Feet tired from tiny alleys cobblestoned over hillocks.  I rest beside the sea.

Waiting. 

Ice cream satisfies my craving for sweet creaminess. 

The sound of a saxophonist busking fills my right ear. A mixture of building sounds, passing cars and chatter fills my left. Both are punctuated by the occasional gull cry carried on the steady breeze. 

Boats are bobbing in the water. 

Here I sit. Miles from home. On the water's edge in Bergen. Not quite half way through this adventure. A pinch me moment.

Content. Calm. Not yet relaxed, but getting there. 

Waiting. 

Today was my one day to explore Bergen. I began by getting early up to beat the breakfast rush. After a very respectable breakfast buffet I headed out to explore. 

Quite by chance I had heard about Floibanen, the funicular railway that goes up the side of one of the mountains surrounding Bergen. I decided to give it a go.  

It only took about 8 min to get to the top but the views were spectacular! Why wasn't this on my to-do list? 

These photos show only a fraction of the view. It made me realise that Bergen is much bigger than I had realised. After that I did more exploring. I found a fortress, lots of gorgeous alleys and an interesting museum about early Bergen. 

In the museum there was a great exhibition on runes. One piece of information made me immediately think of Em and Ash. Aparently board games were played and the inscription on a runic stick said "there's no knowing what may come of hectic diceplay". Wise words. 

Before leaving Australia I booked a short fjord cruise. In fact, that was the other reason for coming to Bergen. My cruise commenced at 2:30pm and lasted 3.5h. Well worth it. What I loved most were the houses perched precariously on the sides of mountains or the small towns nestled in between the rocks.  So many towns were incredibly isolated.

Another early night tonight for me. I have an early flight in the morning back to the UK. 

The Scandinavian leg of my holiday was inspired by a segment I saw on TV about the Oslo-Bergen rail line. Today I made that journey. Wow! 

There are a few things to share like the friendly Australians and Americans I met, or the excitement as the snow got deeper and deeper, or the packed train. But I think this is an occasion where I should just let the pictures tell the story. 

What more can I say? 

I had a number of sights on my to-see list for Oslo but the Viking ship museum was the only must-see. I started out early to avoid crowds. It felt toasty warm in the apartment. Outside was grey but you could see it was clearing. I checked the temperature ... 1 degree! I made sure I rugged up until it warmed up a bit.

First on the agenda was to take some photos of the buildings in this complex. They each have their own unique style and a couple are awesome. The light wasn't my friend though, and it wasn't until I returned at the end of the day that I got some semi decent shots. Similarly I checked out the opera house but, with the sun behind it, the shots came out a bit grey, Again I took more at the end of the day when the sun was shining on the front. I did get a shot of this sculpture offshore though.

Some big ferries dock here.  

From there I decided to get some cash and make my way to the Viking ship museum. It's the furthest away and I could work my way back from there. Finding an ATM proved to be more difficult than expected and I had to go a long way before I found one.

I knew of 2 ways to get to the museum: bus and ferry. I decided on bus and began a mission to buy a 24h travel card. That also proved to be more difficult than expected. Even the ticket machines at the train station didn't cooperate. So I went with the ferry instead. In the end it was a better and cheaper option anyway.  Before boarding I stopped for coffee and some cake near city hall. Speaking of city hall, this is the building.

I found this sculpture/frieze on the side amusing. Is the guy trying to ambush the other two? Seemed a bit incongruous.  

This was the ferry to the island with the museums.

The Viking ship museum is on an island with a number of other museums. The houses near the museum are post-card perfect. It looks like quite an affluent area. 

The Viking ship museum has 3 Viking long boats that had finished life as burial vessels and were then discovered from the mid 1800s to early 1900s. It was great to see them in real life to get a sense of their size and design.

The museum also has artefacts found at the sites. 

The ticket also gave me entry to the Historical Museum but that was back in downtown Oslo, so I made the ferry trip back. There was some good scenery on the way. 

After stopping for some lunch I passed what appears to be the Main Street of Oslo and I could here a marching band in the distance. I hung around to discover it was the changing of the guard at the royal palace.  

When I made it to the historical museum I was a bit disappointed. They had some great medieval and Viking artifacts but in the Viking section they had mounted these folk art figures in the cabinets which made the displays seem quite tacky. 

I didn't stay there long. By this time I was feeling quite lethargic so I decided to be lazy and get a ticket for the hop on/hop off bus. That way I could be driven around to see anything I hadn't got to yet. I got off at Aker Brygge. This is a waterfront neighbourhood built from the late 80s and its typical of the newer, flashier side of Oslo. As well as lots of residential buildings there are lots and lots of restaurants. It's like the marina at Glenelg x 10. I stopped for a delicious gelato: 1 scoop of coffee and 1 scoop of cinnamon.  The weather was beautiful and sunny - but I still needed my 4 layers!

From Aker Brygge I slowly made my way back to the apartment. Past Akershus Fortress. 

I saw this guy leaning out the window to clean it. My Origin colleagues will know what was going through my mind. 

And past the Opera House. It's great how you can walk right over the roof.  

And finally to take some more pics of the buildings around the apartment. Also, I've noticed that the pedestrian crossing lights have 2 red men. They always appear to be on at the same time. Is that to make you stop twice as much?

I will have another early night tonight. I catch the train to Bergen at 8:30am. 

We arrived in Oslo on time. I didn't see much of the city on the way in as we had been in a tunnel for a while. The weather was grey with spots of rain. 

In Oslo I'm staying in an apartment again, but this one doesn't have a reception. I rang the company to arrange for them to meet me. The apartment was only 10min walk from the station in a brand new development on the waterfront. Once here, I was pleased to see it was more like the accomodation in Copenhagen. A bit nicer actually.  

The view in the foreground is all construction. But then there is the massive Oslo Opera House. And in the distance the waters and bays of the Oslo fjord.  

I popped down to the supermarket to get supplies. Another set of words to decipher! You could make a game out of it. It was almost 6:00pm when I got back. I'm going to eat in while I'm here. After Oslo I'll be in hotels for 10 nights in a row. 

As I've been writing this the grey skies have cleared and everything us blue. A fine day is forecast for tomorrow which is just as well, because there's a lot I want to do. 

I slept OK other than my mind racing while processing the ideas I encountered at Dark Mountain last night. When I awoke at 5:00am I wanted to write down the thoughts that had coagulated overnight. I'm feeling much better today (and thanks so much for the "get well" wishes Robyn, glad you worked out how to post a comment).

My train to Oslo was at 11:06am so I had plenty of time. After breakfast and repacking I checked out and made my way to the metro. I decided metro to central station would be easiest and by 9:30am it shouldn't be too busy. I was right. Got on and off really easily.

My train ticket for Oslo was first class - not as expensive as you might think and much more comfortable - and it meant I could wait in the SJ Lounge. It had a good view of the main station concourse.

The train departed on time and I had booked a single window seat on the right hand side. That was a stroke of luck because the sun was mainly on the other side and photos would have been more difficult. This is the route we took.

I pre-purchased lunch with my ticket.

The landscape from Stockholm to Oslo was surprisingly constant. Pine forests, birch trees, rivers, lakes, fields, wooden houses and the occasional town or small city. The main difference was that the first half was flatter and the second hillier. Actually, in parts it reminded me of British Columbia and Ontario in Canada.

We arrived in Oslo on time. I'll write about that in the next post.