Stortinget is the Norwegian parliament. It's down the road from the university and I had the opportunity to visit it last week.
It was an interesting trip and the guide told us lots of stories about the parliament and Norwegian history. There was for instance the story about how some protesters had released doves in the main chamber of parliament and instead of trying to chase the birds away, the caretakers shot them.
The most interesting part of the tour came at the end when the guide shared his views on democracy and how it wasn't always the most appropriate form of government. He was of the view that China was doing very well without democracy. It was quite refreshing to hear this coming from a Scandinavian. As expected some students (a French guy in particular) on the tour became quite agitated.
It got tiring after a while hearing the student go on about "freedom" and "human rights" and "democracy" while the Chinese students remained silent.
