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Out UK's Adrian Gillan admires Norwegian wood in Oslo, home to next year's
EuroPride 2005 and the annual free dance festival Sommer Parade which this year is on
July 31st.
Norway is one of the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to gay human rights, with equalities legally enshrined across the board from age of consent, which is 16 for all, to entry into the armed forces. | |
| However, in the land of the Midnight Sun and the Nobel Prize there are still conservative attitudes to change beyond the big cities and in Norway's own Protestant bible belt. Church blessings for gay relationships and adoption rights are still issues and the country has never joined the European Union. |
Up for it at the 2003 Oslo Sommer Parade. |
SIGHTSNature and culture collide at the far end of a mighty fjord that is Oslo and nowhere less so than in the small but perfectly formed gay scene at the city's very heart, between the railway station and Royal Palace. But before losing yourself there, there are two world-class artistic attractions that only a dumb queer would miss - the awesome and occasionally erotic nude Vigelands Sculpture Park just west of centre and the Edvard Munch Museum (he of "The Scream" fame) just to the east.REFRESH YOUR SOULBuild up your strength with fine modern dishes at the one-price-fits-all menu pallet in eatery Det 11 Bud, part of a gay restaurant-lounge-club complex on Kirkegata near the Cathedral. Unfortunately the club part of this equation - Soho - was shut at the time of writing, its future uncertain. Note: Drinks in Oslo are not cheap and smoking is now banned in all public places in Norway - tough if you smoke but at least your hair and clothes won't stink the morning after!Then stroll through the pedestrianised centre onto Kristian IV's gate and sink into the comfy velvet-clad chairs and sofas at dark-yet-glowing, homely, atmospheric lounge bar-cum-café Slokaladekoppen - try saying that after a few beers - drinking in a sea of seated, relaxing hunky blonds. | |
CLUBBINGThen skip around the block to sit at the stools in Chairs on CJ Hambros Plass, a lively and fairly young hostelry with a small, open dance-floor and very busy loos. The vast and cavernous London Pub beneath Chairs unfortunately still strangely stinks of stale bear and pre-ban smoke and attracts an older, hairier, be-leathered crowd to its dark and spacious basement chambers. The more hardcore meet several times a month at SM and uniform club SLM on Gronlandsleiret, just east of the train station and somewhat out on a limb. The younger disco babes cram into the Shu Club back on Kristian IV's gate just above Slokaladekoppen, for its cheesy lower floor and trancy, strobe-lit upper space. | 
Feet first at the SLM Club. |
STEAMYThere are a couple of good, clean saunas a short walk north east of bars: Club Hercules on Storgt and My Friend on Calmeyers Gate. And just north of the saunas are a couple of gay sex shops - Gay International on Rosteds Gate and Big Boy on Schaeffers Gate - for the usual shelves of toys and vids.OUTDOORSOslo has its own gay beach - Paradisbukta - a short bus-ride (No. 30) out of town, which fills up on sunny days. At nights - which hold their light well in the summer months - there are several city cruising grounds. Try the small Stens (pronounced "stains") Park or, even better, check Vigelands Sculpture Park, in bushes just beyond the main central monolith - note condom dispensers nailed to the trees! | |
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Oslo's annual dance festival Sommer Parade 2004 is on Saturday July 31st featuring
DJs from Europe's hottest clubs. EuroPride Oslo 2005 (17th - 27th June) will be a ten-day festival celebrating Norway's 100th anniversary since it became a modern independent state. |
Sommer Parade 2003. This year's event is on Saturday 31st July. |
The website will be at www.europride.no.
One of
the few European capitals to have an openly gay mayor, Oslo's event will be political
and cultural, climaxing with concerts, parades and parties at a purpose-built
"Pride Village" down by the waterfront.
GETTING THERERyanair are currently offering flights to Torp near Oslo from just £5.99 one-way excluding taxes and charges. You can also book special fares online on British Airways and SAS through ebookers who all fly direct to Oslo. We have a great selection of gay-friendly hotels in Oslo at special online rates through our partners Bookings. |
THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK |