The Tenth Day: Travel to Norway

Sunday, February 16:

We awoke, walked to the Queensway Underground Station, and took that to Liverpool Street.

From there, we walked to the train station and took an hour long train ride to Stansted Airport. I certainly slept the whole time. 

The empty train car.

We boarded the Ryanair flight, I got a window seat. I said goodbye to the UK.

Look at that gorgeous green patchwork. 

Hi turbine. 

And I fell asleep again.

In my half-sleeping state, I may have sleeptalked to Chris.
I also may have said I thought that middle picture was Yoda. The arms look like his ears, okay? Just pretend like it makes sense.
He took the photo to document, so I'd be sure to blog about it. Thanks honey.

Two hours later, I saw Norway for the first time.

What, no snow?

So islandy.

We landed, went through customs, got our passports stamped, and grabbed a bus from Rygge Airport to Oslo. It was about an hour-long trip. I maybe fell asleep again. I don't do well being awake while traveling.

Once we got to the city, we checked into our hotel. We're staying at a Radisson Blu. The bathroom has a nice deep bathtub. And a heated towel rack. And heated floors. HEATED FLOORS, GUYS. I'm in heaven.  Views from our room on the 25th floor:

It was about 4:00pm, and we hadn't eaten since leaving our flat. We set out to find food. Any kind of food. half an hour later, all the places we checked were closed on Sunday, or not open for dinner hours yet. Aggravating. Chris and I both get very hangry (angry because you're hungry. It's a thing...). We googled a place called Illegal Burger that had some awesome reviews, and it was open, so we went there.

This place. It was SO hipstery. I was not nearly cool enough to eat there. But I did. And it was good. Not $16 per burger good, which is about what we paid. Food prices here are ridiculous. But hey, a girl's gotta eat. They gave us mayo with our chips. I promptly made fry sauce. Man, I've missed that stuff.

I liked Illegal Burger's branding. (I stole these photos from the internet.)

I had the Cheese Royal. Chris had the Blue Cheese Bacon.

After eating, we were both cheerier. We took a walk. This was the sunset. And it was GORGEOUS.

The Oslo Cathedral. Expect more photos of THAT place tomorrow.

We ended up walking to the Oslo Opera House. The architecture of this place, guys. It's just lovely. 

You can walk up the ramp/roof and see some gorgeous views.
Get ready. I'll be taking more photos here in daylight, as well.

Interesting walls inside the opera house.

These were displayed because Den Norske Opera and Ballet will be hosting a "Tribute to the Heroes" event.
We won't be here for it, and I'm sad about that. Loved these pieces with world heroes and influential things they've said.

Another interesting wall inside the opera house. Love the texture. 

Walking up the ramp to the roof. Loved the view from the outside looking in.

This is what the exterior looks like.  I liked the dramatic split lighting, nice work Chris.

Outside looking in again. So many reflections of so many lights.

It got quite cold, so we headed back to the hotel, cutting through a small shopping center. There was a Norwegian Souvenir Shop, with this adorable guy out front!

I WILL be going home with a troll souvenir, mark my words.

Back at the hotel, I went to the sauna on the 34th floor. Remarkable views. And no, I'm not talking about the naked older ladies that were also there. About half an hour in there was about all I could stand. (No, not because of the naked older ladies that were also there.) It was really, really hot.

So I went back to the room and took a bath! Glorious. 

Chris had this interesting Norwegian program on the TV. People were playing ice instruments.

They're instruments MADE OF ICE!!

The ice blocks behind them are carved with two years: 2014, and 1814. So we researched what this could possibly be the 200th anniversary of. Turns out, it's been 200 years since the Constitution of Norway was signed! It was, at the time of signing, considered to be one of the most liberal or radically democratic constitutions in the world, and it is today the second oldest single-document national constitution in Europe, and third oldest in the world! HAPPY 200th, Norway Constitution!

And now, I'm off to bed. I'm not tired, wonder why THAT could be...  

Cheers!
Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Londoners-in-Norway.