30 August 2023

We made it. Several Sudafed and a box of tissues later! Here we are. Oslo!

Wow, Oslo is cool! In many, many ways. The temperature is a pleasant cool at the moment, but the buildings, especially the modern ones, and the people are uber cool!!!

After catching the local train from the airport into Oslo, we found our way up Karl Johans Gate , the main very cool pedestrian street, and collected our keys to our wonderfully cool apartment. One street over, we had arrived at our Airbnb, exhausted but excited. No time to waste. We dumped our bags and went to explore on foot. (Mind you, our bed looked very comfy and very tempting.)

We headed down to the harbour (fjord) to view the amazingly cool Opera House, super cool Munch Museum and wander around to a an area on the foreshore called Salt where we had a nice cool beer and watched some very quirky but cool street performers. I think you get it now. Oslo is cool!!!

The people are cool too by the way. They speak several languages, and happily switch to perfect English for us; they run, or cycle everywhere it seems and look amazingly fit and healthy. They utilise an extensive public transport system rather than driving their cars. Drivers appear to respect cyclists and instead of car horn honking and hurling abuse, they drive slowly, wave through the cyclists and pedestrians patiently and often throw in a smile to boot!

In order to get the lay of the land, we wandered on and accidentally tripped over the Akershaus Fortress, and the Royal Palace and a few other important looking buildings before finding the other end of Karl Johans Gate and wandering home.

The need for sleep was becoming increasingly urgent. A quick pizza and a cold beer sated our hunger before falling exhaustedly but contentedly into bed.

But not before taking another Sudafed!!

Oh , and did I tell you about the cool car?