In the Land of The Midday Bun

Pop Quiz: Oslo tastes like a) Lutefisk; b) Reindeer; c) Raisin buns; d) Um, you're weird — a city doesn't taste of anything. There's no absolute right answer, but I'd choose c). Every city has its own flavor, and I can't think about Norway's thousand-year-old, Viking-founded capital (pop. 515,000) without recalling the flavor of its traditional raisin buns — warm puffs of barely cinnamony bread punctuated by sweet morsels of fruit.

	STREETWISE
		BEST ART MUSEUM Munch Museet Just a fraction of its 23,000-piece collection of Edvard Munch works is on show at any one time. Also on until Jan. 19: works by Picasso, Braque, Léger and Gris on loan from Stockholm's Moderna Museet. Tøyengata 53, +47 23 24 14 00 BEST NON-ART MUSEUM Norsk Folkemuseum The cultural history museum has exhibits on Norwegian arts and traditions as well as 150 buildings, including a 13th century stave church, moved from across the country and painstakingly rebuilt in Bygdøy, a 10-minute ferry ride from central Oslo. Museumsveien 10, +47 22 12 37 00 BEST COFFEE Java Espresso Bar Baristas at this pocket-size purveyor of caffeine jolts serve a trendy clientele including Crown Prince Haakon. Ullevålsveien 45B. +47 22 59 46 37 BEST MUSIC VENUE Blå One of Scandinavia's premier stages for jazz "and related sounds," this old warehouse on the Aker's west bank has live shows each night from Wednesday to Sunday. Brenneriveien 9C, +47 22 20 91 81 BEST BREAD Åpent Bakeri Did I mention the raisin buns? Inkognito Terrasse 1, +47 22 44 94 70 BEST BISTRO Kastanjen Sophisticated but unpretentious seasonal fare at reasonable (for Oslo) prices. The seafood's always a good bet. Bygdøy Allé 18, +47 22 43 44 67

If you've not spent much time in Oslo, you're probably thinking that the right answer to the quiz was d). But let me explain. Oslo, like the non-raisiny bits of the bun, is usually considered nice — nice but dull, all muted colors, leafy parks and elegant 19th century mansions. But look past the main tourist draws: the Viking Ship Museum; the 14th century Akershus Fortress, which has guarded Oslofjord through nine sieges; the sculpture garden with Gustav Vigeland's 14-m-tall Monolith, a phallic column of 121 writhing human figures. The city has plenty of other artistic, architectural and even culinary gems — the raisins in the bun. You just have to know where to walk.

Step one: cross the Aker River. Before the 1624 fire that destroyed almost all of medieval Oslo, downtown was actually several kilometers east of the narrow, meandering stream. King Christian IV rebuilt it to the west and renamed it Christiania after himself. (In 1924, the city reverted to the original name, derived from the Old Norse words As (God) and lo (field).) Today, the commercial center and most of the tourist destinations are west of the Aker, and one of the few attractions that lures visitors over the river is the Edvard Munch Museum, which honors the creator of the Scream pictures — the ubiquitous paintings and lithographs, not the ubiquitous teen-horror flicks. Go. The world's largest Munch collection includes the disturbing, darker-than-melancholy images usually identified with the artist, as well as more lyrical works featuring sea scenes and forests — his escapes.

Norwegians need nature — one friend told me that "people in Oslo only like it because of the parts that make them feel like they're not in the city" — so green space takes up acres of Oslo's land. Across the road from the Munch Museum are the University of Oslo's botanical gardens. A stroll along its verdant paths and past the university's museums will bring you to Rodeløkka, a slice of small-town Norway plunked into the heart of the city. The neighborhood's narrow, hilly streets are lined with some of Oslo's best samples of Norwegian village architecture — clapboard cottages in brick reds, royal blues and daffodil yellows, with windowboxes and white picket fences. A few more streets over, you'll find Grünerløkka, a gentrified ex-working-class district with trendy boutiques, gourmet delis and upscale bars. Munch spent much of his early life here, and downstairs from his old digs at Schouss plass 1 is Edvard's, a swank coffee bar typical of today's Grünerløkka.

Save your appetite, though, and head back west to the Åpent Bakeri. Tucked away behind the Royal Palace, on an anonymous side street aptly called Inkognito Terrasse, the bakery is marked by the long line snaking out the door — a cross-section of Oslo that, on my visit, included an elderly matron in a fur hat, a painter in splattered coveralls and young fashionistas. Most offerings, like the crusty walnut bread (delicious even without butter), are French, but the methods are artisanal Norwegian. As is the one must-taste — and don't pretend you don't know what it is. Go on, have a raisin bun. See what I mean?