A day in Oslo - then Arctic Circle crossed!

Wednesday 16th
Up at 8.10 even though the alarm went at 7.30! Breakfast was very nice though a bit strange to be eating (delicious) fried potatoes at that hour of the morning. Left our bags at the hotel and went down to the waterfront on the tram – quite dear at about £3.50 each for a ten minute (if even) journey. The big clock (? Town hall) there was playing Handel’s “See the Conquering Hero comes” (“Thine be the Glory”). Handel wrote it to welcome home the Duke of Cumberland, the English General who massacred the Scots at the Battle of Culloden.

Images from the town square - wonder why President Roosevelt is there?
We found the Akershus Slott castle which dates from the middle ages. The Visitor Centre there suggests that Norway did a lot of fighting with its neighbours centuries ago! There are lots of old cannons, a Koi carp pond in the grounds with crystal clear water (wish our pond was like that!) and armed sentries

Claire with a sentry she took a shine to!
because the army still uses it. We came upon a memorial to Norwegians who were executed by the Nazis and beside it was the Resistance Museum which looked quite small but there was so much inside that it took a long time to go round. Norway suffered terribly in WW2 as evidenced by all that we saw there. It was particularly interesting to see the ingenuity with which banned items were concealed from German eyes or smuggled under their noses. There was a microscope set up which was pointed at a microdot the size of a pin’s head. The magnified view allowed us to clearly read the document contained on the dot. Amazing technology for the time. We had a delicious lunch (smoked salmon for Willie and chèvre chaud for Claire – French for “hot goat” but is actually goat’s cheese) at a pavement café on Christiana Torv bathed in warm sunshine. Then we walked back to the hotel to collect our bags before going to the railway station. When we got on the Trondheim train (a seven and half hour journey ahead) we found two people in our reserved seats but we soon got them moved on!

So, as we leave Oslo – what are our impressions?
1. An expensive city. Whatever you are buying – expect to pay almost double what you would in the UK.
2. The city is beautiful, sitting at the head of Oslofjord and surrounded by wooded hills. The streets bustle with trams and buses yet the traffic seems moderate for a city of its size. The architecture is a mixture of old and new and historic events seem hidden around every corner!
3. If you expect it to be full of blond, blue-eyed latter day Vikings forget it! About a third to half the people on the streets appear to be of foreign extraction – African, Indian etc and a fair number are in Islamic dress.
4. The climate mid-September is very similar to that of the UK even though the Arctic Circle is only a few hundred miles north and the days are only a little shorter.
Time passed surprisingly quickly on the train, which arrived in Trondheim on time and we boarded the sleeper to Bodo which departed at 11.35pm. We were due to cross the Arctic Circle around 6-7am and to arrive in Bodo after 9am. The cabin had two single bunks and was very small but the beds were full length and very comfortable.

Weather:
A very pleasant day - lots of warm sunshine! As we approached Trondheim, however it was raining slightly.

Thursday 17th
Woke to a cloudy morning with some light drizzle. We’d had a terrific night’s sleep – a great way to travel! The train got into Bodø station at 9.10 and we walked to the Skagen Hotel as it was only about half a mile away. Fortunately we were able to get into our room right away. It was very spacious and comfortable. We soon headed into town and got something to eat at Subway – like McDonald’s it gets everywhere! We then caught the bus to the city’s aviation museum where we spent quite a few hours. It is divided into two sections – one devoted to civilian flight going back to the first balloons and the other to military aviation. It was really interesting and they have a really good selection of old aircraft – both real and replica. It was actually surprisingly quiet - at one point there was no one else in the enormous military hall but ourselves! There are flight simulators there which cost Kr150 for two (about £15) but there was no one on the cash desk so it is a case of “some other time”! Hoped to visit the cathedral

on the way back but it had closed 45 minutes before we got there – some other time! Went for a meal to a restaurant in the evening – very nice but for one thing – the strawberries tasted of garlic – a Norwegian specialty perhaps? Had a walk round town later – a very quiet place at night!

Weather:
Cloudy with a bit of drizzle sometimes. Rather colder than Oslo!