The flight to Oslo was uneventful. It took 7 hours so I kicked off my boots and slept, risking the wrath of my neighbors. The Oslo airport was a modern structure made of wood and glass. It looked how I imagine a present day viking hall should, sturdy yet comfortable and homely. Since it lies some distance outside of the city a train ride in is required.
There are express trains and common trains with the difference being double the price with a 5 minute time saving. I, naturally, chose the plebeian option, but that’s equivalent of choosing a Maserati over a Ferrari since the train was incredible. Clean, comfortable, with free wifi on board. I’ve yet to explore the rest of Europe but so far it’s even better than the trains in Germany. Even being the normal city train, the ride cost $15 each way for the 25 minute ride to the city. I was warned about Oslo being expensive but I smirked at that information having my bank account hardened by living in NY recently. It is however very accurate. Luckily I only spend 6 hours in the city, an hour more than I was planning on but we'll get to that.
It’s tough to describe the feel of city. Maybe it was the bitter cold and the grey skies, but I would venture to call it a mix between Soviet housing and intricate european architecture. Most bottom levels of the buildings are occupied by retail shops with American chains in abundance. The Whopper is a big deal in Norway, apparantly. Since I was hungry and I spotted a highly rated seafood cafe nearby on Yelp I immediately headed that way.
The place was a seafood shop with a cafe built in. After perusing the various fresh seafood offerings at the shop, I took a seat at the counter and asked the nice lady for an English menu and a recommendation. The place was apparently known for their fish and chips but I decided to go for a less pedestrian offering and ordered the suggested mussels prepared in beer.
Everything they serve is caught fresh the same day, I overheard the waitress say after blaming the absence of several items on a bad morning catch. Not 2 minutes after placing my order, the person next to me received their meal consisting of 2 small bowls filled with a variety of herring with onions, black bread and butter, and numerous other goodies served on a wooden board. I held back a wail of jealousy and regret, and patiently waited for my food as I studied my surroundings. The waitress brought me several slices of delicious bread with some sort of sweet buttery spread which I waited to eat till my food arrived. After seeing numerous baskets of fish and chips hit the tables, a strong smell of cooking beer hit my nostrils and shortly after the mussels made their debut. And were they good… All were fully open with plump insides floating in beer with pieces of ham. After filling my belly, paying the tab, and being reminded of how expensive Norway is, I headed to my first and only tourist attraction of the day, Akershus fortress.
The fortress is an establishment located by the water with a certain history which is better described by Wikipedia. I made it just in time for the changing of the guard, which was not as enchanting as one would hope. It involved several ROTC looking fellows (and possibly a lady? Will require a closer analysis of photos.) meandering in and out of the barracks with a gun inspection in between. The fortress itself offered an awesome overlook of the bay, and I bet on a summer day is a wonderful spot to hang out and picnic. Unfortunately this is not summer and with the temperature hovering in the single digits, all I could manage is some pictures with my wooden hands and a sprint to the nearest coffee shop.
There I had some mediocre chocolate cake and a cappuccino before heading back to the train station. I missed my train to the airport by a second because I do these things, and again the next one due to some bad information, so I had to wait around for an hour in silent panic knowing if everything goes well with the next train I will have 15 minutes to get onto my flight. Amazingly enough all I needed was 10 to breeze through security and end up at my gate. European efficiency at it’s best. The plane was mostly empty (very few things on the unexpected surprise list top that), and the flight to Munich was easy and comfortable.
