So as many of you may know, I went to the other side of the planet in search of foreign lands, adventure, blond Dutchmen, and “mountains, Gandalf, mountains!”. Found all of ’em and here is the photo-evidence.

Plane from Toronto to Reykjavik (and from thence to Oslo). Icelandair had the best deal pricewise (and I got to watch the Lego Movie on the way there!). I did have a brief stopover in Reykjavik both on the way there and back, but the way there was too short to do anything and the way back I was too tired to do anything more than sleep on an airport bench.

This lounge in Toronto had iPads for public use everywhere? It was connected to the restaurant (which was cooking bacon – no fair) but you didn’t have to order food to use the iPads. So I talked to people on fb while waiting for my flight. Awesome.

Icelandic wasabi? *shrug* Okay?

Sunrise as we were coming down to Oslo airport. Very exciting.

I’d already shown my passport in Iceland, so apparently I didn’t have to do that again in Oslo – I just walked straight from the plane to the rest of the world (I only had a backpack and my purse, both as carry-on, so no need to hang around for luggage). But it was only 6AM so I attempted to use the internet and figure out how to use the ATM to get some NOK for breakfast. At around 8 I went to take the train into town.

Taking the Flytoget (or any train) into Oslo City Centre, you get to see a line of stylish brandnew buildings on the left just before the train station. This is called the Barcode, and I wish I’d gotten more pictures of them from this angle… but there are more pictures of them later on, don’t worry. : )

The outside of the train station has this neat piece of artwork. Oslo is full of beautiful art, a lot of it modern. (and aggressive panhandlers, holy geez) I got breakfast at a little cafe and then walked around the city to see what it was like. The way they combine historic buildings and modern architecture is very tasteful. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a country with lots of money. XD

Henrik Wergeland, whoever he was. He’s at the end of a very nice park with a fountain in the middle. I spent quite a bit of time there the first day.

I attempted to go to the National Gallery to see Edvard Munch’s The Scream, but they were closed on Mondays. But I saw this sculpture in the distance, which I have dubbed Aluminum Foil Ice Cream Cone. Then I kept wandering. It was fun.

French urinals? Sure, okay. (this is at the other end of the park.)

Getting a Mononoke vibe from this sculpture.

By the cathedral

The monastic-looking gallery that wraps around the back of the cathedral. Now full of expensive shops and cafes (who am I kidding, everything in Norway is expensive). Good use of the space, imo.

With the Gallery closed and Martijn not in until 12:30 (and not present at my location until almost 2, I think it was), I checked out the inside of the cathedral. Sadly the only organ concerts were on Saturdays, when I was not in Oslo. But I did get to hear organ on my trip later. : )

Whoever L. M. Lindeman was, I suppose he must have had something to do with organs.

Next I went back to the train station to wait for Martijn. When he arrived, we went to sit in the park to discuss our plans. I’d done a bit of research while waiting, including getting two Oslo Pass cards that would let us into all the museums and public transit free. We dropped by the cathedral again so he could take his own pictures, and then headed for our hostel which was not too far from the train station.

Our bunk. I got the top one. That’s not my towel. There were six bunks in a room, and the first night the only person we were sharing with was an Englishman named Adam. Then there was a French girl named Florence, and an American, and an Austrian girl named Tina who was in another room but friends with Adam. It was kind of like a mini apartment, complete with super-tiny bathroom and slightly useless kitchen. One of my first priorities, on arriving, was to clean it up, since the last people in the room had been three Australians who apparently drank so heavily every night they missed their plane when they left… but they weren’t there when we came. What they left for us was a giant pile of food, some of it going bad. I filled a whole trashbag with stuff. XD We did use some of the good stuff. Then you can cook in the kitchen… by borrowing a box of equipment from the front desk… for a 100 NOK deposit… for three hours only… without any real idea what you might get in the box. So cooking was always a bit of a challenge here. But somehow Martijn made awesome food anyway.

The first afternoon I hung around and talked with Adam and Tina while Martijn went to visit his Norwegian friend in Oslo, and then he came back and she came over too for dinner. It was very pleasant.

Apparently I snored that first night. o_O I’m going to blame it on all the Ontario air affecting my nose.

 

Next: Oslo