Oslo July 2025

 Oslo, Norway July 16 - 19

July 15 - 16: Arrival

We had a one hour delay from Newark to Frankfurt on flight UA42. Luckily we had a long layover. On our second flight (UA9582 Frankfurt to Oslo by Lufthansa), after all had boarded, it was determined that the cargo floor had a problem and we would be moved by bus to a different aircraft. It was an amazingly short delay moving us to a new aircraft. After the less than 2 hour flight, we were on the express train to Oslo at 5:33PM.

July 17: City Exploration

 Visited tea shops and a souvenir store and a Fjallraven store to check out the Anorak No 8 in person, a nice piece of kit but expensive. The streets in Oslo were weirdly devoid of cars, a later web search revealed by design there is no parking in the city with the exception of deliveries and handicapped. Bought sandwiches and drinks from a convenience store and ate in the hotel room while watching Sumo and the Le Tour.

Oslo Cathedral

Dinner was at Sumo in Bjørvika near the Munch museum. Dinner was Fried Rice and Chicken Katsu, drinks were an Old Fashion(whisky, maple syrup, smoked coffee beans and Fernet-Branca) and an Koko Kambi (baileys, chambord and blackberry infused milk).

July 18: Museum Day

 Morning visit to the Fram Museum via the Bygdoy Ferry. Excellent layout of the exhibit, including a freezing cold room and ice passage. The whole interior of the Fram was accessible, the provided path was well laid out and well signposted. The other side of the museum contained additional information about Roald Amundsen and his north polar exploits on and over the sea. 

Random boat seen while waiting for the ferry to the museum

 

 

 Some photos of the "Fram" used by Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912.

Nobel Peace Center 

Visited in the afternoon after lunch at Baker Hansen, a coffee shop chain, but the selection of pastries and food was pretty good. It was disheartening in the Nobel Center to see the same problems being addressed over and over. 

Dinner was fish and chips at Fiskeriet also in Bjørvika. Fish was very good, chips, not so much. 

July 19: Flight to Longyearbyrn 

 Flight SK4496 was to leave at 16:05. Our plane was late to arrive so we actually took off at 16:44. Loading of the plane was not by groups, we were first checked into a glassed off room and then the doors were opened and it was a mad scramble to the plane. The 3 hour flight was uneventful.

 

 

 

 

First view of Svalbard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The airport.

 Also seen at the airport was a Basler BT-67, a modified version of the Douglas DC-3 aircraft, my favorite aircraft. It is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute.

We picked up our luggage and were taken to the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel, Spitsbergen by bus. Dinner was at a table with 3 other couples, it was a late dinner, but ended up being quite enjoyable. The other couples were Margret and Douglas from Scotland, a Norwegian couple and a German couple. The Norwegian lady had a lot to say about about Trump. She spoke very softly and it was hard to hear her at times. The German man was a enthusiastic photographer and was from Freiburg.

The next day we had a bus tour at 2:30 PM. What would we do in the small settlement till then.