www.iht.com Perhaps appropriately for a street in an old Nordic working-class neighborhood, Thorvald Meyers Gate, a 15-minute walk from the center of Oslo, begins and ends with beer. Its northern end stands in the shadow of a former brewery with a tower that still sports the green Ringnes logo; the quaint old brick structure at the street's southern tip was once the Schous brewery and is now BI Oslo, a business college.

In between runs a 1.6-kilometer stretch of late 19th-century apartment houses that exude period atmosphere. On weekends during the warmer months, the milelong street is a veritable smorgasbord of Oslo life where students and pensioners, business people and laborers, young families and aging bohemians mingle.

It is almost certainly the most diverse street in all of Norway. Of course, there are plenty of more obvious places for tourists to visit in Oslo. At the museums, you can view everything from Edvard Munch paintings to Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's raft. In the heart of downtown is Akershus Festning, a 13th-century walled fortress.

But if you want to see all the different varieties of homo norvegianus in their natural habitat, go to Thorvald Meyers Gate ("gate," pronounced GOT-eh, means street), the main street of Grunerlokka ("Gruner's paddock"), a district named for the family that once owned most of the land. As tracts were sold off in the 1850s, construction took off at such a furious pace that the area came to be known as New York. Much of that development was the work of Thorvald Meyer, a local merchant who set aside areas for parks, schools and churches, which accounts for the felicitous combination of gray and green, and of energy and ease, along the thoroughfare.

The lower half of the street is downright scruffy, with a bingo hall and "brown pubs" that pride themselves, as one establishment's sign puts it, on offering "pleasant atmosphere amid old traditions" - which means that the pilsner is cheap and the dأƒآ©cor has not changed in decades. In some cases, the clientele has not changed either; to drop into some of these spots is to discover that Grunerlokka is still, in part, what it was a century ago, a neighborhood of factory and mill workers.

Farther north, the cast of characters grows more varied, the brown pubs giving way to places with names like Insomnia, a clothing boutique, and Coma, a bar and restaurant.

The sidewalks teem with pedestrians, bicycles, strollers, baby carriages and dogs. A typical summer Saturday brings out students, artists and countercultural types with nose rings and puce hair, well-heeled young neighborhood families (who are starting to drive the housing prices up and the countercultural people out) and folks from other parts of Oslo seeking a little color.

And, perhaps, a good buy. One popular destination for bargain-hunters is Spok og Spenning (Fun and Excitement), a cluttered, pleasantly musty corner shop at No.43; crammed with books, comics and underground magazines (many in English), plus CDs and vintage vinyl, ranging from Barbra Streisand to Sid Vicious.

Those in the market for linens and antiques, classic postcards and calendars, nostalgic crockery or used clothing may wish to prowl the weekend flea market at Birkelunden Park.

Discount prices can also often be found at the street's small branch of the Ark bookstore chain, No.46, which houses a surprisingly good selection of current novels and serious nonfiction books.

If you are thirsty, Thorvald Meyers Gate also offers cafأƒآ©s and bars for pretty much every taste. Some appear not to have changed their signs or dأƒآ©cor since the 1950s; others are in constant flux.

In winter, when the days are short and the weather unspeakable, all these places are like igloos, insulated from the bitter cold. In the spring, as the days lengthen and grow warmer, the doors are flung open, the tables are set out and everybody exults in the annual miracle of long days of endless sunshine.

The street's cosmopolitan feel, rare in Oslo, owes much to BI's students, who come from around the globe. But plenty of expatriates live here, too. It's a melting pot. And the food! You can get everything from kebabs to vegetarian to sushi. Cheap!"