After disembarking from the sleeper train, Valerie and I headed back to the Oslo train station to begin a quick exploration of Oslo. We picked up a 24 hour Oslo Pass, which allows unlimited access to Oslo public transit and museums. In the 6 hour period between 9:30 and 15:30, we packed in six different museums (Fram Museum, Kon-Tiki Museum, Maritime Museum, Viking Ship Museum, Ibsen Museum, and the National Gallery). My favorite was probably the Fram museum (which actually contains the polar ship Fram). Finally, we rushed for the overnight ferry departing for Copenhagen at 16:45.

Norway was pretty nice and perhaps we’ll visit Scandinavia again in the future. However, it’s worth noting that everything in Norway is expensive. The cheapest meal we had was a hamburger, cheesebuger, fries, and mini-pancakes from Burger King. Total cost: about 16 USD.

Today, we navigated the popular “Norway in a Nutshell” route (train from Oslo to Myrdal -> train to Flam -> ferry to Gudvangen -> bus to Voss -> train to Bergen -> train to Oslo). Why take public transit for an entire day? To see fjords of course!

Norway really is beautiful. The Flam train is meant for tourists and it makes frequent stops for photo opportunities. The ferry ride is just fjord after fjord and fjord. But after about 3 hours of fjording, Valerie and I were fjorded out. We opted to take the sleeper train back to Oslo.

In the original plan, we were planning to depart for London on Sunday 9/9. However, when we got an earlier flight, Valerie decided to squeeze a trip to Scandinavia into the schedule. Today, we flew from LHR to Oslo. When we arrived at the airport, we took the opportunity to activate our Eurail passes (valid for 1 month). The NSB (Norway rail) reps were all very helpful, curteous, and spoke excellent English. Alas, I expect that this will not be the case in all future countries.

Tonight, we’re staying in the Gruner Apartments in Oslo. When we arrived, the instructions on the door instructed us to call a number to check in. Luckily, I had a cell phone. Unluckily, I had not reseached how to dial a Norweigan phone number. Luckily, after about 10 minutes, some passersby with a Norwegian phone called the number for us. I guess people in Norway are nice. Alas, I expect that this will not be the case in all future countries.