Day 13 - Oslo, Norway

…arrived in Oslo early this morning. We heard other people on the ship that said it’s supposed to snow. Before we left Calgary I had looked at average temperatures at each of our ports and for all of the ones north of Southampton, it said low to mid teens…no problem. What I didn’t take into account was the humidity cuz geez it sure can feel cold. Definitely putting our Eddie Bauer gear to the test. Anyways, headed out after breakfast for our first tour…took a boat tour around the fjords of Oslo. Lots of colours in the leaves and exteriors of houses - quite beautiful but holy crap it was cold on the mostly open ‘Viking-like’ ship, the Jomfruen. Off the boat and pretty much ran into the nearest cafe for a hot beverage. Now it’s time for a land tour with Viking Biking in true viking ‘fashion’ (check out my bike helmet). We only had 5 riders and our guide, Josh, who was born and raised in Florida; came to Oslo to study and has been here for the past 10 years, recently having become a citizen. Great sense of humour and took us up, down and all round Oslo (see screenshot of Map my Run). The one standout was probably Frogner Park, within which you can find Sculpture park with more than 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland (1869–1943) in bronze, granite and cast iron. “All 212 statues depict human beings of different ages, sexes and sizes, stuck in different and sometimes perplexing poses. Vigeland wanted his statues to capture all the aspects of a person's life, both in a literal and in a metaphorical sense. And he made them all naked, so that they remain timeless”. The city was very quiet, both because again, main mode of transportation seemed to be by foot or bicycle, but we also noticed a large number of electric cars, easily identifiable by license plates starting with “E”. Josh said that last year 70% of vehicles bought were electric and Oslo is aiming to cease selling gas vehicles by 2025. Oslo is our northernmost destination for this cruise so hopefully it just gets warmer from here. I have no doubt that this area would be spectacular in the warmer months as well. Enjoyed our group dinner with the gang, again exchanging what everyone had done throughout the day, and then lots of other stories. Reasonably early to bed as we’ve now done 3 days in a row with LOTS of walking and cycling.Read more