Day 2 - Brygdoy, Holmenkollen & Train

Unsurprisingly, Norway is one of those countries where you can set your watch by the trains. This doesn't help you CATCH the trains if you don't bther to check your watch in the first place. More on this later...

Killing a day in Oslo was not as dificult as I had feared. After a hearty breakfast of caramel-cheese*, I biked over to the Bygdo/y peninsula to check out a few museums. The Viking Ship Museum is supposedly the best place to learn all about viking culture while seeing three excavated ships which were used for royal burials. The ships were really cool, but the descriptions of viking culture were notably lacking. We learned all about farmers and high-class types, but it was never really explained who did all of the oft-mentioned raping-and-pillaging. (The museum copy writers refer to it politely as "raids".) Also, the Viking Era apparently ended sometime around 1100ad, but nobody said why it ended. (I later learned that it had something to do with an ill-considered invasion of England by King Harald III.) The folk museum was sort of cool, containing historical structures transported from all over Norway. The idea, I suppose, was to showcase regional diversity. They all looked the same to me. History lesson complete, I decided to ride to the ski jump at Holmenkollen for some nice views. In so doing, I learned that "nice views" goes hand-in-hand with "lots and lots of climbing". The vista was indeed incredible, showing that oslo really is located at the end of a fjord. It would have even been worth the climb if it hadn't started raining on the way up. Ugh.

During the Climb I was shocked at the number of classic VW beetles I saw. Surely Norway is a bad place for a poorly-insulated rear wheel drive antique? All became clear as I encountered the "oslo volkswagenfanclub" meeting next to the ski jump. I shudder to imagine the punch-buggy massacre that would have happened with Kathy around.

Next stop: Akershus Festning. Oslo's de regieur Old Stone Fortress. It's pretty cool. So cool, in fact, that Iost track of time and had to make a fast break for the train station. Arriving just in time, I stowed the bike and found a seat behind a group of American backpackers whose combined knowledge is unable to figure out the relative positions of pennsylvania and new york. Where's Julie Delphy when you need her?

* caramel-cheese: I was warned about "ski queen" cheese. I was warned that it looks and tastes like the worst possible combination of gouda and caramel. I had to try it, though. I will state for the record that the warnings are entirely correct. Stay away.

Certain sign that the freedom-loving peoples of Norway are ruled by a despot whose tyranny is in desperate need of some regime-changin': speed bumps at the bottoms of hills. Bad, bad, bad, bad.