Day 24. Thursday 6 June.

The apartment is over a busy street, that also has regular trams running at all hours. So it is noisy. All windows shut tight, drapes drawn, and T with ear plugs firmly inserted. D slept well; T less so because of a hot, stuffy room. First stop after breakfast was to the apartments reception staff to request a room off this street when we come back later in the month. Noted and apologies from reception…we’ll see!

Headed for Ekebergparken Sculpture Park via trams and buses, more or less comfortable with how the system works, although not necessarily understanding how the map relates, particularly as some parts are one way and that’s not obvious. Initially a little dismayed at the price of the 24-hour ticket, but then realized that the two zeros at the end weren’t thousands, but ore (a cent equivalent, but apparently only used electronically since 2012). T did the research by entering an up-market dress shop – well, that’s what she claimed to be doing, although she did come out with a look of dismay at the price of a T shirt. It turns out the price was very reasonable indeed for multi-mode transport.

The sculpture park is peaceful, the only noises being the many birds twittering and the kindy kids engaged in play, including, of course, the boys playing with sticks. We wondered if this park was really for such respectable people as us: the first sculptures we saw were all, as T remarked, ‘nude’, and one in particular was very boastful about his manly attributes. D could only scoff – he’s heard all that before. A walk through the park brought us many variations of style and subject, by a range of sculptors including well-known names like Salvador Dali, Renoir and Rodin, all pretty well spread out along paths and tracks.

A magic moment was fog slowly floating downhill through the trees, intermittently highlighted by the sun peeking through gathering clouds.

At the top we admired the camping site and again envied the campervanners!

Then the sky darkened and the rain began – fortunately short lived and light, but presaging more to come.

We arrived at the Operaen along with some busloads of our special friends – Oh, how we had been missing them! A beautiful building with graceful, simple lines, attached to the harbor a bit like Sydney.

T was desperate for some culture and looked to have jagged The Magic Flute, the last performance before the summer break, but it begins at 2 PM on the day we get back to Oslo – at 2 PM. T then tried the National Theatre, with the same outcome. Everyone will be on summer break come 22 June.

On to the Viking Exhibition at the Historical Museum, but pulled out when we realized that there were two displays for the one ticket – the other being the Viking ships. Wanting to do both, we opted to put that in our second visit program. We started towards the Jewish Museum on foot, looking for a bus or tram station to get there but the close ones indicated on the map were out of action because of road works, so we eventually capitulated to sore, tired feet and headed for ‘home’. Just as well – half an hour or so later, a severe thunderstorm with torrential rain hit – by that time we were able to watch it from our roadside window with a glass of red in hand. And to watch those poor souls caught in it scurrying, drenched, to their destinations. One backpacker hurled angry gestures at the sky as he walked, no doubt blaming that non-existent God for his woes.

Tomorrow we head by bus and train across Norway to Myrdal, where we’ll pick up the scenic train to Flam. There, we’ll overnight before catching a ferry to Bergen. No wifi at Flam for us, so next post will be from Bergen.