If you are living in Oslo, or have experienced the pleasure of visiting my beautiful city, this is, of course, a well known place.

However, the tiger statue outside the main railway station isn´t there just by pure chance. Oslo is commonly named ´Tigerstaden´which translates into ´Tiger City”. And this obviously carries its own background story.

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910), one of Norway´s most prominent writers, playwrights and poets, named the city so in the poem ´Siste sang` (´Last Song´) originally published in 1870. By creating this nick he intentionally called out the city as a cold, harsh place, always ready to get the better of anyone trying to establish themselves there.

The situation is different today, obviously. The inhabitants of Oslo are really quite relaxed and welcoming towards strangers (although a little bit timid, but that´s on the other hand just a common denominator of us Norwegians …). What else to mention is that Oslo is an extremely safe city. Of course, we have our issues as all metropolisis, but the crime rate is comparatively low, and even in the rowdiest moments you can walk relatively safe as long as you take the obvious precautions valid everywhere.