OSLO, Norway -- The gunman had already spared him once. It wasn't going to happen again. Minutes before, Adrian Pracon had been trying to swim to safety when he saw the killer point his weapon at him.

Norway’s capital city Oslo offers a lot for the curious traveler. New museums such as the National Gallery and the Munch Museum have put Oslo well and truly on the cultural map for European travel.

Three days into their annual summer camp, some 600 Labor Party youth activists from all over Norway hear the first, vague news of a bombing in the capital, Oslo, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) away.