Oslo day 1
When it comes to planning a Halliday holiday, sometimes we don’t agree.
If we reach a stalemate about the activities for a particular day, I add the following to the spreadsheet: “short walk”.
Readers of my earlier trip reports - or my posts on Helsinki in this report - will know that a “short walk” for the Halliday clan can end up being 15 kilometres or more.
This is mostly because indecision is contagious.
The indecision that led to “short walk” being on the itinerary mysteriously spreads to all activities that day.
Q: “Which way should we go?”
A: “I don’t mind, what do you think?”
Q: “Should we go to this museum/gallery/attraction/park?”
A: “Maybe.”
Q: “What do you want to eat?”
A: “I’m easy. What do you feel like?
“What I feel like is not having to make every damn decision on this holiday!”
But I’m not foolish enough to say that out loud.
So despite groans from the family, we set off on a “short walk” around Oslo.
From our hotel near central station we headed first to the Opera house.
It’s a striking building by the water.
You can walk up the outside of the building to a viewing terrace on the roof.
There’s good views back across Oslo city.
The roof of the opera house is also home to the biggest seagulls I have ever seen.
It’s also a good place to view “hun ligger” which is a floating sculpture that depicts an iceberg.
It turn on its axis with the tide and wind giving a different perspective at different times.
Translated to English hun ligger means “she lies”.
Speaking of lies... they say that jumping into a near frozen fjord is an experience not to be missed.
Several of these floating saunas were dotted around the waterfront area.
There were a small number of people giving it a go.
I wasn’t one of them.
My enjoyment came vicariously.
The promenade near the opera house also gave nice views down the fjord as the changing light reflected off the glassy surface.
As the sun drifted below the horizon, I couldn’t help myself.
I turned to the family and lobbed another grenade...
“What do you feel like for dinner?”