A rude Awakening, a Huge Omlette and a Green Park

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Norwegian sunshine! I've been so lucky with this weather. I arrived yesterday at the station and walked soberly in a straight line northwards to my accommodation. Easy! The route ended in the loveliest of green parks, sitting a couple of hundred yards away from my hostel. What with the sunshine, my arduous journey and my lingering hangover it was irresistible.  In fact its still irresistible as here I am now again in the lush grass by a pond where there are ducks and possibly fish. Wouldn't be surprised if there was the odd newt too. I'd never put it past them. 

The hostel/hotel is a big one, but nice. Once again I have a lovely room with a kitchenette. I was given a shopping basket full of utensils so last night I cooked myself a pasta. I thought eating in would make things cheaper but I have a feeling I spent an awful lot for not much. But who knows, it's all toy money.

I was awoken with the glorious shriek of the fire alarm at 6am this morning. The whole hostel was evacuated. I stayed calm, put on a jacket and my life saving crocs, grabbed my key and sauntered down to the exit. Other people had obviously panicked and run out in just a nightie and I felt very sorry for them as we waited about an hour until firemen, policemen and ambulance men did their thing and eventually emerged looking grumpy. I don't know what it was that caused the fire but my guess is foul play with a kitchenette by a guest arriving home drunk and fancying a bit of toast. I went back to sleep, happy that I hadn't been fried to a crisp but not ready to face the day for another couple of hours.

Eventually I took to the streets and sauntered round a very quiet city centre. Obviously the whole Peace Prize thing has rubbed off on the population of Oslo and they live their lives in hushed whispers and on tippy toes to keep Mr Nobel Resting In Peace. As always I made a beeline for the water and thought it a rather nice harbour. Good old wooden boats. After more meandering I found an internet cafe where I was finally able to upload pictures which I hope are appreciated because I paid a lot of money for the pleasure of posting them. 

I decided to have lunch in Restaurant Lorry, which is just opposite the hostel. It's a lovely spot. I had the most enormous omlette ever and chips. Very tasty but I had to admit defeat and leave half of it untouched. I hope they fed the leftovers to a nice cat or something. Not good to waste food, but in this case even old dustbin guts was caught short. 

After such a huge lunch it felt absolutely natural to head for the park for a bit of a snooze followed by ukuleleing and now catching up on my blog. 

Oslo is being a pleasant antidote to the partying frolics of Stockholm, though I'm missing my Swedish friends. 

Tomorrow I'm taking the famously stunning train journey to Bergen, which was the initial inspiration for my Scando-trip. I just hope they've cleaned the windows. There's nothing worse than going on a spectacular train journey when the windows are smattered in mud. Perhaps I'll bring a damp sponge just in case.

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