Day 1 - Oslo Bound

It's taking me SO long to get these Oslo pictures up for you. In an attempt at getting some of the pictures to you, here goes:

Cate, who is a friend from work came over Monday night a little after 10, we packed our one bag to take with us and headed to bed as the alarm went off at 2:30. Then it was off to the airport. We left relatively on time (considering I'm habitually late) and even with the car trouble we managed to get to the airport in plenty of time.

Here's a picture of the sleepy-eyed adventurers

I thought I had taken all the drinks out of my bag but I hadn't, so we gulped down a couple drinks (notice Cate has 2 Capri suns in her hand here)
What else do you do on the plane to cure boredom other than take a self portrait

We were meant to fly into an airport around 2 hours outside of Oslo (this is what you get for tickets that cost 2p) but the fog was too heavy to land and we were redirected to Oslo airport, a mere 25 minute train ride away. Wa'hoo!

After arriving we had to go through the mandatory checks with immigration and customs. If you look closely you can see Cate going through border control in Olso here.
After making our way through the airport we managed to find the train station, and it was a 10 minute wait for the train to Oslo city centre. If you look closely, you might be able to make out the sign that says train to Oslo (well something to that effect but in Norwegian).
From the train station we walked through town to find the hostel we were staying at. Poor Cate was a marter and carried our one bag on her back and her carry-on on her front.

The hostel didn't accept check in until after 3pm, but luckily we were able to lock our bags up in lockers instead of carrying them around the city.

After the hostel it was off sightseeing. The only problem was that all of the signs were in Norwegian, so we had no real idea what we were looking at. Oh well. This is the Fort in Oslo (or part of it anyway Cate needed the loo and I thought the building was kinda cool.
I also thought it would be fun to take a picture of the loos as she walked out. What can I say - simple things / simple minds
More fort
Playing on the wall / roof thing of the fort - it was Cate's idea!

Now this was my idea - and how bad do I feel for suggesting it! About 5 seconds after this picture was taken Cate smashed her face against the wall and you could hear the tooth against wall horrible sound. Luckily no lasting damage was done - but seriously painful I'm sure!

I wanted to get someone to take a picture of us at the Fort, Cate suggested a self portrait instead.

Take 1

Take 2 - this was extremely funny business trying to pose for a picture - at least my face made it into this one
Take 3 - "That'll do"
More fun at the fort. Notice how natural this picture is - not posed at all!
"Is this thing loaded?"
More fort ... the place was pretty big

After we left the Fort we stumbled across this statue / art sculpture thing. We found it quite amusing. Can you see Cate's expression?
Have a closer look. It's all so scandalous for Cate.
After such an early start and so much crammed into a day, I was exhausted! Not the best picture of me, but it sure does show how I was feeling at this point.

We stopped for lunch around 3pm at a pizza place. £30 ($55) for a pizza pie and 2 sodas. Seriously expensive this place!

What's a pizza pie you ask? Well it's like a pizza with an extra thick layer of cheese and leek over your topping of choice (for us it was pepperoni and mushroom). Cate's most famous quote from the holiday came from this meal, "You wouldn't think the ingredientswould work together, but in a strange way they do - and taste slightly Norwegian"

On the way to the hostel after lunch we stopped by a few shops and had fun with some hats.


Then to the hostel, to make beds and crash. I was so exhausted I feel asleep for a few hours. I think Cate read guide books (such a good tour planner!) and got on the internet. Cate = productive, Karen = lazy. In my defense I did have to drive to the airport and was up 20 minutes before Cate.
Once I dragged myself out of bed we went in search of a drink. We ended up at a TGIFridays. I'm not overly keen on going to places that I can get in England, but I fancied one of their cocktails ... £10 ($20) for the priviledge
The it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep. Ok in a dorm of 6 with not so comfy matresses it wasn't a great night's sleep, but the accomidation was cheap so I'm not going to complain (very much anyway).