The Oslo Wrap-up

 It's Monday evening and we're wrapping up our stay in Oslo.  It's been a busy couple of days and the weather has cooperated, especially today.

We arrived in Oslo late afternoon on Saturday.  We took a bus from the airport that got us close to our hotel, the Karl Johan.  It's a nice hotel in a nice area - across from a park, near old buildings and many restaurants.  It's also just a short walk down to the port area.

After dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant (and there are many of those in Oslo), we were able to get a reasonable night's sleep to prepare for a busy Sunday.

For our first activity on Sunday we walked past the royal palace . . .

. . . to the Vigeland Sculpture Park.  We had visited there some years ago and were anxious to get back.  In the park there are over 200 sculptures done by Gustav Vigelands.  For me, the sculptures provide fascinating statements about the human condition and relationships.  Definitely worth a return visit. Pardon all of the photos but there was so much to see!

After the park, we headed back to our hotel but had to make a stop for lunch.  Now, you might think that we were anxious to try some Norwegian cuisine but Google pointed us to the San Francisco Bread Bowl.  It had rave reviews and the menu looked appealing.  It lived up to the reviews!

After lunch it was time for the anti-jet lag nap before our next adventure - a 2-hour cruise around the Oslo fjord.  It was a nice cruise and the sun even came out towards the end.

For dinner, I decided that it was time for Norwegian cuisine.  We went to a restaurant near our hotel and, when I ordered the fish soup the waiter said that they were out of it.  We immediately left and went back to the hotel for a recommendation.  He pointed us to a restaurant down by the port which turned out to be really good with good people watching.  I failed to get a good photo of the food before I ate it, but you can see the aftermath.

Monday's planned activity was a hiking tour covering three of the islands in the fjord.  We had time to walk around the Akershus Fortress before the tour.  Just for reference, the MSC cruise ship docked there is 6 times as big as the Oceania Sirena!

Our hiking tour started with a ferry ride to Bleikoya. There, we did a small hike around the island.  The island has a few cabins where the Norwegians like to go for the summer.

Our next ferry ride took us to Lindsay Vest.  This island is much more populated with many cabins.  The cabins are supposed to be limited in colors to red, yellow, green, and blue but we saw a few outliers.  We also had a stop for a bite as part of this hike.  We were able to buy some cheese and crackers to enjoy picnic style.

The last island on our tour was Hovedoya.  This was a largely uninhabited island with a battery of cannons from its time as a defense fortification, a beach, and the ruins of a monastery from the 1200's.

It was an excellent tour of the three islands.   Our guide, Neve from Scotland, was terrific.  When we got back to the hotel, we decided it was time for a drink and time to catch up on our blog/journal.  Not a bad spot for that.  As we sat, the second Ukranian support demonstration that we have seen here passed by.

One last Oslo dinner tonight (will it be Norwegian, or Italian, or Vegan?  I'll let you know) before we get on the ship tomorrow morning.  It's been a good two days in Oslo - I recommend it.

Peace and blessing,

Linda and Larry