twitter (www.twitter.com) is similar to other social networking websites like Facebook, except that on Twitter you can “follow” whoever you like and anybody can follow you (although you can block other users, if needed). You make posts, or “tweets”, of 140 characters long and they appear as a newsfeed for people to read, and reply to. When travelling that means you can make tweets using your laptop or even your smartphone.

SUITES AND TWEETS: Logging onto my Twitter profile using my nom de plume, uktraveleditor, I typed my tweet: “Off to Oslo next week. Any hotel suggestions?” Over the next 24 hours, I had more than a few from my followers.

One tweet from jcreaturetravel read: “Grims Grenka (www.grimsgrenka.no) is cool + design oriented, with great restaurant.” Then visitnorway said: “Grand Hotel (www.grand.no) is where Barack Obama stayed when he came to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.” And samdaams wrote: “Hipsters stay at Folketeateret (www.choicehotels.no), the city’s newest design hotel.”

So I booked two nights at the new Folketeateret, and reserved a spot at Grims Grenka for dinner.

After checking in, I sent a few tweets. “Greeted by giant sculpture of Kate Moss in pervy yoga pose at Oslo’s stylish new Folketeateret.”

“Love the hotel’s artwork – bronze man with suitcase, Warhol-esque movie stars, painting of Marilyn Monroe.”

“Rooms are all grey, black and red minimalist chic.” “Norwegians must travel light as nowhere for clothes. Have put knickers on telly & dresses on curtainrod.”

“Wifi, breakfast, all-day lattes & small buffet dinner every night, all free!”

OSLO IN THE RAW: Hooking up with a native is always the best way to see a place, and my new best friends were fellow tweeters Sam Daams (samdaams) and Cecilie Moeste (ceciliemo), both of whom suggested we meet when they read about my trip on Twitter.

Sam joined me for drinks and dinner at Grims Grenka, and I made plans to meet Cecilie later. A fashion shoot was going on in Grims Grenka’s lounge when we arrived, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.

Before long, I tweeted: “Getting tipsy at Grims Grenka bar on a Stunna – a ginger, lemongrass and amaretto mix of the most marvellous proportions.”

After a cocktail or three, we stumbled past a needle waterfall and entered the hotel’s dark-wood and leather-clad Madu restaurant. The Norwegians love their seafood, and it takes pride of place here on the new raw-food menu, where nothing is served hotter than 37°C. What looked like a plate of rubies turned out to be frosted red cabbage, Granny Smith apples and raw North Sea shrimp. Next came a barely seared salmon lying on a hot stone, accessorised with dill potatoes, black roe and cauliflower cream. The first bite made you feel as if you were in a Norwegian wood, eating salmon straight from the river that had scorched itself over a campfire and brushed past a dill plant en route to your mouth.

As owner of www.travellerspoint.com, an international hostel and budget-hotel booking website, Sam was keen to get a look at Grims Grenka’s rooms. While the lounge and restaurant is the height of Oslo fashion, the first room we saw felt more submarine than Scando-chic – grey, grey, with hints of grey. A spacious suite higher up, though, was all red, black and glam.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS: With 1 million people spread over 454km2 of Greater Oslo, there’s plenty of space to stretch out. But in summer, locals flock to the 40 islands of Oslo Fjord, quickly reached by the city’s taxi boats and ferries. Cecilie recalled many long summer days, sunning herself on the islands’ beaches and swimming in the fjord (where the water can reach a balmy 23ºC by August).

Within the city limits, there’s a mind-boggling 343 lakes, a huge forest and innumerable parks, but mrdavidwhitley insisted I not miss: “Vigeland Sculpture Park – in equal parts inspiring, disturbing, weird and wonderful.”

And indeed it was. Artist Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943) filled this 32ha park in the middle of Oslo with more than 200 sculptures. Some are uplifting (Man Swinging Boy), some thought-provoking (Elderly and Younger Man) and some downright bizarre (Man Chasing Four Geniuses – and kicking a baby like a football!).

PEACE OUT: Unfortunately, mrdavidwhitley didn’t come up trumps with his second recommendation: “Nobel Peace Center (www.nobelpeacecenter.org) – an absolute must.”

Me: “Nobel Peace Center – yawn! Just lots of reading! Almost no interaction. B-O-R-I-NG.” Apart from a photo-op cut-out of Barack Obama, this was, bar none, the dullest museum I’ve ever been to.

POPERA STAR: Luckily, janbarstad had tweeted this earlier: “Don’t miss the new Opera House (www.oslooperahouse.com).”

As it was up the coast from the Nobel Peace Center, I strolled along the fjord in the sun, past sculptures, the town hall, ferries, cargo houses and piers, to be greeted by a truly unexpected sight.

“Oslo’s opera house, crafted from oak, granite, marble and glass, rises like an iceberg out of the city’s fjord. Modernists will love it,” I tweeted. Opened in 2008, it’s smaller, but no less architecturally impressive than Sydney’s famous landmark.

Turns out it’s something of a local hot spot, hosting a wide variety of music concerts and gigs, as well as its regular opera, ballet and symphonic offerings. There’s the popular annual August jazz festival, too. But no matter what’s going on inside, people are always milling about on its sloping roof for views of the city, fjord and islands, or sipping coffee in the waterfront café.

SCANDO-CHIC: Say what you will about the French, Italians and New Yorkers. In my book, the Scandinavians beat them all in the style stakes: pared-down, easy elegance, with a dash of quirky thrown in for good measure.

Luckily, the ever-helpful samdaams tweeted: “Check out the design/second-hand shops in the Grunerlokka part of the city.”

Good recommendation, samdaams. I tweeted my tips after a scout around: “Grunerlokka is like Shoreditch, but without the attitude.” Hit Robot 4 vintage, Sjarm 4 girly delights, Med Og Uten 4 Scandic womenswear, Hunting Lodge 4 street-style mens, Liten & Toff 4 quirky kids.”

“After shops, dine at Delicatessen 4 tapas or Daqota 4 burgers – retro-airline chic, real plane seats! Barhop to Boca and Aku-Aku Tiki Bar.”

HEAVENLY HOSTS: A celebratory meal with ceciliemo at Klosteret (www.klosteret.no) rounded off the weekend. “Hundreds of candles illuminate the romantic interior of this monastic-style eatery,” I tweeted. But the food is anything but ascetic. “Bisque of Norwegian lobster, crab and marinated scallops feels like a naughty treat – incredibly rich scent & intense flavour.”

“U can almost taste the vitamins in the veg from a spring-roll millefeuille, but glazed red-onion puree gives it a dash of decadence,” I tweeted under the table. And finally: “The meticulously crafted 5-course taster menu is a marriage of well-nuanced contrasts, complemented with divine wines.”

Rushing off to the airport, I knew my weekend in Oslo would have been tick-box bland without the help of my fellow tweeters. From now on, I’m banishing the guidebook, saying ta-ta to travel agents and planning all my trips on Twitter. Tweet-tweet!