We had three days in Oslo ahead of moving over to Bergen to catch the cruise up the Norwegian coast. The weather forecast for Oslo was not great, rainy, cloudy periods with not much sun. Typical early Spring weather, despite a less than average snowfall through Winter there was still icy snow laying around the streets and parks.

Our room in the hotel was quite small, but comfortable. Not much space for luggage! Breakfast was included so we started the day with a healthy alternative. Allthego occasionally lapsed and finished off with bacon and eggs.

We were surprised when we woke to sunny, blue skies with some high cloud. The chap at the Visitors Centre advised us to take advantage of it and head up the mountain to the Holmenkollen Ski Fields. Take the train to the end of the line and walk back down the hill to the Centre. So we did. Some great views of ski runs in the back woods.

The main objective here was to look at the Ski Museum. Holmenkollen was the location of the 1952 Olympics and also held a number of World Championships. An interesting centre with plenty of old gear. Also some historical bits from the Norwegian polar explorers Nantzen and Amundson. Allthego, thought he saw an old pair of his 1970s Blizzard brand skis on display. Blizzards are not hard to forget, but maybe they weren’t! We both had a go on a cross country race simulator, the two other AI contestants beat us easily.

We then caught the lift to the top of the Ski Jump. Quite a height, Slobro hid in the back pack and Homealone wished she was! There were some great views from the top and looking down the ski jump was a little nerve wrecking. Must be quite an experience descending the run and jumping into thin air about half way down before landing on the run at the bottom!

We made our way further down from Holmenkollen to the railway station to catch the train back to the city. Along the way we stopped off at the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Vigeland was a famous sculptor from the early to mid 20 century. The City Council have put a lot of his sculptures up in this park. He seemed to have a strong focus on the human body and its various appendages. Enough said. All quite interesting but we needed to head off to get back to the hotel before dark.

The next couple of days we aimed to stay in the city for the local sights.