FACS 2011 is hosted by the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. The symposium will take place in the new modern computer science building called Ole-Johan Dahls Hus, on the main campus of the university (here you can find a map with its location in the Blindern campus). Click here to see a picture of the building, and here for the view near the Forskningsparken subway station.
Oslo is the capital city of Norway, and is a "must-visit urban destination" with "an acclaimed new opera house and plenty of high-end dining options" according to the article "31 places to go to in 2010" by The New York Times, which also provides more information about Oslo here. Oslo is also known to be the most expensive city in the world; a pint of "beer" in a bar costs more than 10 US dollars, a single subway ticket is 4.50 US dollars, and so on.
Information about Oslo
- Visit Oslo - The official web site for tourist information in Oslo
- The Oslo Pass - 1/2/3-day passes for public transport plus admission to many museums and sights
- International airports around Oslo
- Oslo Airport Gardermoen - Norway's largest international airport.
- Airport Express Train - Departure from the airport to Oslo S (Central Station) every 10 minutes. Duration 19 minutes.
Oslo Highlights
The Opera House
The new modern opera house by the Oslo fiord is a "breathtaking" and "unmissable" building (according to The Guardian; it has received equally glowing reviews in The New York Times and other venues). You don't need to like opera to visit the building; a favorite pastime is to walk on the building; for free, to boot!
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The Munch Museum
As the name suggests, this museum is devoted to paintings by Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch. According to Wikipedia, Munch's "The Scream" is one of the most recognizable paintings in all art. It was stolen a couple of years ago during museum opening hours (together with 'Madonna', also pictured above), but both paintings have been recovered.
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The National Gallery
If you want to see "The Scream" and some other Munch paintings (as well as a lot of national romantic paintings) for free, you can do worse than heading to the National Gallery in downtown. It also has an original "The Scream," which was stolen in 1994, but has been recovered.
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The Viking Ship Museum
Nice little museum in the BygdÞy museum area outside downtown (take a ferry from the City Hall pier or bus 30) with two more or less well preserved viking ships from around 820-900 AD.
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The Kon-Tiki Museum
A small and unassuming, but pleasant (one of Peter's favorites in Oslo), museum devoted to the rafts that Norwegian "scientist"/adventurer Thor Heyerdahl used to "prove" his widely discredited theories about how various places of the earth were populated. Located in the BygdÞy "museum campus," and can hence be combined with trips to the Viking Ship Museum and, possibly, The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History and The Fram Museum (which contains a polar ship used by Norwegian explorer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen).
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The Holmenkollen Ski Jump
Very nice new ski jump, replacing an aging icon, by Belgian architect prodigy Julien De Smedt. Also features a nice view of Oslo and the Oslo Fiord. Subway line 1 will take you there.
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The Vigeland Park
This park in the western outskirts of downtown (take any subway to the 'Majorstuen' stop) is full of tasteless sculptures.
Sightseeing Outside Oslo
The main classical attractions of Norway are some distance away from Oslo, mostly in the western and northern parts of the country. Some of the main attractions include:
The Western Fjords
The fjords of western Norway (in particular the Hardanger, Geiranger, and Sogne fjords) are magnificent. At the Pulpit Rock you can dangle your legs 604 meters above the Lyse fjord. Norway in a Nutshell offers a variety of trips (involving scenic train and boat rides) to explore this wonderland.
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Bergen
The Hanseatic parts of this port city in western Norway, Norway's second largest, is on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The city itself otherwise mixes a nice location with atrocious architecture, and is a nice base for exploring the nearby fjords. However, it is the rainiest place in Europe, so be aware! In the Fantoft suburb of Bergen, you can see a replica of the 12th-century Fantoft Stave Church, which was destroyed in a fire set by some "satanists" on June 6, 1992.
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Spitsbergen
A truly exotic archipelago half-way between northern Norway and the North Pole. The main settlement, Longyearbyen, is the world's northernmost settlement with at least 50 inhabitants, and has a good tourist infrastructure (see, e.g., this website for a reliable tour operator that the FACS PC chairs use when in Spitsbergen). There are direct flights from Oslo to Longyearbyen with Scandinavian. A trip up here is highly recommended if you can afford the time and the cost. It might be your last chance to see polar bears in their natural habitat!