Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway  June 29-30

Queen's Palace

We arrived in Oslo at 9:45 am via the Pearl Seaways ferry/cruise boat and followed the walking directions to our hotel Thon Hotel Opera situated right across from the new Opera House.  Got ourselves situated, oriented and set off to explore the city of Oslo.  Initially it was a bright sunny day with blue skies and white clouds but it quickly changed.  We stumbled on a "grand bandstand" in the park, saw the National Theater and continued on to the Nobel Peace Center Building.  At this point it began to rain and I was hungry.  After walking up and down the pier we finally settled with an Italian restaurant called Olivia's where it was warm and cozy inside.

  We found the queen's palace and had read only during the summer could you tour the palace.  However the tickets were harder to obtain than we thought.... The lady said we could get the tickets at a 7-11 or from our hotel - they just needed to go onto ticketmaster.  Well after I tried over 6 7-11 type stores, the hotel, my own computer, we were unsuccessful - mom was quite disappointed :(    The most difficult decisions we have to make is where we are going for dinner. Fortunately it was sunny and dry outside, after our late afternoon, shower, cocktails and Scrabble game.  After a lot of hawing and humming, we decide to go the Opera House, in the foyer was a restaurant called S.... Brasserie.  Before dinner we did walk up on top of the Opera House - beautiful views from way up there and the reflection from the windows and the white marble stone and the water was awesome.  Dinner actually was better than I had expected whilst sitting in foyer!  Mom and I shared a typical Norwegian meal of cured lamb, prosciutto, potato salad, pickled herring, lingeberries and some cheeses.  We noticed that most of the dishes we were served and which were used at our hotel were slabs of slate.

Playing Scrabble!

Day 2 - Oslo - It  was a warmer day - I even finally wore sandals!  We thought we should do something cultural so headed to the Gallery Museum hoping to see some Picasso, Monet and Degas (as indicated in the tour book) but  most of the gallery was consumed by Edvard Munch's work (even though there is a whole museum for him in Oslo).  He is the famous artist of The Scream. - which we saw 2 of - a lithograph and the original which used tempera paint and crayons.
We persevered with getting into the Royal Palace (there was an English tour at 2pm)  We arrived at 1pm to plea our case that we had tried many different venues about obtaining the tickets with no avail.  They told us that if there were any tickets not sold, they would be available at 1:50.  So we ventured off for a snack at a bakery recommended by some ladies we sat beside at dinner the night before.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the palace grounds looked much greener and alive.  As we headed back to the palace, we stumbled upon the changing guards and then got in line (as Mom said - "I am not moving from this spot!")  And though there were 5 people ahead of us, we successfully made it in to tour the Royal Palace.

Opera House

    It really was beautiful! (Unfortunately I was unable to take  photos).  This palace had only 172 rooms and so the architecture knew it was smaller than other European palaces he designed the rooms to get larger in size until one reached the grand ballroom - which really was grand!  The information we learned about the Norwegian's kings and its history was quite educational!  What a highlight!

Back to the hotel for a shower, pack up the clothes, cocktails and Scrabble.  We decided to go to one of the restaurants that the hotel recommended on the water.  It was a beautiful evening and restaurant. The restaurant was called Solid...... Pier 34.  It had open feel - well the large pane windows, some which were open and the wonderful views directly on the waterways was  picturesque.  The fresh fish was what is was known for.  I had the 3 course meal of smoked salmon and asparagus; halibut on risotto and dessert.  While Mom had the same appetizer then  had a huge bowl of shrimp!  She hardly put a dent in the bowl of shrimp - tails, heads and eyes!!!!

Unlike Denmark, Norway didn't seem to have a distinctive look among its people.  The people in Norway (in Oslo) were much more ethnically diverse.  Norway is a nation that welcomes refugees; however, it is a very expensive city and I noticed a lot of homelessness and mentally challenged people.  I didn't really feel comfortable in this city.  Fortunately it had day light for over 17 hours of the day.  

Adventures with Mom - Scandinavian Capitals Tour - Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark - June 26-28

Although Mom and I were supposed to arrive at the Copenhagen airport within 30 minutes of each other, something of course went askew.  Long story short I actually flew in first so waited for mom - her luggage didn't make it and so I waited and waited for her to come out.  Meanwhile I had figured out how to get access to internet at the airport and received an email from dad saying that due to bad weather, quite possibly mom could have missed her connection; so I thought mom had missed her flight and was about to leave and then she did come out (without luggage).

We used the following travel company; which we recommend - Authentic Scandinavia http://authentic-scandinavia.com/variants/34 

We successfully took the train into Central Station and walked to our hotel - The Square - great hotel and location right near Central Station and Tivoli.  With no time to waste, we bought tickets for one of those on and off buses and toured the town!  First stop, Amalienborg Castle.
    Amalienborg Castle was first built in 1750- 4 palaces for nobles families which are around an octagonal square and the royal family has lived in it since 1794. The area was built by Frederick V.  When the queen is residing there the Danish Royal Life Guards guard the place and at noon  there is the changing of guards.  We were disappointed that we were unable to go inside the buildings though.

   Next we went to see the famous landmark, The Little Mermaid, it was created in 1913.
For dinner we went a great Danish restaurant called Puk.  We had traditional pickled salmon for a starter and then I had a steak and mashed potatoes and mom had mussels.

Day 2 - We went to Rosenborg Castle which was a castle you could go in. It was built in 1603-34 by Christian IV - supposedly a favorite castle of his and other kings after him!  It has beautiful garden and the botanical gardens are across the street.  The castle is arranged in chronological order while walking through the rooms and there is a treasury filled with armour, wine (dating back to 1615), trinkets, jewellery and crowns.

Nyhavn

Afterwards we walked to a famous area called Nyhavn (New Harbour)- which is famous for its colorful buildings beside each other and many bars and cafes. Old red light district .  For lunch we went for a typical Danish meal called Smorrebrod which is an open faced sandwich.  We went to a restaurant Mette Ohlsen recommended called Ida Davidsen.  I got roast beef with bernaise sauce, potatoes and carmelized onions (you couldn't even see the small piece of rye bread) and Mom had salmon, cucumber sauce and fake caviar made from seaweed.  Next we walked down the longest pedestrian road in Europe called Stroget and did some shopping.  We did find a LEGO store but I was quite surprised the homeland of LEGO, I hardly saw any.  And there was no Lego museum or anything.  For dinner we went to a Vietnamese restaurant which was good but really expensive!

All made out of LEGO

Day 3 - Copenhagen to ferry to Oslo:  Mom and I walked around a bit more - found this great coffee and sweets restaurant that Mette had also recommended called La Glace off of Stroget but we just weren't hungry to get anything :(. 

Hans Christain Andersen