Heading home

When we emerged from the museum, found another cruise ship had come into port and was docked near the opera house. When we headed toward the marina, we found a huge community event underway for Eid al-Ftir. It was great to see the vibrant array of traditional islamic and middle eastern attire, as Oslo's substantial Muslim community ended their Ramadan fast in the late April sunshine.

Between the extra people from the cruise ships and the large community gathering, the quiet feel from the early morning had given way to a sense of big-city bustle. We lunched at the branch of Espresso House by the Oslo marina. I had a 'veggie bao bagle' and 'half baked chocho caramel muffin' - both delicious; we enjoyed the shade, the cool breeze and a little distance from the crowds

We completed our walk around Oslo's notable sights by heading to the palace, where the guard was being changed (although how the Norwegians manage to achieve this without bearskin hats is a mystery). We continued back to the central station via the cathedral. The sun was pleasant and the piles of snow that had littered this area only 11 days ago when I first arrived in Olso were long gone; it might have been better if it were still a little cooler, as we were still in walking boots suitable for the north.

We took a regional express train, rather than the dedicated airport express to the airport and moved swiftly through security and departures. My solitary flight this trip, accounts for about half the CO2e emissions, but it did at least provide a scenic exit into the bargain; we took off from runway 1 right, then turned to a south easterly heading giving us a good view of Oslo and the Oslofjord. Rotterdam appeared to have gotten underway, whilst the Viking cruise ship remained - the last sight I could identify in Norway was the Oscarsborg fortress, which I had sailed past on my arrival to Norway.

The day remained clear; vast container ships appeared tiny on the surface of the North Sea and offshore wind farms looked like tiny scilia. This continued until, like a bad joke, the clouds appeared right at the British coastline (the mouths of rivers just poking out from the fluffy looking troposphere).Read more