EUROPE BLOG May 10th, 2023 - OSLO

5/10/23- Today marks the end of the road for Sharece as we part ways at LHR airport in London (her to Terminal 3 to go back home and me to Terminal 2 for my flight to Oslo, Norway). As I enter the departures area, I see Kelvin waiting for me. Poor guy got in only two hours prior due to the emergency landing situation that forced him to find a new flight. I can already see his tired eyes.

We check into our flight, board on time and are waiting to take off when I get a message from Sharece that her flight home is delayed until 9pm. Geez! It doesn’t take long for her to actually get that switched to 3:30pm so there’s that.

The two hour flight to Norway lands around 1:20pm and the weather couldn’t be more perfect; 65 degrees and sunny. We tap our credit cards for the train to Oslo Central (which takes about 20 minutes) and walk the rest of the way to our hotel (Bob W Sentralen).

This is a unique hotel using a virtual key to unlock the doors and no front desk, but check-in is very easy. Since we’re both tired from our travels, we rest at the hotel for about 2 hours before walking the town.

I set the GPS to Akeshus Fortress, only 10 minutes away, as our first stop. It’s free to enter and interesting to see, but there’s not much other than a few buildings and an okay museum. Continuing on, we walk the waterfront, which Kelvin loves, and check out the Vippa food market which specializes in international foods from several areas. The prices seem quite high and we aren’t ready for a full meal, so we bypass for now.

 

Then we see the Opera House across the water with its slanted roof that you can walk up from the ground level. Kelvin parks himself near the water and rests while I tread my tired legs to the top for some interesting views of the city.

One of the most interesting things I see is the Urban Sauna. It’s basically an outdoor cabin where people sit in a sauna before taking a dip into the very cold bay waters. A concept I find intriguing but can’t see doing.

Our day ends with a trip to the market for some food and pastries and resting at the hotel. It was a great trip with Sharece and I already miss her so much, but I’m very exciting to spend the next few weeks with my son and see what added adventures we find.

Side note- Oslo has some very artistic statues throughout the city. Something I'm going to have to find more information on.

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