Today we explored Norway’s capital, Oslo, and took a tour of the Oslo fjord or as it’s known, the Oslofjord.

I begin to understand the origin of the ferocious seafaring Vikings. Travel by sea in this country is so much easier than travel by car or horse because of the steep rise of the rugged Scandinavian mountains.

According to Wiki, the Oslofjord (Norwegian: Oslofjorden) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea. The Oslofjord is not a fjord in the geological sense – in Norwegian the term “fjord” can refer to a wide range of waterways. The bay is divided into the inner (indre) and outer (ytre) Oslofjord at the point of the 17 km long and 1 km wide Drøbak Sound.

The sun’s once again shining brightly and the sky’s blue and clear. We’ve been so lucky with the weather so far this trip (fingers and toes crossed).

Here are a few of the sights:

The last couple of pics are of Norway’s famous opera house. We met a charming Brazilian couple on the tour and a group of women from Germany celebrating a friend’s eightieth birthday. We ate lunch in a quaint restaurant in downtown Oslo and dined on mussels and pommes frites. Delish.sights:

The last couple of pics are of Norway’s famous opera house. We met a charming Brazilian couple on the tour and a group of women from Germany celebrating a friend’s eightieth birthday. We ate lunch in a quaint restaurant in downtown Oslo and dined on mussels and pommes frites. Delish.

Now, since we arrived in Norway, I’ve been trying to find Den Glade Gris, a restaurant that’s supposedly near the hotel, and one where everyone raves about the ‘pig knuckle’. We’ve set out to find Den Glade Gris three times and ran into a great tapas eatery and a wonderful Italian place instead. Today, we finally locate the establishment. OMG, what a meal. The pig knuckle is exactly that, a huge slab of pork with crackling that’s slow roasted for over 48 hours. We choose a Voss beer to complete the meal and leave Den Glade Gris two hours later mildly inebriated and piggy content. Here’s a shot of the pig:

This photo of Den Glade Gris is courtesy of TripAdvisor

What a marvelous way to end our Norwegian Viking Sojourn. Tomorrow, we head to Sweden and Stockholm!

Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, is a charming port town!

Our fourth morning in Norway dawns bright, sunny, and windy. Both the Viking and I are stunned by how much we’ve seen and how far we’ve traveled in less than a day! Three nights ago we’d just arrived in the country, and now we’re on the west coast after journeying through the Scandinavian mountains and through the fjords.

We spent the morning exploring the city and ended up taking the tram to the top of one of the mountains overlooking the city. What a view!
       

We had lunch at  the seafood market where you pick your fish and they cook it right then and there for you!!! Yummy.

Then it was time to check out and head to the train back to Oslo. In less than an hour, we’re back into the snow-capped frozen tundra. Now, all along this Norway in a Nutshell adventure we’ve been in the same train car with a family of visitors who were from Bangalore, India. None of them had ever seen snow before and the kids have been dying to touch the white fluff. Half-way back to Oslo, we find out that our train engine is needed to rescue another train stranded ahead of us. So, our train stops in the middle of nowhere and we’re informed the wait will be forty-five minutes. OMG, those kids were out of the train in a heartbeat.

Around midnight we make it back to Norway’s capital. This is what the sun looked like!

Incredible. This twilight stuff blows my puny brain.