Polar night and polar bear island - a Norwegian winter adventure

[Justinf]

 

[Justinf]

 

[Justinf]

After that it had actually warmed up noticeably. It was still probably -5, but with the forecast of snow tonight, perhaps the moisture returned to the air and it wasn’t as bad
I needed my fourth, and last, fridge magnet for the four places I have been and I eventually found it.
Back to the room at 4.15pm and then headed out around 6.30pm.
When I say out, there was no need to step foot outside.
I stayed within the confines of the train station and went to the Sentralpuben, which was ok but a few dodgy characters and there is a sports bar opposite that looked ok but was dead.

 

[Justinf]

I left after one and went back to the Gastropub that I was at last night and although it was busy, it wasn’t as heaving as last night.
I’ll find some dinner soon. Something half decent I think.
There’s a Japanese place upstairs and I saw a Chinese place as well.
And I see that they have dropped episode 4 of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms early so I’ll head up and watch that and I still have almost a full bottle of Italian chianti left.
Tomorrow is my last full day.
My knee is really hurting.
I’m determined to at least walk to the fortress for a better look although the Viking Museum is closed until March. The interactive museum is open but I’m not sure that’s my thing.
I won’t spend the entire day inside, but I’m also not fussed if I don’t do much either.
My flight to Helsinki on Sunday morning is at 8.35am so I will catch the train, conveniently located indoors so I won’t have to walk outside.
Unfortunately I have a five-hour layover there.
I have been to Helsinki before and loved it although I wasn’t a huge fan of the lounge so I’m wondering if I have enough time to go into the city for a while?
I take it the Oslo to Helsinki route will be domestic as it’s within the Schengen zone so will have to clear passport control at Helsinki.
I’m also presuming my bag will be tagged all the way through but I can’t be sure whether I’ll have to grab my bag and check in again at Helsinki.

 

[Justinf]

I need to lay off the burgers and beers when I get back (see the sign at the top of the photo).
No wonder my jeans were tighter yesterday.


I woke up at 8.45am and I must have really needed it.
It had snowed overnight and there was still a light flurry going on.





My right knee is swollen and hurts.
Spurs are playing Man U at 1.30pm today and there is a sports bar within the complex that is showing it, but I don’t really want to spend my final afternoon drinking $23 beers and watching football.
I’ve taken some ibuprofen and am determined to at least get out and try to have a walk around the fortress and I want to take a pic of the finger sculpture at Kvadraturen you find the square Christiania torv, known for its fountain with a sculpture of a hand pointing to the ground. After the big town fire in 1624, the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV decided to rebuild the town in this area and name it after himself. He supposedly pointed to this spot and said: "The new town will lie here!"
It’s really weird. I’m kind of looking forward to heading back home, but I think that’s because I have the midnight city tour of Doha, so I have something to look forward to other than just travel. In other words, my holiday still hasn’t finished until I get back to Hamad International after the private tour, which will involve just me and my driver/guide.

 

[Justinf]

It took a while to get going but get out I finally did.
It was -3 today but didn’t feel super cold so maybe I have just gotten used to it.
Things looked very different with a dusting of snow.

 

[Justinf]

Just how different? Well here is the same pic from yesterday and then today.
It’s amazing what a coat of paint can do hey?

 

[Justinf]

I walked past the tour that I did yesterday and it was the South African doing the commentary.
I then tried to find the Christian XI hand sculpture but Apple Maps had me going around in circles.
Google maps got me there in no time though.
There were some dudes doing a forge with fire type of thing.

 

[RooFlyer]

the Christian XI hand sculpture

What’s the story with that?

 

[Justinf]

What’s the story with that?

Copied from post 225.

determined to at least get out and try to have a walk around the fortress and I want to take a pic of the finger sculpture at Kvadraturen you find the square Christiania torv, known for its fountain with a sculpture of a hand pointing to the ground. After the big town fire in 1624, the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV decided to rebuild the town in this area and name it after himself. He supposedly pointed to this spot and said: "The new town will lie here!"

 

[Justinf]

I then went to the fortress, which we went to during the walking tour but other than a 15-minute toilet stop, didn’t see anything of it.
Some of these pics are either similar or almost identical to a couple I took yesterday but it all looked so different with its white blanket.

 

[Justinf]

With the fresh snow, it was obviously slippery underfoot, but I took it very easy.
My knee wasn’t too bad except when going downhill.

 

[Justinf]

I do know that photos of military are a no-no pretty much anywhere, but I made sure nobody would be able to see their faces.
There are quite a lot of them and they walk around with very serious looks on their faces.


This one was happy by have a pic taken. Note the snow on its beak AI tells me it’s a hooded crow



And a yuck one of me. I really shouldn’t do selfies.

 

[Justinf]

This was just outside the fortress. Some kind of park that would have been pretty barren yesterday.


I decided to head back and begin the wonderful task of packing my bag for the trip home.
“I love doing that” said nobody ever.




I’m seriously considering next year’s trip to be Finland particularly Lapland and with a trip to Tallinn and maybe St Petersburg if that’s doable.
Also a bit of Sweden.
Although I would fly and not do the 6-hour drive.

 

[Justinf]

I just had to get a pic of myself with the tiger sculpture.



And seriously the cinnamon buns here are scrumptious.
No wonder my jeans are tighter.

 

[Justinf]

Headed out for a beer around 6.30pm. My final night.
Went to the sports bar first for one.



And then back to the gastropub for two and called it a night.


I bought my airport train ticket and I have set the alarm for 5am for an 8.35am flight on Nordic Regional at 8.35am. It’s kinda like what QantasLink is like but for Finnair.
Hopefully there is a decent breakfast onboard as the meal coming from Helsinki to Oslo was very decent.
I’m planning on getting the 6am train which will have me at the airport at 6.20am.
I then have just over two hours to do whatever as I don’t know what to expect and whether the security line will be long or not.
Also pretty sure I won’t have to go through passport control until Helsinki.
Got my bags packed and will look for a quick dinner somewhere, but it will be convenience rather then gastronomy.

 

[Justinf]

Have racked up 11,000 steps today and my knee is absolutely throbbing.
Hopefully not too much walking tomorrow but airports are big places.

 

[Justinf]

I woke just before my alarm told me to just before 5am.
Gee this was going to be a slog.
Eventually made it out of the room and even had time to buy some coffee before the 6am train to the airport departed.


Check-in did commence until two hours prior to departure and we had a weird situation in that there were more passengers checking in with the priority lane than in economy.
I was second in line in priority, but the desk agent didn’t rock up until 6.45am and there was only her.
I eventually got through and joy of joys, my bag has been tagged all the way through to Melbourne.
Hassle free security for once and into the SAS lounge for a 7.30am beer.

 

[Justinf]

Boarding commenced on time and I had the same FA in J as I did two weeks ago.
I was in seat 1A and there was someone next to me on this E190 but the FA explained that another row was totally empty so I asked the guy which one of us was going to move.
I think he was taken by surprise.
I was quite prepared to move, but he said “I will” and I felt a bit bad for about three seconds.

 

[Justinf]

The breakfast service was quite good. I was starving and the FA misheard me when I asked for sparkling wine and she went to pour a sparkling water.
I think she was a bit surprised but I thought sparkling wine was the most appropriate breakfast drink of choice.
By the way, that isn’t a sausage in the pic like I thought it was. It was a potato.