You would be surprised, but I actually - really! - planned it this time. I had the airport checked, bus tickets booked, accomodation - very kindly - provided by amazing Marianne, who head-organised the event that I was going to. I also had a clever system to check in 23 kilograms of luggage on a Ryanair flight, even though I only paid for 15. I even managed to fit a bottle of Belarusian vodka into these 23 kilograms; it was wrapped in my jeans and sweaters and towels, and its wholesomeness was my sole preoccupation during the flight. So, upon landing in Oslo Rygge, I went straight to my hold luggage, checked the bottle, cuddled it back into my jeans, pushed the bag out of the airport, boarded a bus, went to Oslo, put the bag into a locker, all neat and organised and nice, and, free from the luggage and vodka, set off to the city.
As it turned out later, the only thing that I wasn't prepared for was me catching a cold (again), so the next four hours that I've spent in Oslo was the only time I had to see the city during this trip; I was busy at the EYP event for the next four days and after that, even though I still had two days till my departure flight (from Rygge), I've mainly stayed lying on the sofa at Marianne's place. These four hours were marvellous, though. I have a thing for the sea, coming from a landlocked country, and Oslofjord smelt of the sea, and glittered and shined in the sun, and there was way more sun than I expected from Norway in September too. So I climbed Oslo's Opera House and looked at Oslofjord, and took a long walk around the docks, looking at Oslofjord, and had turned my back to Oslo's City Hall so I can linger next to the water for a bit more.
It was windy, and sunny, and there were seagulls casually circling around; a very, very big cruise ship was docked nearby and then, all of a sudden, gave out three disastrously roaring horn blows and parted. Seagulls around me freaked out and took off; I took off too, and, giving up on trying to find something decent and cheap to eat, went to the first McDonalds on my way and felt very content, despite just paying a small fortune for my cheeseburger.
(Btw, if you were interested in the fate of the vodka bottle - it arrived safe and sound to our farewell evening, when it was drunk alongside lots of other stuff and it was good, just as the farewell evening was good, and just as the Oslo was purely and undeniably beautiful and captivating).
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| Cruise ship chilling in the harbour and casually reflecting Akershus Fortress in its windows |
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| Still outside of the fortress - chairs (?) |
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| Oslo Opera House |
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| Docks |
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| Oslo Opera House, the roof |
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| Oslo Opera House, the roof |
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| Oslo Opera House, the roof |
