About the land of the Midnight Sun

I knew where we wanted to go, once we had disembarked from the cruise ship Crown of Scandinavia.

We needed to get to the train station so that we can book our seats on that train to Bergen.

So we spoke to the train staff and realised that we had to make changes to our plan. Our original intention was to stay two nights in Oslo and then make a day's journey by train to Bergen. We reach there in the late evening, spend one night there, and then catch the first train back to Oslo.

This itinerary, I realised, could very well have made our whole journey irrelevant. A few hours in Bergen would have deprived us of the time and space needed to view the spectacular sights that Norway is renowned for - its majestic fjords.

So I had a word with my wife, made a few calls to the youth hostels in Oslo and Bergen, paid for the train tickets, and voila! Our plan is now perfect.

After making the changes, I would spend just one night in Oslo, and have much more time in Bergen. And we're glad we made those necessary changes.

Anyway, we were still very early, so we decided to roam around the city centre before checking into our youth hostel. We found a luggage storage facility in the train station and chucked our bulky bags in there. We were glad to be rid of those weights.






After that, we proceeded to the tourist information centre to get more essential information, such as public transport information and a good map of central Oslo. This is the tourist information centre:




From there, we walked down the bustling main spine of Oslo city. It was already swarming with hordes of people. This street, Karl Johan's Gate, is the equivalent of Singapore's Orchard Road:






Along the way we took some pictures of the menu placed outside a chinese restaurant. Maybe you can take a look at the prices and gape at the high costs.






It could be due to the hot weather that might have driven these young men to strip and ride a horse. Queer but hilarious!




Further down the street there was a day market, and the bread on display looked really irresistable. It is as if these golden bread loaves were fit for gods.




Along the way, we took a breather at Hard Rock Cafe, and enjoyed a ice-cool vanilla milk shake:




Here's the City Hall:




Here's the tram that works very efficiently in the city centre. We took one of these trams to a famous park that is the home to countless sculptures of human beings, the work of one man whose ashes are kept near his masterpieces.




Anyway, while waiting for the tram, my wife took this picture of this giant and me, being very lanky myself, find myself looking very ordinary beside this man.




Here are some of the sculptures. It's in the emotions etched on the faces of these humans. They seem to convey a whole gamut of emotions - happiness, struggle, sadness and joy.








Along the way, plenty of youths were laid out on the lush green grass in the wide open parks, some content to relax, while some were playing a sport.




We were quite exhausted by then, and we decided to head back to the train station to retrieve our backpacks, then walk to the bus terminal to catch the bus to our youth hostel. Our youth hostel is located 8km outside the city centre. This wasn't ideal, but I was left with no choice as all the hostels with the best locations were already fully booked. Nevertheless, we were still happy, as the hostel was located in a very peaceful part of Oslo and it was a pleasant environment to get much rest!

It may come as a surprise to many, but even late at night, the sky is still bright. In fact, it never gets dark, and that's because in summer, the comforting light of the sun never recedes. By the early hours of the morning, the sun rises again. Norway is located far north in the globe and in the upper reaches of the country, the sun literally never sets during the summer.











Breakfast was a very simple affair, with bread, butter, cereals and hot drinks:






After a hearty breakfast, we checked out of the hostel, took the bus back to the city centre, to take the train to Bergen.






Finally, we were about to embark on a 7-hour train journey, from Oslo to Bergen. Never did we expect that this train journey, claimed by travel guides as one of the most scenic in Europe, would be so breathtaking, as the train brought us along lakes, ice-swept landscapes and white mountains.

It is fitting, then, to end off with this thoughtful and positive quote that was written on this fence in the Oslo youth hostel.