Norway (Oslo, Flåm & Bergen)

25/9 - 28/9

We skyped one night, decided on the itinerary, and called up the company the very next afternoon and got the tour booked HAHA. Talk about spontaneity. Ok not really, 'cos we had been discussing even before we go Denmark already, just that we never got around to booking the trains. Again, Norway is one of the most expensive countries. Sigh. Burnt a big hole in my (dad's) pocket.

Reached Oslo at 7.45pm and couldn't find a map of Oslo initially, which had us anxious for a while. Found it, and found our hotel in the dark. It was good to have our own room! So cosy. Checked in and went down to buy kebab to complement our dinner/supper of bread, nutella, biscuits, fruits and cornflakes! Lol. Ate, washed up and chatted till 1am. (If you're wondering why it's in such detail, 'cos I wrote it down while I was there!) Good way to keep track of memories.

The location of our hotel (it was half hotel, half hostel) was quite good so all the attractions we wanted to go was around the area. In the 3/4 day, we went to the fortress/castle where there was a good view of the harbour.


And then to the city hall, where the harbour in front of it was nice too.

And then to the Parliament,


Where I couldn't resist climbing the lion like those in Trafalgar Square hehe

Visited Vigelandsparken, a famous sculpture park with sculptures of naked persons; some are quite evocative. Then at the end of the park there was the ultimate symbol of the park, a monolisk. [edit: oops monolith I mean].

The monolith was formed out of sculptures of naked bodies. Intricate.

At the entrance of the park, promoters were giving out free chips! Being the typical Singaporean and living up to the stereotype, of course we queued up to get our share hehe.

Passed by Oslo Cathedral, and went to a flea market at an immigrant town but nothing much there, then rushed to the opera house where we lugged our luggage up the slopes -.- but the view was good, again.

The slope looks gentle but try pulling your luggage up to the top! Phew.

So that was in Oslo, a 4 hour bus ride from Gothenburg. Next is 5 hour train ride to Myrdal, where we had to take another train to Flåm, where we were going to settle down for the night. When we reached Myrdal it was already pitch-dark outside, and we panicked a bit 'cos it was really dark and we weren't sure if the Flåm train would be easy to find. It turned out to be just on the next platform, but there were only 8 of us on the entire train! Drizzling, cold and dark outside. When we reached Flåm it was like a ghost town, nothing was open, no maps no nothing, so we asked the train driver how to get to our hotel. So we walked in the dark. Really dark. I was thankful we were in Norway 'cos it's one of the safest places, and the town really looked deserted.

As you can see it was pitch-dark, scary!

The road we came by

Safely in hotel. I always feel super relieved when we manage to find our accomodation :x

Woke up to see this outside our room; couldn't see a single thing the previous night when we arrived

Reindeer meat for lunch! Tasted tender like beef for first few bites, then after that tasted like duck liver.

We seem to have the tendency to eat ice cream on 8 degree celsius days huh. And I don't even ice cream back in hot sunny 32 degree celsius Singapore!


It would've nicer if it didn't keep drizzling :( But still, the scenery was good.

It's nice to be in nature, away from bustling city life. The train and bus rides were long, but sunsets along the way were beautiful. On the bus back to Oslo, on top of the mountains which were starting to become snow-capped, it started snowing! Tiny weeny snowflakes kept flying towards the windows.

One of the tastiest hot dog buns ever. Also maybe 'cos we were super hungry. And also maybe 'cos it cost SGD9.00! :X

Flåm - Seeing is believing

Ever felt like you were dreaming
Just to find that you're awake