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The flight from Brussels to Oslo is slighly turbulent. They use small planes. I suppose a large plane with loads of passengers arriving in a sparsely...

Oslo, Kongsberg

Gaby
2004-01-25 13:34:57

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Vinderen, Oslo

The flight from Brussels to Oslo is slighly turbulent. They use small planes. I suppose a large plane with loads of passengers arriving in a sparsely populated country like Norway would instantly change the population statistics. We arrive at around 4.30 and take the bus to the metro station. We will spend our first two nights at Esther's B&B, in the quiet district of Vinderen.

It is not an exciting area. We have two rooms at our disposal, or rather, we share two rooms with a lot of surplus furniture. We are supposed to make our own breakfast, there is a toaster, sliced bread and milk, jam and butter in the fridge. There is tea and coffee. This is the first of a series of DIY meals.

Esther suggests we take the metro to Frogveteren where there is a nice old restaurant. It is a long journey to the end of the metro line and a steep walk downhill from the mountain, but the view is worth it. Smoking inside is not allowed, perhaps because the whole building is made of wooden logs, so Jack and I have a large glass of red wine outside overlooking the valley. Houses with roofs covered in grass and trees as far as you can see. There are wild raspberries growing everywhere.Our first meal on Norwegian soil sets the tone for the rest of the holidays: our dish of reindeer comes at 285 NOK per person. We only get back at Esther's just after dark.

After our frugal breakfast we head for the city centre by metro. There are some formalities that we need to take care of first: we have to know if we have to reserve train tickets for our next destination, Kongsberg, and we would like to get tickets for the Oslo Jazz Festival for the night of the 12th August, as we would like to see Georgie Fame in concert.

Breakfast lacking in protein forces us to have a tuna sandwich at Druen, overlooking the harbour at Aker Brygge. As we walk on along Stranden we see some of the ...