''And yet, I'm oh so glad we met - the second time around'' - Frank Sinatra

When I last visited Oslo, I claimed that there ''wasn't anything in particular that struck me about it.'' It turns out I missed all the striking parts the first time around.

I wasn't in Oslo for more than a few hours before Nadia began to show me some of the sites that would have left me with a solid first impression. Since she'd been in Oslo for some time visiting Paul our other Arctic Week friends, she'd learned a lot more about Norway's capital city.

She was kind enough to meet me at the train station when I arrived at 15:30, and after a quick trip to drop my stuff off at Paul's place, we took the subway back into the city to see Vigelandsparken, the city's most famous park. I was about to jump out of the subway train to take a picture, but this time Nadia restrained me.

The statues in this park were sculpted out of rock by Gustov Viegland, a gentleman who was employed by the country to create a monument to Norway and the Norwegian people. What an honour! To be given all the resources you need - including your entire lifespan - to create whatever art you desire. For five million people.

Viegland created almost fifty statues that depict all aspects of the life of humankind. Many of the statues evoke an intense sense of sexuality, which is probably why they were allegedly met both with awe and horror when they were unveiled. The most famous - a livid, fuming baby boy with its left foot in the air - can be found in just about any imaginable publication about Norway. It's been mimicked, spoofed, and from what I hear both spray-painted and held hostage.

In the middle of all the statues is this tremendous fountain, also a work of art designed by Viegland. Around it, tangled within the sculpted trees, are statues depicting individuals progressing through the phases of life.

Behind the fountain is this massive pillar, also designed and sculpted by Viegland. (Did he ever sleep?) Viegland leaves the interpretation of this massive obelisk of human forms up to you.

Here's a shot of Nadia hanging around with two of the statues. She doesn't seem to be complaining! These figures, positioned around the human obelisk, were particularly awe-inspiring. Take a look at the detailed muscles on the legs, and the careful attention to the shape of the necks. The statues first seem somehow like characatures. Then, a closer inspection reveals how tremendously detailed and accurately sculpted each individual figure is. The muscles and even veins and tendons are perfectly formed. There are a couple that were so detailed, I was inclined to give them back massages. Maybe that's what Nadia had in mind for these two.

The vista of Vigelandsparken looking down from the human obelisk was remarkable. To think that one man was capable of visualizing and then creating all of this. Before we took the subway back to Pauls, we strolled over to Slottet, the Royal Palace. It was took late to get photographs, but the beautiful gardens behind the palace provided a place for us to get caught up on the happenings of the past two weeks. I'd been experiencing odds and endings in Tromsų, and she'd been spending time in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.

Paul, who has been on exchange from Northern Ireland with a company in Oslo, was living in student housing a 20-minute subway ride away from the Sentralstation - and one stop away from the end of the line where I stranded myself a few weeks ago. I was tremendously grateful for Paul's hospitality. Having a place to hang out and stay is always appreciated, and it was great to catch up with the two of them. Here are Nadia, Paul, and Rudolph, Paul's bottle opener he picked up in Tromsų at the start of Arctic Week.

Rudolph is, in fact, a piece of reindeer bone. He once had a red nose, and now he helps others make their noses red. You may recall the fifty crates of beer that we began Arctic Week with. Any of the Arctic Week Offensive Foreigners will attest to the fact that Rudolph was instrumental to our emptying of those crates. (The Carlsburg, incidentally, was quite the foreshadowing of my trip to Copenhagen.)

I bid Paul a groggy goodbye on the Tuesday morning, and Nadia and I headed in to see the Akershus Slott og Festning (Akershus Castle and Fortress), parts of which began life in the year 1300. I snapped a shot of the guards at this Guardhouse. They were certainly more relaxed than the members of the Saint Andrew's College Highland Cadet Corps I used to be a member of. Nevertheless, their presence was remarkable, if only for the fact they were wearing uniforms. Espen was under the impression that it was illegal to wear uniforms in Norway; I'll have to find out if these guards are somehow an exception.

Situated on the Oslo harbour, the castle offered an excellent overview of the city. Nadia noted that the view presented is an odd mix of the ultramodern: skyscrapers, souveneir shops and Norwegians walking by with cellphones - and the antiquated: the castle we stood in, and the architecture, most of which was neoclassical.

Here's Nadia under an old archway, just before we left the castle. It was getting late, and I was supposed to catch a train to Stockholm in less than three hours.

Departure turned into an adventure (again). We decided to take one last stroll down Karl Johan's Gate, which I once compared to Ottawa's Market Street in Canada. (I finally realized that it's not pronounced ''gate'' as in part of a fence, but rather pronounced ''gah-tuh,'' which of course means Street. As in, Karl Johan's Street.)

Highschool kids were out on the gate in full force selling their used books to passersby! Canadian students haven't discovered this trick yet, but then again, they parents haven't discovered roundabouts, either. The guy in this picture is being interviewed by an Oslo radio station. He's being asked live on the air how his sales are going. Things seemed pretty slow when we were walking by, but his competition was fierce.

Here's Nadia (on the right, looking over her shoulder) browsing through the wares. We didn't buy any books, but I was curious enough to glance through a first-year English as a Second Language text.

Not only did we lose track of the time, but we also underestimated the amount of time it would take to get my luggage out of the lockers in the station and find the train. Thankfully, with two minutes to go, we made it to my 16:20 to Stockholm.

There's a lesson in here somewhere: Never put too much emphasis on the impressions of one tourist or guidebook. How much can one really expect to learn about a place within a two- or three-day visit? Many thanks again to Nadia and Paul for allowing me to experience Oslo the second time around.