Norway adventure: Oslo – day 2

Saturday, 2 March
Steps 19243 (equivalent to any top day in USA if I remember correctly)
Song: All of me by John Ireland (good song played well by busker at the tram station)

I wish I could say I jumped out of bed, but I woke up with a tired, aching body and was very grateful for the anti-inflammatories I remembered to bring with me. After a narrow escape in the shower, when my foot almost slipped while I was straddled over the bath edge, my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready to face the day.
I don’t normally do hotel breakfast, but I was very glad we did this one. It was superb! I ate loads of cold smoked salmon and one or two pastries.
We went to the Visitors Bureau and bought an Oslo Pass which I recommend to anyone planning on sight seeing in Oslo. It entitles you to see travel on the numerous buses, trams or trains in the city and free entrance to all the museums which we had chosen to visit.
We started off by taking a bus to the Norwegian Folk museum, an expansive open air museum which was very interesting. True to form, I lost David, he stopped to read something, I moved 10 paces forward and when I turned back he had taken the other path. It took 20 minutes to retrace my steps, follow the path he took and 2 phone calls to find him! Really!?!
We moved on and found a house where they were making traditional bread. It tastes like a thick pancake. In another house, there were interesting artifacts dating back 100 years or so – a candle stick that winds so that a shortened candle can still be used to the end; a coffee grinder and a board for ironing without heat, that a man would carve and present to his fiancé. Simon, take note! Of course, if David had given me one, I might have hit him with it. I have no talent for or love of ironing.

The museum also has displays of houses up to more modern day times and I found a red beetle just like the one I used to drive. I like clever, so was duly impressed by the stove that has a lazy Susan type top and a simple shoe cleaner for brushing off all that snow.

We then took a bus to the Viking ship museum which was interesting, but a bit dry and limitied. I did not really learn much about the viking way of life, other than that the boats were used to bury important people.
We then bused to the Kontiki Museum, which I found fascinating and well put together. Although I was aware of the Kontiki I never knew the reasons why some madman had decided to cross the Pacific on a raft. Neither did I know he went on to repeat something similar, crossing the Atlantic in a boat made from reeds.

From there we crossed the road and quickly went to the Fram Museum. We only had 20 minutes before they closed, so it was a bit rushed, but I enjoyed going through the ship which was used for the Admunsen’s polar expedition.

We made our way back to town and went to Aker brygge (like the water front) which I was told was a good area for nightlife. It was not buzzing. We perused our options and decided to eat at Jamies Italian. It was full, but we were promised a table by 8, so we sat at the bar and watched while 2 other couples came in without reservations and were seated. David quietly told the hostess that he was not impressed and she should fix it. We were seated within a minute, but the atmosphere was a bit chilled. We decided to share a proschetta plank as a starter (about R200) and the waitress suggested we should rather have the mixed plank with more meats (R1000) which we declined. We waited ages for our drinks and starter, but when it came it was delicious and plentiful so we were excited for the rest of the meal. I ordered oxtail lasagna and David order slow-cooked, sticky lamb shank. We ordered more drinks and the waitress started warming up, still the food took another age to arrive. It was pleasant, but the lasagne was literally less than 1cm thick, so not much oxtail in that and the lamb was nice, but not sticky at all and also slightly pink, which is difficult to achieve in lamb has been slow cooked for 8 hours. I thought of writing to Jamie.

We walked down a street or 2, but could not find a vibrant scene and it was raining so we decided to call it a day. We found the tram stop. The shelter has a electronic fireplace, very homey, and there was a busker playing good music well while we waited for the tram.

What I learnt
I think my ouma’s house in Young Road and a lot of the other old Mill Park houses in PE were designed by suburban Norwegian architects. They have the same feel. There is even a corner Spar, very reminiscent of my youth.