Norway for the Weekend

Last Friday I boarded a plane with a new friend, Em, for Oslo, Norway. She had found a Ryan Air (this is the cheapest European airline, but provides no thrills – no assigned seats, no snacks, no in-air entertainment – unless you consider the continuous push to buy items from all their sponsors – you get the idea) for £20 round trip several weeks earlier. The plane ride only took about two hours and arrived 20 minutes early. Ryan Air prides itself on being the most on time airline in Europe and celebrates each arrival with a trumpet recording and an Irish voice saying “This has been another on time flight on Ryan Air! Thank you for flying with us today.” Every time I hear this I giggle! Most Ryan Air flights land at the farthest airport from the actual location, but Emily and I had done our research for the most cost effective way into the city and loaded a bus for the hour ride to Oslo. We met some American medical students studying in North England and followed them to our hostel. The hostel was different than most hostels I have stayed in. It was top rated on Hostelworld.com at 68%, but wasn’t nearly has bad as I had expected. At check in the receptionist informed us that they had been having a problem with bedbugs and to be sure to check our mattresses. Bravo! Contrary to what we were expecting the room was surprisingly pleasant and my mattress was free from bed bugs! There were four girls in the room who had arrived before us. They were living in London working as au pairs but originally from Spain and France and my first impression was that they weren't the most friendly of hostel roommates. Emily and I decided to drop our bags and go on a search for food. We had heard of an area that was known for “cheap” food and since Oslo was voted the most expensive city in the world we thought it would be best for us to find somewhere to eat in that section. After spending 100 KR (£10 pounds!) on average Chinese food, we headed back to the hostel. The internet was only available in the lobby and while checking our e-mail the fire alarm began to ring. We were forced to stand outside jacketless in the freezing cold to wait for the firemen to arrive. We joked that the crazy girls in our room were probably the cause of the alarm. I suppose we should have knocked on wood because once we were allowed back into the building we discovered that the girls had decided to cook bacon on the burners in the room (most hostels do not put a kitchen in the rooms but provide a kitchen for everyone in the common areas) with out using any pots. The firemen told all of us that we would all be charged a 5000 KR (£500 pounds) fine for their stupidity if this happened again. The girls thought it was hilarious and one of the girls videoed the event and kept playing it over and over again. Thankfully there was no major damage to the room or our personal belongings. As if we hadn’t already had enough of these roommates, they all four kept us up most of the night our entire stay with their musical snores and gas-passing. The next morning we woke up early to see the city, but were surprised to find we were the only people on the streets. We finally found an open 7/11 and asked where were all the people. The city doesn’t wake up until 10 a.m. on a Saturday. Still we were able to see a cathedral, a fortress, the Royal Palace, the Opera House, City Hall, the University of Oslo, the main city and much more. After a long day of walking we decided to go rest at the hostel and wait for our friend, Anne, to land and meet us for the last night in the city. We had plans to meet a Norwegian friend of hers for dinner; he had previously lived in Australia and worked with Anne. Once she arrived the friend took us to a lovely restaurant and treated us to the nicest meal (lamb shanks). This might have been the nicest meal I have ever had in Europe. The next morning he picked us up in his car and drove us around Oslo. We saw the ski jump where the World Ski Jump competition will be held soon and a Norway beach. We then had lunch at a nice little restaurant and headed to the airport. Overall, Norway is a beautiful country that is incredibly cold this time of year and extremely expensive! It was a lovely weekend minus Beluga Bear and her posse snoring all night long! However, I think that might be my last trip for a while. I much prefer London and my own bed!