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Published: July 18th 2008
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I think in the end the tally was 43 hours to get from Adelaide to OSlo...not helped by little indian men getting off flights...but we got there in the end...straight into a first class reminder of the prices here...train from airport to hotel suburb..60AUD...taxi from train station to hotel..coz by this time we really could not be bothered walking the 2.5km with bags, and we didn't have a local map...20AUD...dinner in hotel (2 mains, 2 beers, one lemonade) 100AUD...so only a few hours in the country and already 180 dollars poorer..eek..good thing we're only here 4 days!!
So flying in the scenery was really spectacular. Forests, lakes, snow capped mountains, colourful wooden farmhouses, but no city, infact we landed without even seeing the city. Not surprising since i then discovered the airport is a good 50km out. Sill even when we made it to the city the surrounding areas are stillwonderfully hidden beneath the trees..so unlike some other concrete jungles.
So with four days to spend we headed in to the city....making a slight detour because for some reason I decided to catch the bus AWAY from the city instead of TO and we ended up driving through a
local suburb that used to be the site of the old airport looking at some very nice houses. The bus driver thought it was funny...but he couldn't help much as he was from Slovakia and spoke as much English as I do Norwegian!!
The Norwegian Folk museum was huge. An open air museum full of old houses and new showing Norwegian living through the times complete with people in period costume baking bread and such. Also a big collection of knick knacks like piggy banks in the bank display and old retro 70's furniture-Helen you would have loved that! Loved the old houses..gonna put one on my list for when i win lotto.
Viking ship museum: Here we saw three viking ships that were found in burial mounds by the Oslo fjord. Buried more than 1100 years ago to carry their royal owners to the 'other side' ands are supposedly the best preserved viking ships ever found.
Royal Palace: Took a very interesting tour through the two lower levels of the royal palace..can't go to the third as the Royals still live and work there on the third floor. The history was really interesting too although it
seems all the Scandinavian royals are related somewhere along the line along with a french bloke who was adopted in his 40's by one king because he didn't have an heir!!
Akershus Fortress: A medieval castle built in around 1300 and then rebuilt as a renaissance castle in the 17th century. During WW2 the dungeons were used as a prison-nice! The resistance museum was housed in a building within the fortress and detailed the occupation of Norway during WW2 as well as the whole resistance movement..really, really interesting.
The Fram museum: Here we got our first look at Polar bears...stuffed of course. The Fram is the strongest wooden boat built it said on the card. In an egg shape so it got lifted out of the ice rather than crushed..always helpful on an expedition. It has gone further north and south than any other surface vessel and was used for three polar expedition. A few years back another ship the Tara did the same voyage by deliberately getting itself stuck in the polar ice to see where it drifted to and did go a bit further than the Fram when it was stuck...bit less ice these days!!
Got another visit to the huge Frogner Park just to the west side of the city. I went here last time but it was nice to get back and get a little more time to relax in the park and look at all the statues. Hundreds of them...all by Vigeland. This was during the day that we got city sightseeing bus tickets which was a good way to get around and get some relevant information on the way. Also it finished right in the middle of the city next to the town hall (which by the way looked really drab from the outside but stunning on the inside) so we had dinner and drinks in a very nice middle of the park restaurant.
So while we were in Norway it was also Lesleys birthday, and to celebrate we booked on a harbour cruise/prawn buffet dinner...which was a mixed night in the end. The cruise was really lovely on an old wooden fishing boat with chairs and table on the front. The weather was gorgeous and the sun stayed shining till 10pm and was still warm enough to be without a jacket. On the other hand the eftpos machine was
busted and the bar lady didn't seem to care even thought they didn't have a manual back up...take cash next time I think...we did manange to scrape up enought for a few drinks. The prawn buffet was just that...prawns and bread...little tiny prawns...with lots of eggs..that we had to peel ourselves....and no lemon and water to wash hands with so not be smelly after......they were very tasty though!!
Hi Lesley here, Thursday, I had a trip to Flam on the Oslo train system. 5 and half hour trip to up towards Bergen, then another 45 minute train trip through the Flam valley which was fabulous. Once in Flam, caught a boat on the way back to Bergen then back on the train to Lysaker. What an exhausting day, spent most of it on the train and boat, 12 and half hours later, but very beautiful scenery and some treacherous roads to travel through.
So that was four days in Oslo. What did I like about the city. Mostly that it was so green and there were people on bikes everywhere. Greatly helped by the very good bike path system running alongside all the main roads. We borrowed the
free bicycles from the hotel and took them for a spin.
I was also surpised by the fact that everywhere in the parks were people sun bathing...and I mean everywhere. Then the lady at the hotel said that this time of year there aren't many Norwegeians in Norway, they're all off on holiday, I had been trying to work out how these people had all that time to sit around
Things I find disturbing:
Got to Oslo airport at around 2pm for a 1620 flight to Longyearbyen to find it wasn't a direct flight but stopped in Tromso on the way. But wait...there was a delay...we left finally at 1930. At least this time we weren't sitting on a plane for three hours....they gave us a voucher for 100 NKroner each...which got us 3 beers between us.
Got on the plane to discover that my knack for being seated next to crazies is still alive and well. Stay tuned for the ''Lycra Man'' update next blog.
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