Date: 5th February 2008
Departure: 2230 hrs @ Cityterminen, Stockholm
Destination: Oslo, Norway
Mode of Transportation: Coach, Swebus
Date: 6th February 2008
Arrival: 0600 hrs @ Oslo Gallerian
We decided to take the Swebus rather than the train because it's the cheapest option and it's a night bus so we could save on one night's accommodation and fully utilise the next day, 6th Feb 08. Something funny to share: there's a toilet on the bus and halfway through the journey, I badly needed the toilet and there were no stops around. I went to the toilet but I couldn't even stand properly because the bus was simply too jerky! I tried so hard to balance myself before I could sit down and pee! I wonder if it had been a guy, what would happen to him?
The moral of the story: Never visit the toilet on the bus when it's moving!
We reached Oslo rather early in the morning and as usual, all the shops aren't opened yet so we decided to first find our hostel and leave our bags before we set off to the tourist office and get the information we needed! It was raining so we were drenched by the time we reached the hostel as we kind of lost our way and frankly speaking, the Norwegians ain't that friendly.. It's like when we wanted to ask for directions, many a times, they just walk past you without any eye contact at all!
After leaving our luggages, we headed straight to the tourist office & fished out all the necessary information and planned our itinerary for the day:
1) Oslo City Hall
2) Kon-Tiki Museum
3) Royal Palace
4) Vigeland Sculpture Park
5) Winter Walk-Akershus Fortress & Castle
6) Chinese New Year "Reunion Dinner" (Kim & Me) @ Lofotstua
The first stop wasn't too bad since every city's City Hall has its own uniqueness.. The interior design is much like the one in Stockholm, with the grand hall being used for functions & banquet. FYI, all the nobel prizes are handed out in the Stockholm CH every 10th December and the most prestigious Nobel Peace Prize is given out in the Oslo CH on the same day.. The walls of the CH are decorated with paintings of Norway's history from the Ice Ages to Viking Age, WWII till the present. We were quite lucky to be able to see one of the minority groups of Norway(from the North) while we were there as it was one of their festive day and a big group of them were in one of the function rooms having breakfast! They've got nice costumes!
Wax Display of the Norwegian kids in minority costume~~
I love this Painting! Totally!!
After the CH hall, we headed straight to the Kon-Tiki Museum. It's one of the MUST-VISIT museums in Oslo because it depicts the story of this Norwegian guy who found this island near the coast of the European continent and his team of 5 sailors and him decided to sail from South America to that coast to prove to the world that the wooden boats of South American origin are capable of sailing to Europe! Not only that, he completed quite a few other sea expeditions! It's the display that's nice I thought. hehe... That's the whole thing about Norway, lots of sea-related exhibitions.. I guess it's because of their Viking History!
Next up was the Royal Palace but we mis-read the opening hours because the royal palace is not opened to the public during winter! It's only opened during Summer because that's the time when the royalties go on holiday! But anyway, the palace is almost similar to the one in Stockholm (same colour-yellow and design). We wanted to catch the change of guards but the weather was freezingly cold and the rain further dampened our spirits to stay. So off we headed to the Vigeland Sculpture Park!
There's a love-&-hate relationship when it comes to this place! Why would I say that? Let's talk about why I hated it! It was raining and this place was covered in Snow & melted ice! Putting it in another way, it should be that there's always a love-&-hate relationship when it comes to SNOW! You love it because it's beautiful--imagine walking along this small path covered with Snow with your background being totally WHITE! How picturesque that image would be! BUT at the same time, you have to be extremely careful because you are always one step away from a FALL on your BUTT! Some description about this place: The whole park is full of sculptures of naked men & women! haha.. Apparently, they call this ART! I don't deny that the sculptures are really very beautiful & gives you a lot of room for imagination! See the photos & you will understand!
After the visit at the sculpture park, we still had a few hours before the winter walk at 5pm so we decided to go SHOPPING! hehe.. We went to this famous place, House of Oslo where they sell all the Made in Norway products but as usual, all of them are SUPER EXPENSIVE! The best thing about this place is the supermarket though.. haha.. First, I must say I am NEVER LIKE WHAT I WILL SAY FOLLOWING THIS SENTENCE IN SINGAPORE but when you are in NORWAY, when everything's 50% mark-up on costs, you behave exactly like ME! There were free food samples in the supermarket so Kim & I tried everything that was available! haha..
Sidetrack a bit: let me tell you a story first.. A girl followed her "friends" to Oslo without planning any of her itinerary with them or by herself. When she reaches Oslo, she never even bother to ask if she could join them & simply just sticked to them! She does everything at x 10000 SLOW speed & when at one of the tourist attractions, she was at least 500m away from them all the time. When the bus back to the city came, her 2 "friends" rushed up to the bus and expected her to follow. She did not because she didn't even see them boarding the bus. The 2 "friends" were stunned when the bus drove away without her, leaving her alone at the bus-stop but there was no way to go back. They felt guilty but none of them had any urge to go back to look for her. They sent her a SMS to give her directions & the meeting point of the next programme. Why did that happen? If you ever find yourself in that girl's shoes, reflect on yourself..What had you done to incur the wrath of others? If you are SMART, you will know who are the characters in the story....
Last destination before our reunion dinner: Winter Walk to the Akershus Fortress & Castle. It is a tour organised by the tourist office & because we got the Oslo Pass-a travel pass that gives you free entrance to 55 museums & free public transport (we bought it 24hours for 176NOK~S$50/-).. I wasn't able to take much photos because the sky was dark by then & the fortress didn't have much lightings.. The tour guide was hilarious! It's supposed to be a ghostly tour as she will tell us the various ghost stories in the Castle so from time to time, she will scream suddenly or make some ghostly sounds & Kim & I were totally laughing at her! But she's a good guide! She's rather old probably in her late 40s or early 50s but she walks SUPER fast & though it was raining, she didn't have any umbrella, cap or gloves with her. She could walk and talk at the same time effortlessly! Initially, both of us were still following her guide but after an hour or so, both of us started to drift away & all we wanted was for the tour to end quickly so that we can have our warm beverage & go for our dinner..
The Fortress~~
Night view from the castle! remember this scenery because I will post the same thing when it's in the day! So compare & contrast!
Finally! At 730pm, we reached the place where one of the tourist office staff recommended for good FISH! We knew food in Norway would be expensive but we felt we should give ourselves a good treat since it was CNY in Singapore that evening & we had missed our reunion dinner! The meal costed me 170 NOK (approximate S$50/-) but it's definitely the best FISH I'd ever had in my life! There wasn't any stink smell at all & the fish was really FRESH & SOFT! The boss of the cafe was very nice as he explained to us the different kind of fish in English then chit-chatted with us like where we came from, the various places to visit etc etc.. He even changed our vegetables away to give us French Fries! haha.. If anyone of you wants to go to Oslo, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND you to go that restaurant to DINE! see the photos:
Kim & her Coalfish in Cajun Sauce with fries, boiled potatoes & mushrooms
Me & my Coalfish in home-made gravvy with fries, boiled potatoes & bacon
Kim's dish under the microscope
My food under the microscope
I have seen the photos my family members posted on CNY & how I missed those times.. But don't worry, I pampered myself to good food too & it kinda made me feel better though it burned a HOLE in my POCKETS! haha..
End of the 1st day.. we wanted to watch DVD back at the hostel but we were really tired! My feet, having being soaked in the snow, ice & water was totally numb! A long day but a fulfilling one :)
There's a love-&-hate relationship when it comes to this place! Why would I say that? Let's talk about why I hated it! It was raining and this place was covered in Snow & melted ice! Putting it in another way, it should be that there's always a love-&-hate relationship when it comes to SNOW! You love it because it's beautiful--imagine walking along this small path covered with Snow with your background being totally WHITE! How picturesque that image would be! BUT at the same time, you have to be extremely careful because you are always one step away from a FALL on your BUTT! Some description about this place: The whole park is full of sculptures of naked men & women! haha.. Apparently, they call this ART! I don't deny that the sculptures are really very beautiful & gives you a lot of room for imagination! See the photos & you will understand!
After the visit at the sculpture park, we still had a few hours before the winter walk at 5pm so we decided to go SHOPPING! hehe.. We went to this famous place, House of Oslo where they sell all the Made in Norway products but as usual, all of them are SUPER EXPENSIVE! The best thing about this place is the supermarket though.. haha.. First, I must say I am NEVER LIKE WHAT I WILL SAY FOLLOWING THIS SENTENCE IN SINGAPORE but when you are in NORWAY, when everything's 50% mark-up on costs, you behave exactly like ME! There were free food samples in the supermarket so Kim & I tried everything that was available! haha..Sidetrack a bit: let me tell you a story first.. A girl followed her "friends" to Oslo without planning any of her itinerary with them or by herself. When she reaches Oslo, she never even bother to ask if she could join them & simply just sticked to them! She does everything at x 10000 SLOW speed & when at one of the tourist attractions, she was at least 500m away from them all the time. When the bus back to the city came, her 2 "friends" rushed up to the bus and expected her to follow. She did not because she didn't even see them boarding the bus. The 2 "friends" were stunned when the bus drove away without her, leaving her alone at the bus-stop but there was no way to go back. They felt guilty but none of them had any urge to go back to look for her. They sent her a SMS to give her directions & the meeting point of the next programme. Why did that happen? If you ever find yourself in that girl's shoes, reflect on yourself..What had you done to incur the wrath of others? If you are SMART, you will know who are the characters in the story....
Last destination before our reunion dinner: Winter Walk to the Akershus Fortress & Castle. It is a tour organised by the tourist office & because we got the Oslo Pass-a travel pass that gives you free entrance to 55 museums & free public transport (we bought it 24hours for 176NOK~S$50/-).. I wasn't able to take much photos because the sky was dark by then & the fortress didn't have much lightings.. The tour guide was hilarious! It's supposed to be a ghostly tour as she will tell us the various ghost stories in the Castle so from time to time, she will scream suddenly or make some ghostly sounds & Kim & I were totally laughing at her! But she's a good guide! She's rather old probably in her late 40s or early 50s but she walks SUPER fast & though it was raining, she didn't have any umbrella, cap or gloves with her. She could walk and talk at the same time effortlessly! Initially, both of us were still following her guide but after an hour or so, both of us started to drift away & all we wanted was for the tour to end quickly so that we can have our warm beverage & go for our dinner..
The Fortress~~
Night view from the castle! remember this scenery because I will post the same thing when it's in the day! So compare & contrast!
Finally! At 730pm, we reached the place where one of the tourist office staff recommended for good FISH! We knew food in Norway would be expensive but we felt we should give ourselves a good treat since it was CNY in Singapore that evening & we had missed our reunion dinner! The meal costed me 170 NOK (approximate S$50/-) but it's definitely the best FISH I'd ever had in my life! There wasn't any stink smell at all & the fish was really FRESH & SOFT! The boss of the cafe was very nice as he explained to us the different kind of fish in English then chit-chatted with us like where we came from, the various places to visit etc etc.. He even changed our vegetables away to give us French Fries! haha.. If anyone of you wants to go to Oslo, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND you to go that restaurant to DINE! see the photos:Restaurant Name- Lofotstua
Kim & her Coalfish in Cajun Sauce with fries, boiled potatoes & mushrooms
Me & my Coalfish in home-made gravvy with fries, boiled potatoes & bacon
Kim's dish under the microscope
My food under the microscope
I have seen the photos my family members posted on CNY & how I missed those times.. But don't worry, I pampered myself to good food too & it kinda made me feel better though it burned a HOLE in my POCKETS! haha..End of the 1st day.. we wanted to watch DVD back at the hostel but we were really tired! My feet, having being soaked in the snow, ice & water was totally numb! A long day but a fulfilling one :)
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