Happy Birthday in Oslo
We stayed at the same hotel as before, the Hotel Continental, which I 100% recommend – its location, service, staff and cleanliness are all simply the best. I even managed to get us the same room that we had before, a deluxe corner room with huge wraparound balcony. Some rooms don’t have a balcony but luckily my request for balcony, and preferably the same room, worked – views of the Royal Palace from one end and glimpse of the harbour from the other and people-watching in between.
As usual, we set off with the intention of doing very little, preferring to wander around all day stopping for frequent refreshment breaks and people-watching. The first couple of hours after we arrived were spent shopping as my husband’s suitcase hadn’t made it onto the plane (though it did turn up next morning so it was only a minor inconvenience). The hotel concierge recommended a men’s clothing shop but when we got there we realised it was the equivalent of Harrods (we must look important!) We knew that British Airways wouldn’t appreciate a claim for designer price tags, so we did an about-turn and quickly found the equivalent of M&S and all was well, then we went for a well-deserved drink on the gem of a roof terrace at the Grand Hotel. Weather was glorious at this point, and we followed that with an ice cream. Despite the sometimes harsh climate in Norway, the Norwegians love their ice cream – even back in February I remember seeing several ice cream shops open!
Now, Norway is very expensive (think double or three times UK prices for drinks, and at least double for meals out) but don’t let this put you off as the plus point of this is that there are no hen or stag parties, or Brits on cheap-booze-trips! Just discerning tourists like myself! The harbour area in the evening is very lively, with street musicians and bars and restaurants lining the streets – my sort of place!
The next day we had some rain, but between showers we walked and walked – then the heavens really opened (accompanied by thunder) so we took refuge in Café Cathedral on their charming (covered!) terrace. After the rain we found an old vinyl record store which also sold heaps of music memorabilia and spent a good hour browsing in there. What a place! My husband worked in the record industry for over 30 years so he was in his element, and I could have spent a dangerous amount of money in there – in the end I settled for a Bruce Springsteen CD/DVD box set/book in the form of a scrapbook with handwritten lyrics, notes and old photos, which is a great addition to my collection.
In the evening we had a superb dinner at Brasserie France (about £190 for the two of us for two courses, but it did include a good bottle of wine and a glass of champagne each). A good bottle of wine is generally around £65 upwards so we made sure we chose one we knew and loved and made it last! (Wine by the glass is usually around £13 upwards, a small beer around £10, a soft drink or coffee £5-6 - and a G&T £12 or so, which is actually pretty good for Norway).
Saturday 20th July and my birthday! We had booked to have lunch at Lille Herbern, a restaurant on a small island not far from the city centre, but the clouds looked a bit ominous. Rather than risk having to sit inside a quite ordinary building and not on the beautiful terrace we were hoping for, we decided to cancel the reservation and instead go for lunch at the harbour area where we could at least sit outside, under a covered terrace if necessary, and watch all the comings and goings without having to pay for a taxi and ferry each way. Just as we were about to leave the hotel there was a knock on our door and I was presented with a plate of chocolate mousse cake with a lit candle and a birthday card. We had only just finished breakfast but it looked so delicious – and it was! That was a really lovely surprise.
So after two “breakfasts” we wandered up to the harbour where Regent Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship was in port – we went on this ship when we did one of our Alaska cruises a few years ago so it was a real pleasure to see it again up close. A great lunch sitting outside at Lekter’n restaurant (the forecast rain hadn’t materialised and it was actually very warm) then we wandered back to the centre and paid a visit to the Magic Ice Bar. About £22 per person entry fee which included a drink in an ice glass (wine blended with crowberry juice – very acceptable!) It is quite a small bar but the theme was works by Edvard Munch the famous Norwegian artist so it was an interesting ice art gallery as well as a bar, and it was refreshingly cold after the warm sun. We didn’t really need the fur lined jacket and gloves we were given to wear inside but we complied and dressed up like polar explorers!
More wandering around and then back to Lekter’n at the harbour where we had prime position to watch the Navigator sail off to her next port of Copenhagen at 6pm. By this time the rain had started again, so we went back to the hotel for a quick change and then had a light dinner at Olivia, an Italian restaurant. And so ended a long and tiring day, we didn’t do much apart from walk, eat and drink, but it was a most enjoyable birthday.
Sunday and our day of departure arrived all too quickly – 3 nights just isn’t enough in my opinion! We had a late breakfast followed by coffee in a café before getting a taxi back to the airport. When we arrived in Oslo we got the train from the airport (an easy 3 stop journey and the hotel is less than 5 minutes’ walk from the city station - costs about £20 per person), but we treated ourselves to a taxi on the way back (about £95).
The weather was very mixed (hovering around 23 degrees, but as I write both UK and Norway are in the grip of a heatwave which would have been unpleasant to walk around in, so I think our timing was just fine!). Food and drink expensive, but it was a fantastic trip – I can think of plenty of worse places to spend a birthday weekend! Oslo is definitely a city I want to visit again, especially as quite a few restaurants close for holidays in July and August and there were a couple we would have loved to eat at – 9.5 out of 10.
