Global Ian's - Norway

The composition of this post started on a train from Oslo to Bergen via Voss on what the Lonely Planet dub as the most beautiful train journey in the world.

One final adventure before real life begins again. Tuesday the 29th is back to work but before that, a long weekend in Norway. This is not a random destination but one to coincide with Ia's family holiday. As E would be my Austrian brother, Ian would be my Californian brother - we were in the same masters programme, the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies programme, and we lived together by Green Lanes when we studying in LSE.

While Ia and his family is going to be in Norway for 2 weeks, I managed to coincide 5 days with them while they were in Oslo and Bergen. Being back in Oslo for the 4th time, once as a volunteer at the Lillehammer Youth Olympics and the other 2 times as a tourist was actually still pretty exciting. The main thing was definitely the company this time but it was also fun to revisit some of the attractions and restaurants that I previously went to. Amongst some of the new highlights were going to the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, an organ recital at the Oslo Cathedral, the Viking Ship Museum, and also seeing The Scream at the National Gallery.

The Philharmonic was particularity memorable as it was the first time that I ever sat behind an orchestra - the seat was actually in very proximity to the orchestra, and I could actually see everything the percussionists were doing. As a plus, these seats were the cheapest available but the minus is that the seats are actually thinly cushion benches which hurts a skinny bottom after a while. Although I wasn't too impressed by the conductor, the music played was very enjoyable - the theme was Russian which brought me on a journey first to the mythical land where the Firebird exists and then to the time of the Bolshevik Revolution before meeting Ian and his family the next day. And thanks to Mi, my "lost lost Singaporean sister", after the orchestra, I could go back to an awesome home up the hills by Oslo, where I woke up the next day to views of a green valley and still lakes.

Sitting behind the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

Tagging along the next day brought me to the state of the art Oslo Opera House where we climbed onto the roof and went inside to admire the magnificent wooden structure and also some pretty unique urinals. We then had lunch on Rorbua, a traditional Norwegian restaurant with some unique seafood offerings. Vigeland Park was next on the itinerary and despite it being my second time, the hundreds of naked sculptures of the human figure was still very impressive, especially the obelisk-like structure of hundreds of naked bodies on each other. From Vigeland Park, we trooped on to the Viking Ship Museum where the Oslo University has reconstructed a few viking ships which were used as ship graves and also saw an educational and enchanting multimedia presentation which was projected onto all three walls of a section of the nave of this church turned museum. This surprisingly sunny day's exploration of Oslo ended with a boat ride across the fjords back to the City Hall. Before calling it a night, the two Ians imbibed a few beers like old times.

The morning commute from the hills to the city centre has become quite a nice refreshing routine - surprised to see so many kids in the metro early in the morning, I then came to a realisation that the school term started earlier in Norway. Trying to forget that that was going to be my reality very soon, I went back to tourist mode and we visited the Akerhus Fortress where we went into the Resistance Museum and learnt quite a lot about the resistance that the Norwegians put up against the Nazis during World War II. We then caught up with the rest of the group at the Oslo Cathedral where we managed to catch one of the programmes which was part of an International Organ Recital series - this performance by an Norwegian-Ukrainian organist. I really do want to try playing a church organ sometime! With Ian's dad leading the way to the National Gallery after lunch at Mammas Pizzeria, we were all impressed by not just Munch's Scream but also the other pieces of art of artists such as Monet, Manet, Picasso, Rodin, Vigeland, and many more which is beautifully curated at Oslos National Gallery. A pleasant stroll to the National Palace and the park behind it ended the second day of sightseeing in Oslo.

Restored Viking Ship

This night however, I did not go back up the hills but crashed in the AirBnb Ian and his family were staying in as I had to catch the 06:25 service to Voss the next day since the 8:25 service to Bergen Ian was on was sold out. The views along the way was magnificent - lakes, mountains, cute cabins, rivers, and even a glacier was all in sight from the Oslo Bergen train line. The 6 hour journey was not boring for a single second, even when we were in the tunnels as we were then anticipating what breathtaking view was going to be in sight next. In addition, since I splurged a little and bought a seat in the Comfort Cabin, there were free hot drinks to keep us hydrated and entertained! As my train ended in Voss, I left Voss train station to walk around the town of Voss to snap a few pictures and have a hot dog by the fjords at Voss before embarking on the train that Ian and his family were on at Voss to get to Bergen.

Bergen was a totally new destination for me and unfortunately I could only stay one night in this port city. (Damn Staff Training which had to start on the 29th!) So, I had to make sure this one night was spent well and Thon Hotel Rosenkrantz helped me here by providing all the facilities needed and also a wonderful breakfast. I was not able to have their complimentary evening meal, however, priorities led me to an impromptu bar crawl in Oslo! The beauty of the artificial lake by the train station and Bergen Bay at dusk might have been exaggerated by the alcohol but the view that we managed to catch at the bay was definitely was a sight to remember.

Bergen Harbour at Dusk

And this brings me to the last day of the holidays.... even the Norse gods were sad as it rained the whole day but that did not stop us from exploring the old UNESCO centre of Bergen where we went to the Hanseatic Museum and shopped at the old wooden buildings.

The risk of booking flights with unprotected transfers paid off as I managed to hang out with I and his family for as much time as possible and then flying off from Bergen with SAS and then transferring in Oslo to a Ryanair flight.

And here I am now on the plane back to Stansted, ending the 2017 Summer Holidays! But, my parents are still in Cambridge... so possibly a few weekend trips are to come in the next few weeks!