Can't Buy Me Love
Oslo was recently - and surprisingly - named the most expensive
city in the world. But learned that some of the best things about
the beautiful Norwegian metropolis are free. Photographs by Kimm
Saatvedt
For over a decade, Tokyo held the unwanted distinction as
the world's most expensive city, a judgment that seemed accurate to
anyone who had stopped in a downtown hotel for tea and emerged 45
minutes later feeling slightly fleeced. But this year, when
Britain's respected Economist Intelligence Unit report came out,
the Japanese capital had been replaced as the planet's priciest
metropolis. ¶ The new winner, or loser, was not
London,
Paris, Hong
Kong,
New York, or any of the world's most famous cities, but the
mostly modest Norwegian city of
Oslo, known more for its fjords,
ski slopes, fresh fish, and as the home of the Nobel Peace Prize
than for its glitz and glamour. How did a little-known city rise to
the top of the most-expensive list? What would visitors get in
return for paying the highest prices on earth? And why should an
uncrowded Scandinavian city cost so much?
Experts cite many reasons for the high cost of living in Oslo,
including a sustained
oil and
natural gas boom, the expense of
importing many foods, and a substantial tax on alcohol consumption.
These (and several other factors) have made Oslo an expensive place
to visit and to live.
Norway is a prosperous nation by any measure
- it exports more oil than any other country except
Russia and
Saudi Arabia - and the current high prices for oil and natural gas
have brought in billions more. This makes for high incomes, a high
level of government spending, and high prices for visitors. Like
me.
Was it possible to enjoy the city without spending my way into the
stratosphere? I had to find out.