Since we slept so early, it was no surprise I already woke up at 1am, made myself go back to sleep and finally woke up at 3am again. P also woke up shortly after and we started waiting for the breakfast at 6.30am. This happened to us in June as well as we slept and woke up according to SG time, its jet lag of some sort but we eventually got back in sync with local time and couldnt even wake up for breakfast. We were laughing at ourselves that waking up early for breakfast only happens on the first day (little did we know how wrong we were). I updated my blog and surfed the net until it was 6am then we got ready to go down to the second floor breakfast area, unsurprisingly we were one of the first few in the restaurant.
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| Morning mary and vegetable juice corner |
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| Fruits and yogurt and stuff |
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| Favourite corner of eggs, bacon, potatoes etc |
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| Nicely decorated gluten and lactose free corner |
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| Very big and nice dining area |
The breakfast area was huge and it took up a big space so we could choose our seats. At a price of 95 NOK per day per pax, it was considered cheap and I'm glad I added on breakfast for the entire trip. The food quality was good, the place was nicely decorated and the variety very similar to the breakfast we had in Germany, with all the allergens meticulously listed out at every counter (think this is a thing for Norwegians).
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| Very nice view from our hotel room |
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| Convenient walkway and bridge leading to the station |
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| Got our 1 hour unlimited ruter card |
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| Sports Outlet in this building saved my life |
After breakfast, we went back to the hotel room and napped for a few hours until 11am. The chambermaid knocked and even opened the door to ask if she can tidy up the room (we encountered this in Copenhagen as well) and we finally got up and got ready to explore the city. This was our only full day in Oslo as the next day we are going on a scenic tour known as 'Norway in a nutshell'.
The priority for me is to get a down jacket as the thin jackets I have with me will not be enough for the winter weather though so far I did not feel cold. Probably we were not outdoor as much, but I thought the coldness was manageable, more like in Japan. We looked around the shops near the Oslo Central Station but those stores were really selling them at a very expensive price (200-300 SGD), although many are having Cyber Monday sales. We decided to head to the nearby Christmas Market and shop around there before the sun set.
I googled for the nearest Christmas Market and it was about 1km from the station at Karls Johans Gate which is the main shopping street of Oslo. It was only a train stop away but we were not sure if we want to walk in winter. We looked around and saw the information counter for getting the transport ticket, which is quite similar to Italy's system, one hour unlimited use after validation (though P kept saying why bother as there's no gate and turnstile etc, I cant figure out if he's joking or serious). We bought 4 tickets since we thought we will need a return trip.
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| The Christmas Market |
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| Cute little stalls with winter wear and food |
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| I enjoyed the recorded audio of two moose talking |
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| Moose and reindeer meat are common here |
We thought we had to take a tram but we couldnt figure out which tram to take, so we ended up at the station, found track 2 (indicated in google map) and took one stop to the next station. Just as we exited the station, I saw this Sports Outlet which is a three storey store selling sports and winter wear stuff. I was lucky enough to buy a beanie and a down jacket I liked at the store as walking around in the Christmas Market was too cold and I had to put it on immediately. The down jacket is a Denmark brand, selling at 800 NOK, indicated to be half price. It was a real lifesaver.
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| On our way to the Christmas Market |
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| Selling the traditional waffles and sweet goodies |
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| We enjoyed tasting the cheese here |
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| Too cold so I had to put on my jacket |
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| Only bought nachos |
The Christmas Market was not too big and we still couldnt get use to the sun setting early and the dusk like atmosphere when it was only 2pm and 3pm in the afternoon. It drizzled a bit earlier but when we were out it was all dry fortunately. There were some food stalls and some carnival rides at the Christmas market but it took us only a short while to look at the stuff, rested a bit at the fireplace then we walked up to the nearby palace as we saw some tourists heading there.
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| Rested here while we munch on nachos |
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| Nice atmosphere at the Christmas Market |
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| We didnt realise its the palace till later |
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| Can easily walk back to our hotel |
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| P was glad to pray at the church for his birthday |
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| Some publicity for the netflix series, cool |
We also realised that we did not need the ruter ticket at all as we could easily walk to the Christmas Market and we did walk back to the hotel, do some sightseeing and soak in the atmosphere along the way. Our hotel Raddison Blu Oslo Plaza is quite recognisable with the unique hotel design and we could see it from some distance away so we just walk towards it. P met a nice filipino auntie when we went for breakfast earlier and we decided to pass the unvalidated cards to her instead of wasting those. Each of those tickets cost about 5 SGD but is valid for one whole hour of usage.
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| The series named 'troll' |
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| Spent a long time getting his birthday shot done |
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| The gym with the view |
We also stopped by this souvenir shop call 'Way-Nor', cheesy but cute name for the souvenir shop chain here. We got a magnet for our fridge collection and then P was hanged up on getting a nice photo for his birthday as it was soon going to be his birthday in SG time. We finally got one nice spot near the station and decided to go explore the top most floors of the hotel where the gym, swimming pool and sauna are. The facilities are really good at the hotel, and these come with a view, although it was a bit hard to get up there as we had to climb some flights of stairs.
It was not even 4pm when we got back to the room, we decided to rest for a bit, and then head down to look for dinner. Unfortunately, I fell asleep at 5pm and the next thing I know, it was already 8pm and we decided to skip dinner for the night. P was nagging at me as it was supposed to be his birthday treat.
Expenses for the day:
Sports Outlet: 150 SGD
4 Ruter Cards: 22 SGD
Souvenir Magnet: 10 SGD
Nachos: 13 SGD
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