Oslo-a-go-go

Back from Oslo, and it was an awesome time! Here's kind of how it went:

Thursday - got on the bus at 21:00 and left berlin. A couple of ferry rides, a stop in Kopenhagen and a 19 hour journey later I arrived in Oslo at 16:20 on friday.

Friday - got off the bus and as per em's sms went to find the tourist info. Found out about Cabins in the area and was boffed by Em. Happy meeting! Then followed her outside to find Al "hovering" in the rental car. Finally got to off-load my backpack (holding 17 bottles of beer to escape murderous Norwegian alcohol prices) and we set off in search of our cabin about 30min outside Oslo. On the way we stopped off at a supermarket to get some supplies, and the first bought of (much) hilarity started when we had to ask the 7/11 man where a proper supermarket was (after getting lost in the industrial area). We got the supplies after much discussions over the type of bread that was right for us and very little discussion over a small fillet of reindeer that would have cost R490. We proceeded on to the site of our cabins, found it and picked a good one and then went to the Hotel to pick up the key, where we found we could also use the hotels facilities including pool - nice.

We made our way over to the cabin, unloaded and had a couple of beers. Em gave me the marmite and a couple of other presents from people back home. We then cooked supper and ate. After that we got an early night.

Saturday - We got up late to find ourselves in an awesome area with mountains behind us and fjords in front. Norway is a beautiful country (and had some similarities to South Africa I thought). We went for a walk up the mountain (hill maybe) behind us to kings view and where warned about the slipperyness, which I laughed at, only to find out all about on our way down. We got to the top in the rain, walking through forests with moss on the ground . spectacular. The view wasn't the best with the rain, but Al "the scot" Simpson, Glen "the German" Tyler, and Emily "the Saffer" Tyler made the most of it. We walked/slid down again to the hotel where we took full advantage of the swimming pool, jaccuzi and sauna as well as the beers on call (as one does). After warming up and drying off, we bought some more supplies at the Joker and headed back to the cabin for an afternoon of beer drinking, reading and hearts playing. Supper was a stir fry of sorts followed by hot chocolate and bed.

Sunday - we got up and had a nice cooked breakfast with a killer omlete and then packed up the cabin and cleaned it. After dropping off the keys we headed off to Oslo to our (well Em's with me and Al freebootin') Hotel. Very fancy and a breakfast buffet to get stuffed for. We settled in (checked out the facilities, planned the next day's sightseeing, drunk beer and made sure we knew where all the important tv channels were. We finished off the sandwiches and snacks from the weekend, watched hitch and then went to bed.

Monday - We got up at 7 and proceeded to the buffet that would be the scene of some of the biggest breakfasts eaten over the next couple of days. Rolling out an hour later we made our way to our car and headed off to town, picking up a Taiwanese woman on the way who joined us for the first part of the day. We got to the Statue Park early which was amazing with lots of larger than life statues (unfortunately none with a toe as big as emily's head) which we proceeded to impersonate, looking as much like tourists as we could, and probably having something to do with our Taiwanese guests running like mad from us as soon as we had got her to town on the pretence of finding lunch. After the park we checked out two museums, a Norwegian Volksmuseum, with some great houses and things that the locals used to live in, as well as some very poor reasons for why the alcohol is so expensive. We also took in a Stave Church, which was very impressive, or at least it was before Emily tried to break the door down to get inside. The next Museum was a viking museum with three viking boats. Very good as there was not too much to take in and all was explained quite well (unlike the last museum). We then took the car back and went off to explore the town centre. However we didn't get very far before Em realised she had left her wallet in the car, something that would become a recuring theme with em and al for the next couple of days. Our first stop was a Mövenpick ice cream shop where we ate rather large, delicious soft serves, and saw the brute force of the Norwegian police (they hunt in pairs, one native one immigrant) and a very suspicious looking woman in an orange top abducting innocent women from the pavement. With our tourist mode being rather played out (well mine at least) and me professing that I prefer to get lost and then find my way back we proceeded to wander around Oslo looking for a castle, which we found, speculated about the guards and lazed in the sun on top of the wall. To our credit, we did try and go into a museum about the Norwegian resistance to the Nazi's, but it was closed. After the castle we walked through town to a Scottish pub for a pint and did some fantastic people watching. We then walked to our restuarant of choice for a slap up meal as it was the last evening before Em started her conference. After baulking at the prices (something that took place before buying anything in Norway, regardless of how long we were there) we thankfully didn't decide just to get a pizza (we were all quite tired) but stayed and ate supper there, drinking a fantastic French white wine, eating superb food and being waited on by one of the best waiters I have ever been waited on by. After supper we made our way back to the hotel via train for a little while.


Tuesday - Emily's conference started, so she was up early. Al and I took a more leisurely pace, and made it to breakfast at 9:15. I put in my most impressive performance on the buffet table, managing 5 courses - Ian would have been proud. After breakfast Al and I headed up the Olympic ski jump for a really good panoramic view of oslo, as well as a look at the ski museum. We then took a ride on a ski simulator, which I think is obligatory for tourists. After managing to hold on to our breakfasts we went for a walk in the woods which was really great. Once we got to a good vantage point we stopped (still in the sun - the weather was amazing) and cracked a couple of beers. After the beers we walked back and started what was a very long and perilous decision making process for supper. We decided pizza was out as two medium pizzas and the short train journey to get there would have cost in the region of R400. We checked out a restaurant near the hotel, before going back to the hotel. We went to the fancy hotel restaurant and asked to see the menu, seeing the price of a main being about R290 Al asked if they had reindeer. When they said no, I told Al that the other hotel restaurant did, complete a cunning get away without looking cheap. Little did we know we wouldn't be laughing too long! We got to the other restaurant which was in the same place as the breakfast buffet. Judging by the breakfast quality, we didn't think we could go too wrong. Oh how wrong we were. Not thinking it suspicious that we were the only people in the restaurant (maybe the rest are just eating later...) we ordered a beer and the first of a series of terrible mistakes. The meals all came on very small plates and were literally what the said. If you ordered a reindeer patty, you literally got one reindeer patty in gravy with no veg. The service wasn't much better, with the waitress brining Al something wrapped in tinfoil and saying "I hope it's fish". Somehow we ploughed through four of these entrées each before realising that things just weren't going to get better. The food made airplane food look like haute cuisine. It was ugly. Anyway, we had another drink with Em who was back from her conference dinner and then retired to our room, vowing that we would be back to visit our retribution on the breakfast buffet.


Wednesday - Our day of leaving, and I said my goodbyes to Em as she left for her conference. Al and I went to breakfast, came back and packed. Em popped in again for a final goodbye and then Al walked me to the station to catch a train to the bus station. I spent my last kroner on padkos for the bus and then boarded for a trip through the stunning Norwegian country side and the 16hr (minus the 3hr wait in Copenhagen) trip to Berlin.

It was an amazing holiday, with things seeming to all go right for us. The best part of it for me was getting to spend time with Em and Al. Lots of good laughs.

I'm now back in Berlin and have my first shift in a couple of hours.