Sunday morning in Oslo

It is 11:30 Sunday morning and my flight leaves this afternoon at 3pm.  I spent about 25 minutes walking around downtown Oslo trying to find a place for a coffee and breakfast.  It seems that everything is closed and for the most part, I was the only person walking around.  I wonder if everyone is to hung over to go out or if Norwegians stay at home with their families on Sundays.  I thought I would have to go to a MacDonald’s, which was the only thing I saw open, but I found a little café.  I spent 149nk or about 24$ on a bagel w/ tomato, an orange juice and a coffee (which is cold)… and there is no internet.  It’s a cute place though, and even though it is only 2 degrees outside, there are people sitting on the patio.  The chairs of the patio at most place like this, have a shag carpet type cover, to keep butts warm.  The song “American girl” by Tom Petty is playing… I haven’t heard any Norwegian music since I have been here, mostly American.

This morning when I was checking out of my room, I was standing in line for the front desk and had my big suitcase with a smaller duffel bag on top, attached to the suitcase’s handle.  I wasn’t paying attention to my luggage so when I turned around, I saw that my bags had fallen onto this poor guy who was struggling to push it back over to stand up.  I had nearly crushed this poor guy and he was trying to right himself so no one would notice!  I laughed and apologized and he said something in a language I could not understand but he seemed more embarrassed then angry.

Now I have to figure out how to get to the Central Station so catch the train to the airport.  That is something I envy about Europe, their transportation systems.  It is nearly impossible to live in Canada without owning a car where as I think most people here walk and take public transport then drive their own cars.  Something else that is neat about Europe, and though I’ve only noticed this in Oslo so far but I know it to be true in other countries, is the fresh markets.  For the most part, people do their groceries at these markets every day or every few days instead of one big grocery trip every week or so like back home.  I walked by a market yesterday, and it was just above freezing out but there were fruits and vegetables laid out, outside including a huge bin of pomegranates.  I asked a girl from Oslo what the best part about Oslo was and she said the parks that are outside of Oslo are the best and then went on to tell me which busses to take to get there.  Maybe this explains why people are always walking around downtown holding their ski gear… they must bus to these parks to ski (as I typed that I just saw another guy with skiis walk by).

Now, it is time to find my way to the airport.  Ill head back to the hostel to get my luggage, and hopefully this time I won’t crush anyone, then try to find a taxi to take me to the train station.  Even if I wanted to take the bus, I wouldn’t easily fit with all my stuff.  Ill also have to find an ATM (called Minibanks here) to get some cash which is something I haven’t done yet, I hope it works!  I don’t even know where my money went.  I had $200 Canadian worth for 3 days in Iceland and the same amount for 2 days here and I had just enough in Iceland whereas I have just run out here.  I guess this proves that Oslo is definitely the most expensive city in the world.  I just complained about the cold coffee and got a free latte! Mmmm