Oslo

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I made a lot of plans for this short journey. There initially were featured some other cities, but finally the plans took shape and everything was arranged. I lost some money on non-refundable air tickets and in future will plan better. I chose Oslo and Vilnius because of cheap flights, and Riga because it’s relatively near to St. Petersburg. I’ve seen a bit of Riga in summer and was anxious to return for a more complete impression. While the previous trip to Stockholm was 100% pre-planned and about 95% fulfilled according to plan, this 5-day experience was not planned as regards what to see and what to do, I was unaware of what Oslo and Vilnius had to offer. Somewhere at the back of my mind, though, the “word” Sigulda stood emphasized (I had a vague idea of a very good park there and a mediaeval castle, thanks to an entry on this website).

For the first time in my life I took Lux Express bus from St. Petersburg to Tallinn. It turned out that my favourite, Ecolines, is a bit more expensive, but that’s surely because Ecolines provides bus attendants, and Lux Express had none. As to comfort, it was basically the same. I bought the ticket in advance, saving about ¼ of its usual price. The flight Tallinn to Oslo was as scheduled.

After entering the air terminal, I was comprehensively questioned by an official, so were several other persons. He asked, what did I come to Norway for, what was my occupation, why did I happen to come to Norway in November, where was I going to proceed from there, checked my luggage, which was scarce, said I spoke good English (I might hope it was not flattery but I know my spoken English is poor), went to a back room with my passport maybe to check whether I was listed somewhere as malefactor or otherwise, and wished a happy stay. It is also possible he was dubious as to my French visa. There might be something behind all those checks.

I wandered through the airport shop in search of maps, found none, and exited the air terminal to find a free bus to Rygge train station, the driver inviting everybody onboard. I felt passionate about those smallish neat houses in neat surroundings along the road, I want to live in a small town for a while, instead of St. Petersburg.

I’ve recently translated a voluminous standard on maintenance of railways and became a worshipper of trains; that feeling was enhanced by Oslo Centralstasjon, quite large with lots of shops, supermarkets and what not. Concerning translation, railways are one of the most difficult topics for me. All those crosses, frogs, and points made me a bit mad during the night, but finally I puzzled it all out.

I slept only several hours on the road from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, therefore, the aim was to glimpse through major sights, find the hostel and sleep. I did not find the map (later I procured it at hostel), did not feel like finding the tourist information centre, but I followed my eyes; I’ve come to realize many of my visits to cities are visual exercises only, with little or no background information about what’s there on camera shots (I usually read about them upon return); nevertheless, I simply felt good, joyful, pleased, and satisfied because I SAW new things, unseen before.

There were Christmas decorations on the Karl Johans gata, bells with small lights and garlands, and much more beggars than I saw elsewhere. I checked the names of streets in the hope of coming across the hostel, but it proved to be in a totally different direction than I imagined. Oslo had a pattern, architecture, and atmosphere similar to Helsinki and Stockholm, lively, expensive, Scandinavian, marine; and I also proved my theory that if you know nothing about the city beforehand, it will exert a stronger impression. My camera is slowly dying, still unrepaired.

Finally I felt a bit lost, dashing here, darting there in search of hostel, checking up my position on the map and… here it is! Anker Hostel is a good one, but charges for bed linen, which is of course inconvenient and a bit unfair to customer; I mean, it must be simply included in the price at booking, or booking sites should provide an option of paying for it in advance.

After a 30-minutes’ rest I went to train station and bought ticket to Rygge for the next day to avoid hassle in the morning and some food products (true, I spent more than 100 USD per one day in Oslo, including accommodation and transport to/from airport, which is incomparable to the later stay in the Baltic states). I exchanged the currency in my home country, it was all accurately subdivided by days, so my food allowance in Oslo sufficed for only some tangerines, kefir, and a croissant. It made absolutely no difference because sleep would overcome everything for 14 consecutive hours.

I managed to see the Opera House, Akershus Fortress, Radhus, Oslo Concert Hall (well-dressed men and women were streaming there from several sides), and the Royal House. On the pavement of Karl Johans gata there were engraved in rather big letters citations from Henrik Ibsen. There’s also the Munch Museum, and I plan to see his famous work someday. At five p.m. I was already sleeping.

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