We woke up and had room service breakfast so we could enjoy the picturesque inlets and calm bays of the 60 mile long fjord going to Oslo. We passed through the Drobak channel, which is famous among Norwegians as the place they sank a big German warship at the start of WW II. The fjord is so deep that huge ships pass over the sunken warship with plentry of room to spare.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we were looking forward to wandering around Scandinavia’s capital and least populous and oldest city. Oslo has been a major Norwegian trading port for over 100 years. We arrived and made our way along the harbourfront to the Nobel Peace Centre, which honours Nobel Peace Prize winners. The harbourfront (Aker Brygge) is a lovely, huge promenade, lined with cafes and restaurants and condos at the very end (in the area known as Thuvholmen). Oslo is in the process of renewing the waterfront to make it into a people zone instead of an industrial area. Signs of this are everywhere with construction going on and cranes dominating the area. It will be even more beautiful when it’s completed. This area used to be home to Oslo’s shipbuilding industry.

City Hall (Rådhuset), begun in 1931 and not completed until 1950 (after WWII), is an impressive building with unique architecture and a huge collection of Norwegian artwork. Many of the rooms pay tribute and host various pieces by artists such as Edward Munch. The artwork is spectacular and celebrates municipal themes inside and there are colourful wood carvings outside in the courtyard that show scenes from Norwegian mythology. At the front of the building are statues depicting 6 labourers. Norway, is a socialistic democracy that believes in giving respect to the workers (heroes to them) who built their society. The main hall’s theme is good government with murals depicting work, play and civic administration. On another wall is the “Mural of the Occupation” which depicts Norway’s WW II experience. This is the Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded every December (the general Nobel Prize ceremony occurs in Stockholm’s City hall). I’m by no means an art connoisseur but it was very worthwhile seeing.

We walked past the National Theatre and statues of Norway’s favourite playwrights Ibsen & Bjornstjerne Bjornson. Across from the Theatre and in front of the Parliament Building (Stortinget) stands a statue of Henrik Wergeland, a poet, who inspired the national resurgence of Norway in the 19th century. He stands in a peaceful square with a fountain that is a skating rink in winter.

The Parliament Building is an impressive building. It was built in 1866. If the flag is flying then Parliament is in session.
We passed by the historic Grand Cafe where Oslo’s elite, including Ibsen & Munch met back in the day.

We continued down busy Karl Johan’s Gate road (which leads from the train station to the Royal Palace) people watching and began to see street people and drug addicts loitering around (they didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them) and sand sculpture artists (the sculpture of the day seemed to be dogs lying down) until we came to the Oslo Cathedral (Domkirke), built in 1697 after the second one burned down. It’s where Norway commemorates royal weddings and death. It was also where the 77 people who died in a car bombing in July, 1977 were mourned. The tiny square windows in the tower were lookouts for fire watchmen.

Unfortunately the National Gallery was closed. Founded in 1837 it houses Norway’s most extensive collection of art, including pieces from Dahl, Krohg (Munch’s inspiration), and Munch including his “The Scream” (one of Vic’s favourite paintings). We were very disappointed but.....

We went back to the Promenade to have lunch and took in the views of the Opera House rising from the water at the harbour, with people climbing all over the roof. It was built in 2008 and taxpayers helped pay the bill to make culture (ballet and opera) accessible to the younger generation. We stopped for lunch. I ordered mussels (the largest I have ever seen) and they were delicious. Vic had a burger that was also good. But it is very expensive here. Maybe more so than Iceland.

We had a little bit of Norwegian money left (we didn’t want it burning a hole in our pockets) so we decided to try to smuggle a bottle of wine onto the ship. You’re only allowed to bring 1 bottle of wine each on board at the beginning of the cruise. After that they charge corkage and if you bring any on mid trip they confiscate it. And drinks onboard are US $10 on average. They X-ray your bags when you return to the ship so Vic stuffed the bottle down his pants and had no problem getting it on board. I guess they just thought he had a good package! ;) But, here’s the thing: we still had some money left and our smuggling operation was a success so we decided to test our luck again and went back out (we didn’t leave here until 10:30 at night) to do it all over again.

We did miss some attractions, though. There is Vigeland Park that has hundreds of statues by Norway’s greatest sculptor, you guessed it- Gustav Vigeland. We also didn’t get up close to the Royal Palace or Akershus Fortress. The Fortress is an historic military base dating back to 1299 and fortified old centre co strutted to protect Oslo during the reign of Hakon V. It is still an active military base. It apparently is fairly ho-hum so we decided to forego the hike up to it. And there were several Viking museums we would have liked to see but they were close to closing by the time we were going to see them. Poor planning on our part. I have no excuses but we were tired; the sunny weather had disappeared and it was threatening a rainstorm. Also, to get to the museums we had to take a ferry and since I’m made of sugar I didn’t want to risk it with the rainstorm forecast. So we decided to call it a day after seeing what we did of Oslo.

On this cruise we opted for anytime dining rather than the traditional dining option where you eat at the same time and with the same people every night. Anytime means you go when you want and can eat on your own or sit with others if you want and they want, of course. We sat down at a table for 2 and about a 1/2 hour later 3 Aussies came in and promptly moved our table next to theirs. They were a hoot. Michelle & George (crazy guy) met Frank on a trip right before the cruise and hit it off so they are now a threesome. Not sure how close they are but we’ll figure that out soon enough. Everyone seemed to know George. He is VERY outspoken and gregarious and has no problem talking to whomever will listen to him. But he’s not annoying and seems to be a genuinely nice person. We had lots of laughs as did everyone around us. They asked if we would eat with them again and we gave them our room number so they could leave us a message about when and where. We hope they follow through.

We liked Oslo and are glad we experienced it. It is very people friendly with few cars (as they are charge a toll to come into the city). It didn’t feel as historic as I thought it would but I enjoyed the day. It’s one place Vic said he wouldn’t live in, though he was impressed with what they’ve done in the city. It just didn’t seem to have the same joie de vivre as Copenhagen.

Things you might not know about Norwegians:
- [ ] They are the happiest in the world.
- [ ] They take the most sick leave from work (isn’t this a contradition?) but they are paid for sick leave.
- [ ] They only spend 10% of their income on food (hard to believe as we found it very expensive). They travel with the excess.
- [ ] Favourite subject is holidays. There are a lot of summer homes & cabins owned and holidays and free time are the most important thing to them.
- [ ] Jarlsberg cheese is subsidized - not a good business proposition.
- [ ] Special lunch for work is simply bread with ham.
- [ ] Eat the most frozen pizza in the world per capita.
- [ ] They are a very digital society
- [ ] One of the top countries for students going abroad for education.
- [ ] Every day 23,000meals of seafood is exported from Norway. This consists of 2.4 million tons worth 92 billion NOK or around CDN$15,560,000.

Tomorrow is a sea day so we can sleep in and, later, enjoy our smuggled wine.