OsloOnFoot — Jim Winslett

This post will encompass two days rather than one, because the first of the two days was mainly spent in bed, trying to get over jet-lag and looking out the window at the rain. It wasn’t really a good combination for exploring, so we just took it easy most of the day. So I’ll fill in the gaps with some things about the hotel.

Thon is a hotel brand name here, like Hilton or Westin. This one is the Thon Hotel Opera because it’s across the street from the Opera House.

When you enter the hotel, you’re greeted by a copy of the Bruno Bruni sculpture, The Kiss. I like it a lot. Sometimes I pass by and think, “that’s really sweet - he’s home from a trip and she’s met him at the door naked” and other times I look at it and I feel that she’s feeling naked and vulnerable because he’s passed on and she’s imagining embracing his ghost. Then it makes me sad. But hey, I often look at some art and feel nothing, so this is pretty nice in that I get two wildly different emotions from it.

Being next to the Opera House and having Opera in the hotel name, they’ve given their deluxe rooms names of operas. On our floor, Turandot is across the hall and La bohème and Madame Butterfly are just down the hall. Which one did we get? Um…..

Anyway, we spent most of Tuesday in our cozy little Csardasfyrstinnen until time for dinner. The Oslo Central Station and attached mall are across the street, so off we went to look for a place to eat. It’s a nice train station with a few fun shops and eateries. It reminded me a lot of the one in Stockholm.

We found a nice, quiet Italian place (Bella Bambina) and had some delicious pasta and a nice bottle of wine. Rob’s carbonara was even better than my bolognese.

The next morning, we hit the included hotel breakfast early, then tried to finish waking up (damn jet-lag!) before heading a few blocks away to meet up with Jørgen, Ian, and Madeleine for lunch at Brasserie Rivoli.

The food was delicious and after lunch, we headed out for a stroll, enjoying the fact that the weather had cleared up. The restaurant was right next to the Munch Museum.

Munch (pronounced closer to ‘monk’ than ‘munch’) is the artist who painted “The Scream” and the building is kinda wavy like that.

After a few stops, Jørgen and Madeleine headed off home and Ian, Rob, and I did a bit more sightseeing. Oslo really is a beautiful city with lots of nice architecture.

Want to have a quiet day (or even a party) in a floating sauna? You can rent one!

We had martinis at a waterside cafe, then wine at a beautiful little wine bar, then Ian headed home and Rob and I grabbed a quick dinner at Døgnvill Burger Bjørvika - I had a delicious blue cheese and bacon burger and Rob had some onion rings and a spicy popcorn milkshake.

It seems like there are a lot of food pics, but for some reason those are the things that everyone comments on, so….

Døgnvill Burger is a chain burger joint, but it sure looks classier than most burger chains. We like it a lot.

Then it was back to the hotel, where we attempted to stay up until normal bedtime.

I started typing this post, but I was nodding off at the keys, so I decided to head out into the brisk evening and see our ‘neighbours’, the Opera House and the Deichman Bjørvika (Oslo public library).

By day, the Opera House looks like an iceberg. By night, it’s a whole new thing and it’s gorgeous. The roof line doubles as sidewalk and you can walk right up to the top.

The view from the roof is lovely at night.

Just across the street, the public library seems less interesting on the outside than the Opera House…

…but inside, it’s a riot of contrasts. Sleek steel, brutal concrete, and colourful artwork slam together in geometric patterns.

It was a nice walk and it kept me awake long enough to finish this post.

Hopefully, we’ll be past the jet-lag by tomorrow morning. If not, we can always have a late-night snack on one of the plethora of liquorice goodies that Ian gave us.