Russian President in Oslo

On Monday 26 April 2010 I just happened to be in the city of Oslo in Norway. I had travelled by train from Tonsberg, a charming town on the east coast of Norway, to Norway’s capital city which was a scenic 1.5 hour journey. The train journey from Tonsberg to Oslo goes northwards up the Oslo Fjord. You go past lovely scenery as well as seeing the back gardens of many Norwegian houses and that is very interesting in itself. Norwegian houses seem to be pretty big. Mostly made of wood and painted in bright colours they have huge gardens and many have barns or other outhouses.

It appears that many Norwegians like to store old things in their back gardens as I saw quite a few gardens with rusty old cars in them. Many gardens also have boats in them. Most Norwegians live on the coast where the waters are sheltered so many people own boats.When our train arrived we got off at the National Theatre stop in the centre of Oslo and emerged out of the modern train station into a grey and overcast Oslo city centre. Very close to the train station in Oslo is the main road where many of the best shops and restaurants are located. The road is called Karl Johans Gate and northwards up the hill you can see the Royal Palace.

On the day we arrived Karl Johans Gate was lined with Norwegian soldiers dressed in their finest ceremonial uniforms. It made for a magnificent spectacle. Just as we stood by to see what was going on we remembered that the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev was on a state visit to Oslo. On the agenda for discussion was the disputed border between Norway and Russia in the Barents Sea.It was good timing on our part, as we hadn’t been standing long, as we saw a cavelcade of cars coming towards us and as the cars passing I saw the Russian President waving to me from his vehicle.

Later on in the day we walked up towards the Royal Palace in Oslo and again our timing was perfect as the Russian President was just leaving after his meeting and I managed to catch his departure on my mobile phone video camera. It was like something out of a Hollywood movie as there must have been a convoy of at least 20 cars and several of them contained security men hanging out of car doors even whilst the cars were moving.

Here is the video I took of the Russian President leaving the Royal Palace in Oslo on 26 April 2010[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlcAdpdvNgs&w=500&h=405]


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