Stop troll!

The trip to Oslo was my first with Ryanair. As I was sitting on the flight, I was sure it would be my last. Not due to some ballocky safety reason, but because they're one of these clowns who think that everyone flying to Oslo is a short troll. Unfortunately I'm one of these guys who then sprawls their legs out in the aisle to keep the circulation going past their knees. This wasn't to be my last experience with troll seats though, but that's for later on. Ryanair left from Frankfurt Hahn airport, which was two hours by bus. The trip to Oslo from the landing village (Torp) was also around two hours. On the way in to Oslo, I was sharing the bus with a couple of South Africans... uh oh.... And to no surprise, they pulled out their bottle of Absolut and mixers and started getting amongst it at 4pm. I kindly declined since my walnut bladder probably wouldn't last the journey without causing me internal damage.

We were both staying at the same hostel and in the room we were staying in was an Aussie from Perth - the trifector. There was also an American, who had been staying there for a few days beforehand so knew all the places to go. If any of you have ever visited any Scandanavian countries, you'll know that the arse-ripping expensiveness is indescribable. To keep your sanity, it's best not to ever, ever convert back to any currency. So to keep myself in some degree of light insanity, I won't mention any numbers, suffice to say it's not cheap. There was a local full of crusty people imbibing the local cheap ales, so it was just the place for us. This was Saturday night so town was reasonably humming. Billy, the American reccomended to metal bar in the middle of town, where the locals hung out. We stayed there till when closing time came, which was 3:30. All other bars were also emptying their insides at that time, which reminded me of England. In fact, lots of other things about Oslo reminded me of England. Everything was expensive to buy, the hostel was old fashioned in that they kept their rooms unmixed (since we wouldn't be able to control ourselves, ripping off clothets at the mere sight of bare female ankles, of course), the general hospitality service was ok, but nothing too special, and lastly all bars had early closing times. I finally got back home at 3:30 to an empty room. The South Africans had split off (I think one of them had a lady in tow), the Aussie had left before the place shut, and the Swedish guy had gone off with the American dude to some girls' apartment.

The following day was Andrea Bocelli concert day, as well as recovery day. I spent the day wandering around the city, and took a trip out to the Viking Museum and on the way back, the folk museum. I definitely reccomend the Viking museum, and if you get a chance, head out to the end of the peninsula where the Viking Museum is located and check out the beach. It was especially nice since I hadn't seen the sea for ages, living in landlocked areas for 5 months. The folk museum was alright, but nothing special. They have replicas of old town Norway as well as a folk art exhibition from the middle age, renaissance, rococo and baroque period. Quite interesting.

Just before the concert, a flaming anusly hot curry was required. It delivered the goods, but still not as good as Daawat. The concert was pretty good..... as was the Chezch symphonie orchestra. Andrea performed several songs with a soprano (who's name escapes me at the moment), which sounded choice-as. The echo was pretty pronounced on her first few bars, but that got fixed pretty early.

The following day was pretty uneventful, and spent most of it travelling to and from airports and countries. Not sure if I'll travel Ryanair again - it's heaps of hassle to get to and from airports, as well as putting up with little punk kids on the plane (having marginally costed flights means lots of families travel on Ryanair). Maybe I will, but only to the more exotic destinations. The leg room is pretty atrocious, but it's pretty cheap (50 euro return to Oslo including taxes).

Reflecting on the Norway experience, I'm still a bit ho-hum. There wasn't anything that really struck me as anything special, apart from the absolutely huge number of McDonalds everywhere. The sea-centred (or is that bordered) landscape reminds me of home and the city wasn't anything special that struck me as different from anywhere else. But I'm not naieve enough to discount it altogether. I think it will need a few trips to the country and up to Hammerfest (to see the northern lights) before I make up my mind.

Kia Toa,

Chris