Our last day in Oslo, so we took a bus ride from downtown to Bygdøy, a peninsula on the west side of the city centre to visit the Vikingskipshuset or Viking Ship Museum!
Eager tourists at the parking lot of the Viking Ship MuseumThe houses in the neighbourhood were all of similar architecture but very unique
The Viking Ship Museum houses three Viking era burial ships that were found as part of archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre mound cemetery.
The three ships are absolutely massive, as you can really see from the photo of Elaine beside the prow of the largest one!
After our memorable tour of the Viking Ship Museum, we caught the bus back to the downtown and wandered about for some time, trying to capture the essence of the city.
We chose a recommended brasserie downtown as their menu includes unusual items such as the one I had: grilled reindeer with marinated cherry tomatoes, red onion, roccola, parmesan, mustard and honey dressing.
Christiania Brasserie on Nedre Vollgate
The next morning we flew home having really enjoyed our ‘work’ visit to Norway. Great memories of the cobbled streets and interesting locales in Trondheim and feeling, while in Oslo, like we’d stepped back in time to the late 1800’s to visit a major European city!
I don’t know if we’ll ever return, but we may have enough memories to last a lifetime!
The day before we were planning on returning to Oslo with our guests from Sherbrooke, they decided on changing their itinerary so they could spend the weekend in Amsterdam rather than Oslo!
So we decided to rough it alone in Oslo! What a great decision!
On Thursday, we flew via SAS, thankfully on a larger plane this time, from Trondheim to Oslo and caught a cab downtown to our hotel, the very modern Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel on the Sonja Henies plass.
While checking into the hotel, instead of the expected tall, blond Norwegians, the lobby was full of shorter, swarthy men! It turned out the World Cup soccer match between Norway and Turkey was happening the following day and the hotel was full of Turkish male soccer fans!
Our room was on a very high floor facing westward, so I took a few pics of our view! It’s very hard to see, but in the distance in the 2nd photo is the famous Holmenkollbakken ski jump!
As we had the day to ourselves, we decided to walk downtown and just explore as much of Oslo as we could!
On our walk downtown… Radisson Blu Plaza hotel in the backgroundA local street performer!The view down Karl Johans gate to the palaceChristian Krohg was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalistA building owned by Olav Thon, a billionaire and the country’s richest personThe Grand Hotel… and it was!In front of the Stortinget, the Norwegian ParliamentStrolling the promenadeLike fish, or seals, out of water!the National TheatreUniversity of Oslo
At the end of our walk through the core of Oslo, we came to the palace!
The Royal Palace, home of King Harald V and Queen SonjaFraternizing with the Palace Guard!
After walking about the Palace grounds, we ambled through various neighbourhoods towards the harbour.
Frogner House Apartments on Colbjørnsens gateVikaterrassen shopping mall on Ruseløkkveien Nobel Peace Center in the former Oslo Vestbanestasjon (Oslo West railway station) buildingAker Brygge pier is famous for dining and shoppingA wonderful view of the Oslo harbourNeeding to rest our feet, we took a break at Kafe CelsiusIt was a great place… good food too!A view of the harbour from the Fortress
WW II Patriots memorial
de kjempet de alt de gav oss alt pa dette steo ble norkse patrioter skutt under krigen 1940 1945
they fought they fell they gave us everything in this way Norwegian patriots were shot during the war 1940 1945
Memorial to Norwegian resistance fighter shot by the NazisAkershus FortressAkershus Fortress
After our lengthy walk through the city and the harbour, it was supper time and what else would one have for supper in Oslo the capital of Norway? Pizza, of course!
Mamma Pizza at 22 Dronningens gate (courtesy of Google Maps)
That’s it for today… hoping to go to the Viking Ship Museum!
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday with the client touring the hospital and having meetings with the folks at St. Olav’s Hospital, but we were, thankfully, free to do as we pleased in the evening!
While I was working, Elaine did her own touring of the town, but no pics, so I’ve borrowed some from public domain to document where she went!
Vår Frue Kirke (The Church of Our Lady) is one of Trondheim’s oldest buildings. It was devoted to the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages. The tower and the western part were erected in the 17th and 18th centuries, but the eastern part is identical to the medieval church which dates from the late 12th century.
Vår Frue Kirke
The Archbishop’s Palace in Trondheim is a castle and palace in the city of Trondheim, located just south of the Nidaros Cathedral. For hundreds of years, the castle was the seat, residence and administrative center of the Archbishop of Nidaros
Erkebispegården, the Archbishop’s Palace
What would a city tour without a bit of shopping?
Clothing and knick knacks!Shopping mall, theatre, coffee houses across the street from our hotel
Tuesday evening, we went for a long stroll around the downtown restaurant district and decided on going to Jonathan Grill, which had great reviews!
Brittania Hotel on Dronningens gate…… home of Jonathan Grill!Very interesting decor…… and great food!
On Wednesday evening, again we went for a nice long walk through the downtown, but ended up back at Den Gode Nabo pub!
The barkeep had me sample one of the local brews, it was interesting but I liked the Dahl’s better!Last night in Trondheim! Cheers!
Thursday morning, after a brief meeting at the hospital, we left for Oslo!
Knowing we would need some downtime to adjust to the 6 hour timezone difference, we allocated Monday to be a free day!
Elaine and I said “see you later” to my workmates and heading out to explore Trondheim. The city was founded in 997 as a trading post, and it served as the capital of Norway during the Viking Age until 1217.
the Radisson Blu Royal Garden Hotel atrium overlooking the Nidelva River
Trondheim is located on far enough North that, in November, sunrise is typically around 9AM and sunset is around 3PM. However, due to the surrounding hills, the sun really only appears above the hilltops for about 4 hours! It was a bit nippy as we headed out but it did warm up a little around Noon!
Heading towards the city centre on Kongens gateKing Olav Tryggvason sculpture in the main squareStiftsgården Royal Summer HouseThe view down Monkegata toward the harbourAt the foot of Monkegata, Den Siste Viking, the Last Viking statueFresh lobster at the harbourneeds descriptionGamle Bybro bridge over the NidelvaColourful warehouses line the Nidelvathe ‘must have’ photo in TrondheimElaine making new friends at the local university coffee bar!the Den Gode Nabo pub by the bridgeNidoros Domkirke …… the 11th Century cathedralEnjoying delightful dinner at an Italian restaurant, Frati on Kongens gate!
We had a wonderful day exploring Trondheim. Tomorrow is a work day and I’ll be spending my time at St Olav’s Hospital with our customer.
“The Longest Day”… first there was the Cornelius Ryan book… which became Darryl F. Zanuck Oscar nominated movie… and then there was our trip from Toronto to Trondheim!
While this is being recorded as a Ducksoup Blog “Doug & Elaine’s Travel Blog” the reason for our trip was work related and so could have been one of “Doug’s Travels” blogs.
In my role as the HP Canada Digital Hospital Program Technical Architect, I was part of a group hosting Hôpital Fleurimont (CHUS) from Sherbrooke, QC at the St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway.
Our travels began on November 11, 2007 when we drove from Sarnia to Toronto Pearson Airport. We had an overnight flight on Air Canada from Toronto to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was an interesting experience to clear customs and immigration in Germany being desperately jet-lagged after minimal sleep during the flight.
We had quite a layover, so we wandered about and actually went out of the secure-side just to get a breath of fresh air. Then we had to somewhat hurry back through security and find our gate in time to catch our slight to Oslo on SAS Airlines.
Our Frankfurt departure lounge
We arrived in Oslo a bit late and were worried about making connections, but as we were now inside the EU, there was no customs & immigration to worry about! We again had time to pop out to catch some fresh air!
A breath of fresh air at Oslo Gardermoen Airport OSL
Another SAS flight, on a Dash 8 puddle jumper, took us from Oslo to Trondheim. As the city is within the confines of a fjord, the airport is a 45 minute bus ride from downtown.
Fading quickly on the 45 minute Skybussen ride from Trondheim Airport to our downtown hotel!
So approximately 27 hours after we arrived in Toronto, we arrived around supper time at the Radisson Blu Royal Garden Hotel in downtown Trondheim, Norway!
We met up with a couple of workmates, had some supper at the hotel and crashed!
The next blog will highlight our planned downtime day in the city of Trondheim!
