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Our horrible plane
- less than two hand spans between seatsAs if it wasn’t bad enough that Flight Centre had issued our tickets later than promised, that their travel route advice was ridiculously uninformed, nor that the overcharged us a significant amount for taxes which took us a month to get refunded - only when we stepped onto our plane to Norway (photo), squeezed into our tiny seats and read the purchasable menu did we realise that our travel agent had booked us un a budget fight on ‘SAS Norge’ instead of ‘SAS’ - GGGGRRRR! At later examination we found that most of the remaining flights in our itinerary were also budget flights. Not a nice thing to find out when we paid for full-service economy.
With the plane not due to arrive until late in the afternoon, we were starving - and furious. Given our situation a helpful hostess gave us some lunch to eat while the too-close passengers in front of us jumped up and down in their seats knocking drinks everywhere. It was chaos - there was even a dog in the front seat! (photo) Just when we were about to hurl the remains of our drinks over said passengers, we began
Our horrible flight
- even animals on board flying over Norway. Wow! The countryside was covered in fresh snow (photo).
After an agonizing flight we arrived at Oslo airport (photo) still hungry so we wandered over to the airport cafe only to find a ham and cheese sandwich priced at about 30AUD. Thinking these were inflated airport prices we declined. We later found similar items in the city to cost about 25AUD - we decided we would be doing a lot of self-catering in Norway. Per Michael’s friend Tammy’s advice we caught the local train to the city because it was ‘cheaper’ - meaning it only costs approx 17AUD, about half the price of the fast train. It wasn’t as frequent as the fast train so we stood on the cold platform for a short while admiring the snow-covered train tracks (photo).
When we arrived in the city Tammy met with us and took us to the apartment of Michael’s other friend in Oslo, James. James wasn’t at home yet because he was driving back from skiing in France so we popped out toe shops and bought some food to cook for dinner. James arrived quite late as he had been delayed at a border to
Distracting...
beautiful scenery flying over Norway be checked for drugs after having driven through the Netherlands and then another stop in Sweden for cheap shopping.
Tuesday 19 February 2008 We woke in the morning and admired the late sunrise over the park next to James’ apartment (photo).
We walked briskly in the cold to keep ourselves warm along the pot-hole infested roads (photo) to Frogner Stadium. In the front of the stadium are statues of famous Norwegian champion ice skaters (photo). We skated nervously and then happily for a few hours. Michael skated quite well (photo). Barbara clung to the softer edges of the rink for most of the time (photo) and was envious of the Pokemons - i.e. small children being Pocket Monsters when they are on ice or snow because they move fast and fearlessly - with crates that help them learn to balance (photo). When she was tired, Barbara then amused herself with a little mischief while Michael continued skating (photo).
After skating, we walked to the nearby Vigeland Museet (photo) which houses hundreds of artworks by Gustav Vigeland. We were also able to see the process by which a sculpture is made form a plaster cast (photos). Measurements
are made on the plaster cast then a took is used to etch the stone according to those measurements. The nude sculptures for which he is most famous are very powerful and very ‘real’ (photos).
Strolling through the large parklands across the street we found lovely half-frozen streams (photo), lots of slippery ice to play on (photos) and on display many of the original Vigeland sculptures (photos). The sunset over the frozen lake was gorgeous.
On the way back to James’ we found a spare bank just in case we lost the one we were using (photo) and preferred to get some bottled wine instead of a ‘bag in box’ (photo) to wash down our spaghetti dinner.
Wednesday 20 February 2008 Wednesday was to be a big day for museums! And because most museums in Oslo are FREE, it was going to be a great day out!
First stop was the Kulturhistorisk Museum (aka the history museum) where we learned pictorially - because we couldn’t understand the Norwegian narrations - all about the history of Norway and the Vikings of course! On display were many artefacts from the Viking era - swords, helmets, comic books...
even a wooden church (photos) They even provided advice on how to get a cheap meal in Norway - trap the elk yourself! (photo). There was ONE English sign in the museum but it wasn’t very helpful as it stated the blatantly obvious (photo).
At the Royal Palace we watched the changing of the guards (photos) which was rudely interrupted by ignorant tourists who were subsequently snarled at by the guards.
On the outskirts of town was the Munch Museum (photo) where we viewed one of the many versions of the artwork by Edward Munch known as ‘Scream’ (photo), although this one was only a pastel version. Apparently Scream has been stolen a couple of times but we weren’t surprised at all when we found most of the guards in the museum half asleep. The film exhibited in the museum about the life of Edward Munch was very eye-opening.
In the National gallery we found many more of the most famous works by Edward Munch. Having watched the film in the Munch Museum beforehand, we knew all about them which made them much more interesting to see.
Walking back to through the city we found
that sports gear is about the only thing that is cheap in Norway. We passed on buying ski gear but Michael picked up a new pair of runners as he had worn the others to bits. We also found out about a very useful scheme where tourists are entitled to a refund of their VAT (sales tax) when they exit the country - this made Michael’s shoes even cheaper which made us even happier to have bought them.
In front of the National Theatre we watched some night-skating (photo). We then headed up to Tammy’s for the evening where we enjoyed traditional Norwegian fiskeboller (fish balls) with potatoes, vegetables and cream sauce (photo) and were later joined by James and more beer. We happily chatted until late and then crashed back at James’.
Thursday 21 February 2008 After a big museum day the day before and a late night, Barbara decided to stay in for the day while Michael ventured out to explore all things nautical.
In the city Michael observed the skaters again in front of the National Theatre in an effort to pick up some new techniques (photo). Beside the skating rink he also spotted
Quality Norwegian infrastructure
- snow & salt & ploughing damages the roads some of the native sea life (photo) - or what’s left of it!
The nautical museums are located on the far side of the Oslo Fjord but the ferry only runs in summer so it was a long bus ride around to the port. Once at the port, Michael drooled over the boats for a few moments (photo).
He then wandered in awe at the outdoor exhibition of Polar Expeditions at Gjoa Harbour learning about the adventures of the famous polar explorers Roald Amundsen (photo) and Robert Scott and viewing the remains of more native wildlife (photo).
Then to the Fram Museum. The Fram (photo) is famous for having travelled further north and further south than any other conventional vessel. Fridtjof Nansen used this vessel to prove his theories about the existence of polar currents.
Next stop was the Kon-Tiki Museum which contains a replica of the balsa raft (photo) built by Thor Heyerdahl to cross from South America to Polynesia to prove that similarities in ancient cultures were due to travel between these civilisations. The raft sank as soon as it hit the reefs on the shoreline.
Michael then met Barbara at the Film
Famous skating icons
outside Frogner Stadium Museum in the city where we watched their weekly screening of a Norwegian film with English subtitles. The film was a bit grim - about the drug scene in Oslo in the 1980s. The exhibit of the history of censorship in Norway was quite ‘interesting’ and the troll puppets used in stop-motion animation were very amusing.
We then took advantage of 40%!o(MISSING)ff fresh produce at a supermarket near Tammy’s so Barbara could cook up a yummy curry for dinner. James likes his hotter but Michael was already sweating enough. Afterwards Michael and James visited James’ friends Pete and Rowan to share ski-gear and beer.
Friday 22 February 2008 We spent the morning relaxing and packing for our weekend ski trip. Barbara popped into the city to buy some cheap thermals and discovered the wonder that is shopping at H&M.
We packed up James’ car to the brim with ski gear that had been begged for or borrowed from friends and when he arrived home from work we set off into the Norwegian countryside...
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