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Oslo |
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Mike & Lisa's Dad in front of the Det Kongelige Slott (Royal Palace)
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Oslo |
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Mike & Lisa's Dad in front of the Det Kongelige Slott (Royal Palace)
We recently (June 21-23, 2000) went on a cruise to Oslo with Lisa's father. We boarded the boat, The Queen Of Scandinavia, in downtown Copenhagen on Sunday afternoon, and left port soon thereafter (around 5 PM). The boat wasn't your average cruise ship (more like a huge ferry as they transport cars as well), but it was pretty comfortable. The boat has two large restaurants, two smaller cafes, two pubs, a disco, conference rooms, as well as two movie theaters. Oh, and let's not forget the duty-free shop where you can buy things free of the outrageous taxes (25% in Denmark) once you're at sea. Our room was very small: it had four cot sized beds (one on each side of the closet [I mean room]) and then one which folded down from the wall above each lower bunk). It wasn't luxiourious, but it worked out nicely.
As we pulled out of Copenhagen, we were afforded some wonderful views of the city. Amalienborg Palace (the Danish royal residence in Copenhagen) looked incredible from the deck of the boat (even if Lisa did take a crooked picture). Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse as the wind was whipping and it started raining lightly, so we had to go back inside. We checked out the rest of the boat, did some tax-free shopping, and grabbed a quick meal in the cafe. We also took in a movie on the boat: The Green Mile was very good, however, the two movie theaters were directly next to each other, and the insulation between the two was not very good. As a result, we got to listen to American Beauty while watching The Green Mile.
Unfortuantely our problems with noise didn't end there. After the movie, we went back to our cabin to go to sleep. Of course the insulation between rooms was just as lacking as that of the theater, so we got to listen to our neighbors having a party. I tried putting up with it for a while, but as most of you know, I'm not the most patient or tolerant of men, so I ended up pounding on the wall. This seemed to send the proper message as they quieted down and the party came to an end. Finally it was time for sleep, right? Wrong. Now it was time for sex: No, not for us, for the neighbors. We'll just say that she was not a shy or quiet lover, and the wall next to my bunk was actually moving. Fortunately the neighbor man was not a marathon runner (if you know what I mean), and things died down rather quickly (I thought about commenting on that through the wall, but figured it was best to leave things alone as they would probably pass out and they did). We finally got to sleep.
The morning came with an encore performance of the neighbor folks (and you thought it was over). Yep, those Scandinavians are insatiable. Anyway, we got up, got ready, and went up to the deck in time to watch the beautiful Norwegian scenery on our way into Oslo. Norway is very different than I had imagined: I thought it would be more like Denmark. Obviously it is not. It is filled with mountains and forests along the water as opposed to the not-so-hilly, more field- like countryside of Denmark. The views of the fjords were incredible, and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery until we reached the port in Oslo, which was about 9 AM.
After disembarking the boat, we made our way to Akershus Slott, which is a Medieval castle that dates back to 1299. It was converted to a fortress in 1592, and cannons line the walls facing the fjord. The castle grounds were pretty neat, and we wanted to take the tour, but alas, they did not accept credit cards or Danish Kroner, and we had gone by the exchange office, but they didn't open until 10 AM. So we continued walking the grounds and figured we would come back later. We ended up finding the "Norwegian Resistance Museum," and they accepted American currency, so we were able to go in. It was very interesting as I didn't know how (or even if) Norway was involved in WWII. As it turns out, Norway was very involved in the war since Germany invaded and took them over (just like everyone else: oops, except Sweden, who were "neutral" yet let the Germans use their rail system to move troops).
After spending quite some time here, we were getting hungry, so we made our way up to the central part of Oslo to get some lunch. We ended up eating at TGI Fridays (mostly because we missed that place and they don't have one in Copenhagen). After lunch, we walked around the main district and bought some souveniers and postcards. We also saw the Stortinget (Norwegian parliament) buildings as well as the Det Kongelige Slott, which is the residence of the Norwegian monarchy.
Our final stop in Oslo was the Oslo Domkirken. This is a really old church (1697) that, like it's Danish counterpart, has royalty and such buried within it. However, the crypts are in buildings to the side of the church (unlike Denmark's), and for some reason, these were closed. The church was still very ornate and beautiful. In typical European style, even the ceiling was extravagantly painted, unfortunately the picture doesn't do it justice.
Our time was just about up then, so we made our way back to the boat, stopping for some ice cream along the way. By the way, the ice cream over here is so much better than the ice cream in the States. It's probably not pasteurized and totally unhealthy, but it's great. Anyway, we got back on the boat, and around 5 PM we departed Oslo for the return trip. The weather was nicer than the previous day, and we were able to sit at the "Neptun Bar" on the top deck of the boat. We had a few beers and some pizzas here while we watched the beautiful Norwegian coastline go by. We eventually made our way back downstairs, had another drink at one of the indoor pubs and then did some more tax-free shopping. We had to get some more Ritter Sport chocolate bars. These are the best chocolate bars I've ever had and come in various flavors (my favorite is White Chocolate with Hazelnuts), and they were darn cheap on the boat.
We were pretty tired, so we retired to the room and fortunately we had new neighbors who were very quiet. Besides, the weather had turned sour again, and the boat was rolling quite a bit, which made it difficult to move about the ship (although it was fun watching people trying to walk around under these conditions), so we went to bed early, happy to get some much needed sleep after a long day and the previous late night. We awoke in the morning close to Copenhagen, went up to the deck, and watched the ship come into port. That's about it. It was an enjoyable trip, and I would probably be willing to do it again, but the next time I would take one of the fjord cruises and see more of the Norwegian scenery rather than stumble around Oslo. Hope you enjoyed reading the story half as much as we enjoyed living it.
Here are the other pictures from our trip:
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