Arriving in Oslo: Taking Stock

I've got a fair bit of downtime, so I figured I'd post a mini-update.  Maybe doing smaller, more frequent updates will give you guys a better sense of things as they occur.  If nothing else, it should help me not forget things.  Let's start with what happened so far today.



I was awoken at 8:00 by the melodious sound of a crew-member's voice over the intercom.  It had that sort of cheeriness indicating that either he was the world's most morning-est of morning persons, or that he had already been up for several hours.  My money goes to the latter.  He informed the passengers that we were pulling into Oslo over the next hour, and that once we landed we had until 10:00 to disembark.


I got dressed and headed over to breakfast, where they were serving a variety of foods.  Various pastries, the stereotypical cereal with liquid yogurt, some cold cuts, soggy eggs, sausages, and hash browns, as well as the leftover fruit from dinner the night before.  I grabbed a plate and enjoyed my breakfast, and helped myself to three glasses of orange juice (take that, stingy waiter!)  Upon concluding breakfast, I headed up to the deck to take in the surrounding countryside.

"Different" is an extreme understatement.  Simply pulling into the harbor, I could see mountains taller than the highest point in Denmark!  Granted, in Denmark the maximum elevation is 120 meters or so, but the differences are already apparent.  The weather is incredibly humid, with a mild drizzle and a cool temperature.  I can already tell it will be a wet stay.

Walking into the city, I noticed the architecture was markedly different.  Streets are narrower, and bike lanes seem non-existent.  Presumably the larger elevation differences make bicycles not as practical as in Denmark, and similarly would make horizontal space a more precious commodity.  Overall, Oslo thus far has given me a distinct Alaskan feel.

There are similarities, however.  Pedestrian-only areas exist here as well, and public transportation looks very familiar.  Some of the buses are doubled up, to compensate for the decreased use of bicycles. City Bikes also exist, although it's an 80 kr rental charge for 24 hours, rather than a 20 kr deposit.

Language will also be a barrier.  Making myself understood in Danish was already hit-or-miss.  Making my Danish understood to Norwegians will likely be a nightmare.  Ah well - bring it on.  The situation is made even more interesting, as I'm realizing that two weeks speaking either broken Danish or English with foreigners is beginning to affect my accent, even for my native language.  So far, I've been pegged as a New Yorker from my accent.  It should be interesting to see responses from friends back home, as presumably the effect will last a while after the trip is over.

My monetary situation half-way through the trip is acceptable.  My purchase yesterday marked a significant setback, but a daily budget of slightly under 400 kr will put me back on track.  This will be a bit tight, but I'm confident I can make it work.  I'm tentatively budgeting half my money per day to accommodations, and am planning on using the cheaper lunch menus to sample local cuisine, while preparing my own food for dinner.  As I only have 4 more cities to go (not counting Copenhagen again), I'll be spending more time in each one, meaning that unprocessed food purchases can be made in greater bulk, with greater savings.  I'm not obligated to reduce my budget in deference to yesterday's purchase, as it's not actually a cost of the trip - but I think I will appreciate the challenge.