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Sunday 24 February 2008 Back in Oslo we were all exhausted after the long drive so we opted for an easy yet delicious dinner of smuggled Swedish salmon and an early night.
Monday 25 February 2008 We woke late in the morning to find that while we were away for the weekend, Spring had arrived in Oslo (photo). The snow had melted, the trees were budding, the sky was blue and the sun was shining.
Despite the lovely weather, it unfortunately wasn’t a day to be basking in it. James was moving house so we needed to move out too.
We had originally planned to travel north to Tromso to view the northern lights at the end of winter but the weather over the past couple of weeks had been cloudy and wet - not ideal conditions - and the transport in Norway is not cheap so it was going to be an expensive gamble to try and the odds were not in our favour. On the bright side, the change of plans to stay in Oslo for the week allowed us the opportunity to spend some time with Michael’s diving friend Tami also.
We
spent the morning packing our gear and tidying up the flat before moving across to Tami’s just a few blocks away from James’. Tami was very generous to let us borrow her room while she enjoyed some bonding time sharing with her flatmate. In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours wandering the local streets around Tami’s apartment.
In the evening we walked through the city, past Oslo’s answer to the Piccadilly Circus and down to the waterfront where we enjoyed a fun dinner with the whole Oslo expat gang - except James who was still packing for his move - at the Thai Beach Bungalow Restaurant. The curries had a reasonable amount of heat which is very very hot by local Norwegian standards and the decor was authentically Thai. Our fond memories of our adventures in Thailand were reignited with Chang beer t-shirts, Thai water bottles to drink from and Thai advertising banners hanging on the walls.
After a delicious dinner a few of us continued on to the Cafe Barbera for coffees and hot chocolates. James arrived exhausted soon after so the beverages soon reverted back to various alcoholic varieties. We stayed there chatting until
quite late then we all walked back through the city together.
Tuesday 26 February 2008 Barbara took the opportunity to spend the day resting and attending to domestic duties while Michael enjoyed a bit of exploring.
First he strolled down to the harbour to drool over the tall ships for a while (photo) then he headed up to explore the Akershus Slott (photos), a castle from 1299AD.
The sky threatened to rain (photo) but managed to hold off while Michael then visited the Resistance Museum, Norges Hjemmefront Museet (photo) commemorating the Norwegian underground movement during WWII. Many interesting artefacts were on display in the museum including examples of how messages and supplies were smuggled (photo).
On the way back to Tami’s Michael spotted a Scream mural in the city (photo).
Back at Tami’s Barbara cooked up a delicious stir fry with luscious fresh Norwegian vegetables she had found at the local greengrocer. Norway has a surprisingly large amount of quality fresh produce given its climate, most of which are grown in greenhouses. The stir fry went down very well.
Wednesday 27 February 2008 As James was exhausted from having spent most of
the last couple of days packing and moving, and had been so kind to let us stay with him and taking us to Hemsedal, we were happy to take on the role of the local Polish cleaning lady for the day.
We scrubbed James apartment from top to toe. Michael also helped to move some more of James’ belongings to his next place of abode. Michael even helped James with some last-minute bond-releasing repairs to a certain burnt table (photo) after having decided that the landlady might notice if we removed the dining table altogether and pretended there never was one.
To reward ourselves for a hard day’s work James drove us up to the Holmenkollen ski jump in the mountains above Oslo city where we gaped at the 132.5 meter high structure and the dazzling sunset (photos). The annual ski jump event was scheduled for the following weekend but unfortunately for the organisers Spring had come early this year. Accordingly there wasn’t nearly enough snow to hold the event. So while we were there we watched as a convoy of truck continuously dumped now at the base of the jump in preparation (photo).
Afterwards we drove
a little way down the mountain to the Akeforeningen toboggan run which we found to have closed the prior day as the run had become too icy and dangerous due to the arrival of Spring. Disappointed at just missing out on riding toboggans in Norway we returned to the city where Michael and Tami cooked a delicious roast dinner to warm our bellies.
Thursday 28 February 2008 Barbara was feeling unwell so she slept in for the day. Michael pottered around doing domestic duties and taking care of Barbara.
In the evening Michael and Tami went out into the city for farewell drinks for her friend. A lovely time was had by all - and lots of wine too! (photo)
Friday 29 February 2008 At lunch time we met in the city with James and another diving friend, Guro. We ate a deliciously healthy lunch at a local bagel house and bud silly goodbyes to James and Guro as it would be the last time we would see them in Norway during this trip (photo).
After lunch we hung around the city for a while before heading out of the city to visit Michael’s
friends Lars and Katinka. We caught the metro to their house and met with them and their two lovely daughters. Katinka cooked a delicious meal of fresh Salmon and we stayed up late chatting over nice wine (photo).
Saturday 1 March 2008 We spent most of the day packing and tidying our mess in Tami’s apartment in preparation for our departure the next day.
After a strangely named lunch (photo), we decided to do something special - and free! - to make the most of our last day in Oslo. We found out that there are live FREE Jazz concerts in the afternoon at the Oslo Konserthus (photo). The band playing were superb. Lovely music over a soothing cup of tea was a perfectly civilised way to spend the afternoon.
After the concert we strolled along the waterfront - in the rain. We stopped briefly at the Nobel Peace Centre (photo) to view an art exhibition that was showing there (photo). The works were very symbolic, political... and environmentally friendly, being made out of recycled materials!
Further along the waterfront was Aker Brygge, the docklands which have had old warehouses converted to shopping centres and
many nautical features and modern sculptures installed along the water edge (photos) including the Eternal Peace Flame dedicated to the pursuit of world peace (photo).
It continued to rain harder and harder and soon the ducks were the only ones enjoying the weather (photo) so we rushed past the outdoor cafes which were empty despite their special Norwegian style seating (photo) and back on the tram to Tami’s apartment.
Tami had gone away skiing for the weekend so, as a treat and thank you for her hospitality, when we cooked dinner we also made extra for a special lunch for her for the next day. We were early to be for a good night’s sleep before our early departure - or so we thought...
Sunday 2 March 2008 Our good night’s sleep was interrupted at 3am by Tami’s new flatmate Tommy and his friend who were both very drunk when they started buzzing incessantly on the doorbell at this time despite having keys. Grumpily we answered their repeated calls and then tried to get some more sleep. At 5:30am we woke again but this time to the buzzing of our alarm clock.
We quickly ate
breakfast and finished packing before catching a tram to the city. On the way, the tram almost hit a car which proved to be the only excitement for the journey. Once in the city we caught the train to the airport through the beautiful countryside surrounding Oslo. It was bitterly cold when we arrived at the airport (photo).
We were flying with Norwegian Airlines, the national budget carrier, to Copenhagen. Tami had warned us that when she tried to fly with them her flight ended up being 25 hours late so we were hoping for a better experience. Our flight was delayed twice (photos) but finally arrived... and then finally departed... and then we were on our way to Denmark!
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