(9:45 a.m. PDT, 6:45 p.m. in Oslo)
Amazing what a good night’s sleep can do for a person’s disposition, eh? After racking out for 10 hours last night (I’ve done that twice on this trip; I can NEVER manage to do that at home), Erin and I tackled Oslo today. When we arrived yesterday, we looked at the map, and, honestly, it looked pretty intimidating. I think both of us were wondering how in the world we were going to find our way around. This morning we decided to jump right in and see what we could figure out. We started by taking a tram downtown and then hopped on a hop-on/hop-off tour bus that circles points of interest in the city. Once we’d ridden that for awhile, it began to dawn on us that central Oslo is nowhere as big (or as intimidating) as we’d feared yesterday. The fact that we were able to look at things this morning with fresh, unfatigued eyes and attitudes certainly didn’t hurt.
So far, we’ve managed to ride the tram, a bus, and a ferry across Oslo harbor to the Viking Ship Museum. After we were done there, we caught another bus, got off at Aker Brygge, found a coffee shop and then an easy walk to the Nobel Peace Center. We were feeling so confident of our navigational abilities that we decided to take the tram back to our apartment in Torshov and relax for awhile before walking the three kilometers to Theatercaféen in Stortingsgata near the National Theater. Yep, a little more than 24 hours in Oslo…and we’re feeling a little cocky. I think we’re kinda getting used to this whole foreign travel thing.
The weather’s even held up for us so far. Sure, sunshine would be preferable, but it’s September in Norway, and the perfect weather we had in Bergen was an aberration. We know this because everyone we talked to told us as much. Truthfully, we’re not terribly demanding; we’ll be happy as long as it doesn’t rain…but our luck may be about to run out. While today’s forecast only called for a 40% chance of rain, that chance is supposed to increase to 75-80% over the next couple days. If it rains, we’ll keep going…because what’s the other option, right? Today was gray, chilly, and blustery, but the rain held off. As far as we were concerned it was a virtually perfect day. We were together and having fun.
We’ve got three more days left in Oslo, and then we head home. By the time Thursday morning rolls around, I think we’ll be excited about coming home. This has, and continues to be, an amazing trip…but there comes a point where one begins to miss the familiar. Simple things like your own bed and coffee in the morning exactly the way you like it begin to sound pretty good. As much as we love what we’ve been doing, I think both of us are getting to a place where we’ll be ready (albeit rather sad) to head home. Tonight, though, we’ve got some calories to burn on our way over to what’s quite probably one of the most expensive restaurants in the most expensive city in the world. We’re going to make certain we get our money’s worth.
