Norway in Spring 2011 (Part 8)

5 Jun 2011, Return to Oslo

It was a lazy Sunday to begin with. Well we were tired after checking in late and only slept at 2am. We woke up anticipating for the breakfast that was included in the accommodation. Since we didn’t had dinner the day before and came straight to the hotel after our climb to the Kjeragbolten, we were very keen on having a decent meal to start the day with.

On the porch of the Austbo Hotel enjoying the morning air

Breakfast !!! Hungry Hungry

The sun was bright and warm and we made our way to the dining area. The hotel was nicely decorated and the hosts of the hotel came and greeted us at the breakfast area, explaining the food and beverages and help us get seated. We loved the ambience of the hotel. 

Nice piggy figurine under the morning sun

Austbo Hotel, personally the best hotel in Rauland

There were lots of reading area to enjoy, relax and the furniture and wall decorations were so homely that we delayed our drive to Oslo just to spend some time relaxing around. And of course the free Wi-Fi that we couldn’t resist updating and checking our facebook. After getting some advice on the shortest route to Oslo, we headed for the road again winding through the country side of Telemark. 

Fields of flowers by the roadside (Nutheim)

We took the mountain road that led us to the E134 highway at Nutheim, a little small village which the highway runs along the way. From here we continued on E134 to the small town of Sauland where we topped our car’s diesel. A check on the Telemark brochure said that we could actually see the famous Heddal stave church on the way. So glad that we could see more of the country side before heading into the biggest city of Norway. Within 30mins from Sauland, we reached the Heddal stave church located in the town of Notodden. This is a bigger church than the one we saw in Lom and off we went snapping pictures of the church from all angles.

Heddal Stave Church

Close-up of the church

Within 20mins, we were again in our trusty Volkswagen Golf car and onto the E134 highway heading for Oslo. E134 is a single lane road that runs through the Telemark region. We had lunch at the highway interchange at Hokksund and topped up our fuel to the max as the rates were the best that we had seen for the day. Hopefully it will be last all the day as full tank to the airport (which it did).   

Lunch at the Hokksund motorway cafeteria

 

Once we reached the town of Drammen, we were onto the E18 highway (double lane) towards Oslo. The number of cars and trucks started to grow and we started to feel the city life getting closer. Following the E18 highway we reached the underground expressway of Oslo and we turned on the E6 highway towards Tromheim in the direction of the Gardermoen Airport. We were retruning our car to the airport so that we could explore the remaining days in Oslo without paying for the rental and of course the parking charges since we would not be moving around much except in Oslo on trams, metro and on foot.

Started the drive at 10am from Rauland, we reached the airport and returned the car at 3:30pm. It wasn’t a long drive but distance was about 340km. And from then onwards, it was luggage dragging and backpack carrying. We got tickets on the airport express train, the Flytoget at 170 NOK per person. The train was fast and efficient, being available at every 20mins and took us only 20mins to reach the Oslo Sentrum station. 

Tickets for the Flytoget to Oslo from Airport

Side view of the train

From the train station, it was a 15mins walk to our hotel on Mollergata raod, the Comfort Xpress Hotel. This is a no frills hotel that is affordable, new and clean and we were very very happy that we booked this hotel. Free coffee and tea at the lobby and free Wi-Fi. The lobby looked more like a PC showroom and we actually walked away initially only to turn back. The room was modern and clean, with a 29 inch HD LCD TV. Everything we needed for our 3 nights stay in Oslo.

Our hotel at Oslo, Comfort Hotel Xpress

After leaving our bags in the room, we immediately went on our way to visit my pen pal of 28 years. We started off writing snail mail to each other and moved on to facebook and MSN as the internet age caught up. We walked to the nearest Metro station Stortinget and took the train to the last station of Jar. It was an evening of wonderful dinner over fish and deserts. The day ended after getting back to the hotel around 10pm and it was good night rest for us.

6 Jun 2011, The City of Oslo

As we were staying in a no frills hotel, breakfast was not included. We left the hotel in the morning when the weather was good. We started walking towards the shopping area and onto the Karl Johan Gate street. This is the place you can do all your shopping. Fashion, food, hotels, supermarkets, and the metro, are all here. 

Lotsa bread stacked nicely

Woooohh, chocolate coated cream puff

At the garden outside Stortinget where we had our cream puff

We bought ourselves some fresh cream puff and sat at the park outside the Stortinget buidling. The park was just in front of the Grand Hotel, a nice park with fountains surrounded by resturants and shopping. And just a few steps ahead is the National Theatre Station. 

The National Theatre

Everything is expensive in Norway, and in Oslo, we get to experience the price of public transport. We bought a single trip ticket at 27 NOK which allows for an hour of free transfer on buses, trams and subway and even ferries. We took the subway to Majorstuen, the station closest to the Vigeland Scuplture park. This is one of the most visited attractions in Oslo. There are also tram services that stopped in front of the park. Tram 12 and bus number 20 will bring you from the city centre to the park. Of course there are those park and ride bicycles that you can explore Oslo with. They are located in every corner of Oslo and not just the tourists, even the locals used them to move around in Oslo. With the expensive transport system in Oslo, no reason why the locals not relying on leg power.

Walking to the Vigeland Sculpture Park from Majorstuen

Reaching for something? Or calling for help?

Father and Child

The Angry Boy (what i called) can be seen at the airport posters

The most prominent monument in the park even from far

 

We spend only an hour at the Vigeland Scuplture park before it rained. We waited under a tree for the rain to stop but it just reduce to a drizzle and never stop. So we took the tram 12 back to the city centre to do our shopping and lunch. We had chinese fried rice from one of the restaurant there. Reminder of home food.

Beware of the expensive toilet fee

Ham and Egg Fried Rice

The rest of the afternoon was shopping and walking around. We actually had time to sit at the park thinking of what to do. With the skies still grey and gloomy, we took a walk to the Akershus Fortress by the habour. Exploring Oslo on foot is not difficult, attractions are just a few hundered meters from each other. Big cruise ships often park just beside the fortress. Standing on the fortress grounds actually brought us much closer to the balconies of the cruise ship and the passengers from the ship were actually on a guided tour of the fortress. This is a small fortress and we covered the grounds in 1 hour.

At the habour just next to the fortress

Inside the fortress compound

Walking towards a sealed door

Bronze chairs outside the fortress walls

 

From the fortress, we continued our walk towards the Oslo Opera House. There was some sunlight which made us decide to continue to walk to the opera house and up the roof. Its unique design allows vistors to stroll up the roofs of the building and see the entire city of Oslo from the habor.

Crossing the bridge to the Opera House

Oslo Opera House

Not the roof yet, Walking up from the sides

From here we crossed an overhead bridge that led us to the NSB train station and walking through the station brought us back to the shopping malls around the train station. 

The Oslo Centre Train Station

Here comes the tram

  

Karl Johan Gate Street just before the rain

One of them is the OSL city shopping mall which has supermarkets, restaurants and fashion boutique. After so many days of local food, we had Asian food like fried rice and noodle. A nice break from the fries and grilled meat. After dinner, the rain become much heavier and we were forced to seek shelter in one of the smaller malls. It was back to the hotel for the night.

Let's move on to Part 9