It was constructed on a sliver of land that juts out into the sea that was in front of where the city used to be. It has been renovated many times all the monarchs that inhabited it, and expanded to include many more modern outbuildings, but is nonetheless quite impressive. You can tell by the variations in stone and brick which parts are older than others, and the place is absolutely huge. We were able to tour the castle, which has only been opened to the public as a museum recently. In it we saw the chambers of many monarchs, not the least of which was Christian IV. He was the guy who was responsible for renovating the place into a Renaissance Castle and adding the finer points to it. He was really the only Danish King who seemed to care much about Norway, and he spent a lot of time in Oslo. In fact, when the city burned to the ground he decided to move the city to its current location and rename it after himself. Thus Oslo was called Christiania until the 20th century when the Norwegians changed it back. Here is a view of the castle from the inner courtyard.
One of the cooler things about this castle and fort is that it is still in use. It has cannons that are fired ceremoniously on 17. Mai, there is a Royal Guard that is stationed here and participates in a grand changing of the guard ceremony everyday, and the church and halls of the castle are used by the military and royal family. Members of the military can choose to be married in the chapel and there is a service for the military every Sunday. There is also a hall for receiving dignitaries and holding state banquets, although it is rarely used as the halls in the current palace downtown are a bit more hospitable. I think the only time this castle's hall has been used in modern times was for the wedding or rehearsal dinner for Crown Prince Haakon's marriage to the commoner (now Crown Princess) Mette-Marit. 
On another day on a long weekend we decided to take a boat to one of the islands in the Oslofjord. The boats, as I've said, are part of the public transit system so they are free to use with the monthly passes we purchase for around $80 per person for unlimited public transit travel (With gas at $2/liter and not having to pay for parking, it's a pretty good deal). The thing is there aren't even permanent residents on some of these islands, just cottages or no houses at all. The island we went to was entirely a nature preserve, so the city basically provides this boat service for the leisure of the people. The boats run roughly once an hour and are immensely popular on a summer day so we waited in line at the pier for a while before being driven over to an island called Gressholmen. It was a beautiful island that was mostly rocky but there was ample space in the grass to lay down towels in the sun and still be close to the water. I waded in up to my hips and the temperature was great, and this was in late May! Due to the currents and it being an ocean the water is quite warm. You had to wear shoes because it was almost entirely broken shells and barnacled rocks on the bottom, but it was nice. I saw jellyfish for the first time in my life so I got out, but I have since been reassured that these little ones are not dangerous.
On other sunny days since then we have had the chance to explore more of downtown. One of the best things in Oslo is the churches. There are lots of churches built in many different styles. There aren't really any typical Norwegian Stavkirker here, they are more in the countryside, but the ones in Oslo are pretty spectacular and pretty much all in use. This isn't much of a church-going country, but all the churches have information about services and things posted outside. Here is one example, I think it's called Trinity Church. It is built in a typical style here, but the definition of typical is pretty broad. To emphasize how common churches are here, you can see that there is another one in the background of this picture. 
Another architecturally interesting building here is the parliament. I don't know much about it except that it's name in Norwegian is Stortinget which translates literally as "the big/grand thing." There are currently 169 seats in the parliament representing the 4.7 million people of Norway. The building it is housed in is pretty sweet, with big statues of lions outside. Here it is.
Finally, a moment of zen for any car or environmental enthusiasts reading this. Jordan and I were walking on one of the piers in the harbor looking at the big old ships and we happened upon this. Try and guess what it is.
We had no idea what it was until we looked closely at the emblems on the wheels. That my friends, is a Tesla Roadster, pretty much the fastest electric car for sale in the world. Only 500 had been sold as of last month and they retail for just over $100k. While the back end looks pretty funky, I wouldn't complain if someone gave me one. Peace.
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