Oslo Blog Gathering; A guided adventure in Oslo, the capital of Norway, to explore the city with our history, culture and traditions – 19th to 21st of August 2010 – was a thrill of a lifetime! A dream came true for me and good blog and social media friends from all over the world. The idea – after many requests in comments and mails – was to give everyone in Blogosphere a chance to come and see some of the attractions presented on this blog over the years. It was a perfect match to one of my sayings: “Blogging Connecting People” and a proof of what networking is all about: “A Givers Gain”.
To me this gathering was an ultimate outcome of sharing from Oslo and Norway. Today I want you to join me and take a look back and reminisce over the amazing time we had.
Thanks to First Hotel Millennium we had a centrally located hub to meet up each day before our adventures. We thought we might be relaxing there in the evening but every single day things took off and we dragged ourselves in to the hotel totally exhausted and often quite late ; -) Never a dull moment and no time to waste at OsloBG!
The hotel manager and staff met with us several times throughout the planning process and helped us with setting up, tourist information, and an area to meet up and plan our daily adventures. Every time I pass by First Hotel Millennium now I think of our OsloBG and what a wonderful time we had.
VisitOSLO was an important associate and a key contributor in making OsloBG a success. When I first talked with their Convention Manager – with my head full of ideas of a detailed program – she served me The Columbic Egg; “We give every participant The Oslo Pass, so they all can reach and enter the sights they want” – for free!
VisitOSLO is the leading organization in profiling and positioning the Oslo region as a tourist destination. They are dedicated to contributing towards the development of commerce and culture in the region. So when you are in or plan to go to Oslo; always check their website for all you want to know about the city: www.visitoslo.com
The Grand Opening was at Oslo City Hall with a reception from the Mayor of Oslo, Fabian Stang. Even his own birthday didn’t keep him from greeting these excited bloggers and providing us with an exceptional guided tour of the City Hall. Even in places I had never seen before!! All of OsloBG’s guests had a little gift from their homeland for the Mayor’s birthday and to thank him for receiving us on this special occasion. After the reception many of us went for dinner at Aker Brygge and had a chance to be better acquainted over good food and wine.
The first day as you may recall we had a guided tour around the highlights of Oslo. Oslo Guideservice provided excellent transportation and information on some of the most interesting sites in the area like Vigeland Sculpture Park and Holmenkollen ski jump.
The guides took us through Vigeland Sculpture Park and gave us an insight into Vigelands work and vision in designing every detail of this beautiful green area of Oslo. Although the weather didn’t cooperate as well at Holmenkollen ski jump, the best part was thankfully inside and many made it to the top for the ultimate view.
On the 20th the group was divided into activities of choice. My group had a guided tour of Oslo Opera House, a trip round the main street of Karl Johan, and watched the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. Meanwhile Tor’s group had a day on Bygdøy island exploring the museums and beaches there. In the evening we had dinner at a small but charming restaurant on Bygdøy Island with a fantastic view of Oslo fjord.
The final day of our program again included the groups dividing up and exploring as far away as Drøbak! Ending the day with a champagne reception in the medieval park, and a roaring night on the town at The Dubliner!! That and plenty more photos – even a movie from the Mayor’s reception – is included in this cavalcade of a movie I made from these three days, enjoy:
I want to give a special thanks to all the participants. One thing we really felt after you all went home, when we looked back we felt so certain that Oslo Blog Gathering would have been different if even one of you didn’t come. One of the best things about OsloBG was the people and how everyone added a little something special to the group. In short it wouldn’t have been the same without you!
Click to see The participants and their adventures posts!
We hope one day to meet everyone again, and who knows maybe there will be another OsloBG in the future?
it would be fantastic if you can arrange something again!
I was thinking of the blog gathering last week. Yes it does look like a lot of fun! I’m happy to now have some feel of what it was like since spending nearly 2 days with Tor. So much fun! One day perhaps!
Hello Renny !!! Ohh what a good memoris ! I wont another !!
A big hug from Ibiza my friend
Maria
You wrote a great post, Renny!!! AAAAh!!! The Oslo BG!! You can say Pierre and me we will be members for the next one! Sure!!! This was a such event! FORMIDABLE!
I just come back from Brussel where I stay a week by Gattina!
“Blogging Connecting People”
I have a new blog and my name is now Sandra Carlier!! Hi hi! http://www.commediasland.blogspot.com
I wait for you!
A memorable couple of days to make friends for life!
Thanks dear Renny! Kisses and hugs to you, Diane, Tor and all our friends who were the best hosts in the world!
It was a memorable event and I know it was a dream came true for you and Diane and all the wonderful participants.
Blogging connecting people that’s for sure, as we did meet and stayed with 4 blog-friends in North America this Summer…
Hope you will recover from your operation very soon;-)
Great time with friends!! nice blog article
Hope to attend this gathering next time. Seems like a really great idea to spend some quality time with friends.
I can’t believe a year has passed already. It was lovely to look at your video and to re-visit all the different things we did. We really had a lot of fun and learned so much – you and Diane were perfect hosts and made it all possible. This was an event of a life time. We certainly had a great time visiting beautiful Norway and meeting all the participants.
I did not realize that I only had two posts published on Norway. I have many more pictures and things to talk about on Norway and the Blog Gathering. I’ll try to do that soon.
First of all I would like to statrt with Norway- its a beautiful place to spend your vacations especially for hiking,fishing, cycling and glacier walking. You seems to have lot fun with your social media friends. Lovely!!!
The more i read your blog, the more i fell in love with your writings.
I have been to Norway but not in Oslo. I wonder why, because it is the capital. It should have been the first place I visited but itinerary changed. I’d like to visit the Vigeland Sculpture Park personally. As I’ve seen from the video. It’s wide, beautiful, clean and green. I always think that few parts of Europe are tidy.
Norway is a site of numerous natural wonders and enormous wealth. Great destination to choose for social for social meetings and gatherings. Great you must have fun.
After reading your blog i would also definitely plan a day-out like this with my friends.
Norway is beautiful place for gatherings with friends
Oslo is one of the peaceful destination. There is lot to explore over there esp. Fram Museum – The Polar Ship Fram, Nasjonalgalleriet, Natural History Museum Naturhistorisk museum
I hope all is well with you Renny…you have been missed :D