After our busy full day in Oslo our plan this day was to mix sightseeing with more exploration of Oslo’s street art.
Day 3 Tuesday 21st June 2022 Oslo
Breakfast was again very busy but just like the day before, the choice of food was amazing. Outside the hotel this girl whizzed past on her scooter.
The road outside the hotel was now full of road works along the tram tracks.
The tram stop outside the hotel was for the number 12 tram that came back from the Vigeland Statue Park. The stop to go to the park was by the Ruter Tower in front of Oslo Central Station.
From the Internet we had learned that we could buy tickets at any Narvesen shop. To keep it simple there was one just by the tram stops opposite the railway station.
In the Narvesen we discovered that an all day transport pass for both of us would cost less than two “pints“ of beer. We crossed to the tram stops and waited. After a while a friendly person came and told us that all the trams were not using these stops because of all the roadworks at the crossroads behind us.
At their suggestion we follow the tracks away from Oslo Central station until we found the junction where the number 12 trams were being diverted. When it came the tram was much shorter than the others that we had noticed around Oslo.
After circling around the centre the tram came to the Aker Brygge and then moved away towards the suburbs. We recognised some of the streets where we had walked on our earlier visit to the sculpture park.
Vigeland Statue Park.
The lay-by outside the park was full of coaches and once inside we could see lots of school kids in groups playing on the equipment or on the grass past all the statues.
We walked over the bridge until we came to the fountain.
I had a project to create a triptych and I concentrated on the small carvings around the plinth.
This was put together on my phone using apps there in the evening.
Café in the park
We skipped climbing up to the monolith and instead decided that it was time for a coffee and a sit down. Rather than go to the large cafe by the entrance we were drawn to the bungalow like building away to our right. To our surprise we then began to get spots of rain.
We took our coffee and cake outside as we watch the fledglings and sparrow searching around looking for crumbs around us.
While we sat we searched online for more street art and compared their locations with our tramline map. If we stayed on the number 12 past the centre it would take us to another area of Oslo with art from artists that I recognised. The only complication was that the tramline map didn’t list all the stops.
A different suburb of Norway – Grunerlokka
The tram was not too busy and we wound our way back to the centre, passed Aker Brygge and carried on to parts of Oslo we had not visited before.
As the tram made its way we passed large murals painted on the side of houses. After passing a park we realised that we had now gone way past our planned stop. We left the tram and crossed over and caught the next tram back towards the city.
I wanted to see the Alice Pasquini mural and we used Google Maps and to get to the mural.
One of the pieces had been painted over with this
A gentle walk took us down to the next stop for the tram and then back into the city centre.
Cafe Cathedral
We left at a stop near the cathedral on Kirkegata and headed back down Karl Johans to the Cafe Cathedral.
We sat at a table by by Karl Johans Gate and ordered drinks. We chose the table because it was under an umbrella and in the shade. But we had missed that we were sitting now in the middle of a smoking area.
Thankfully our server moved us up to the tables on the mezzanine and we could enjoy our time without being enveloped in smoke.
We ordered a split menu of caprese salad and a pepperoni pizza with extra plates. The pizza was excellent and unlike the one at Olivia I could actually cut the crust without almost breaking the knife.
The lifts in the hotel had everchanging patterns – this a waterfall.
Cafe Cathedral in Oslo on TripAdvisor
Central lunch venue
Sitting outside can be a problem due to small non-smoking area, our waiter moved us up to the terrace away from all the smokers We shared a pepperoni pizza and a cabrese salad – no issues in gaining an extra two plates.
Our service was fast and efficient..
Flight change
Back at our room we switched on our email and we had an update from Hurtigruten. Our flight to Svalbard had changed times from 7 pm to earlier at 2:30 pm.
The Norda Bar
Before we went for our evening walk we went up to floor 13 to see the Norda bar and to check out the view.
Below us a Hurtigruten ship, MS Maud, was just leaving on her way back to Bergen. This summer route is one of the newer services from Hurtigruten. MS Maud is the renamed MS Midnatsol.
The views from the roof was spectacular and we stayed and had a drink.
Walking along Karl Johans Gata
The streets were just as busy as at lunchtime. We did pause and watch this guy do Michael Jackson impersonations dances.
The pedestrianised street did have lots of scooters whizzing by and the occasional car too!
Narvesen by the National Theatre Station
Our walk in the evening took us all the way up Karl Johan to the National Theatre. At the railway station there we went into the Narvesen and bought snacks. I had a TexMex sausage and Linda had a carrot cake muffin and a latte. All the time we were hassled by pigeons and even a seagull as we sat and ate.
More scooters
On our walk back we went around the parliament on the other side. There I played with my camera settings to take images of the fountains there.
