Flew in with flight delays —due to British airspace being too busy. The captain told us this while we were all ready to go. We pushed off from the gate -, excited- just to then park up at a random spot and waited some more. We eventually took off, some 40min late then there was no parking space in Oslo and then had to take the bus to the terminal .
I caught the train in to central station then walked past druggies to hostel to meet up with Silje and Alice – friends from my Galapagos trip back in April 2019.
We went out to sushi and great catch up!!
The next day only spent half day exploring around Palace Gardens then tried to get sleep as I had this hay fever / cold something after the pollen bomb hit in southern England. Had to get better before the ship!!
On Friday, had a pretty full day of exploring. As I walked to my first stop- I passed the City Hall- with wooden carvings of Norwegian creation legends /history & culture.
First, my eye was drawn to Askershus Fort so I made my way all around the buildings and defence walls checking out the structure and the city views from its vantage point.
Next, I walked over to the striking National Opera and Ballet building. It is made of white marble. The floor slabs are actually quiet cracked .
As it got a bit cooler and clouds came in I headed to the newly renovated National Museum. I started on the 3rd level, which had some contemporary art , some of which was questionable but complex.
Then on the 2nd level there was a lot more classic art such as Monet, one very normal, non abstract, Picasso , as well as a van Gogh self portrait. There are several Edvard Munch paintings, the most famous of which is one of his “Scream” paintings . He actually painted several of them. Munch is a Norwegian artist.
After 3 hours at the museum it was straight to dinner at 5pm in Engebret Cafe, Oslo’s oldest restaurant. Again, it was Alice and Silje that organised it as they hadnt been either. It was fairly top dollar, had some yum reindeer. Another great catch up before they headed to Canada early the next morning and left me with a lots more to see the next and last full day.
