Next stop - I had about 2 hours left of daylight so I ventured out right away to the city center. I was a little bit hungry so I started to look for a place. I was kind of set on something fast or like a sandwich. I wasn't going to sit down anywhere (I never do when I'm traveling). I found a subway. Great! I love subway. The sandwich artist was very nice and spoke English. I glanced up at the menu and saw the PRICES! WHAT! 59 KR for a ham and turkey 6 inch? You've got to be kidding me right? This is about 11 USD. And this was one of the cheapest subs on the menu. Well I bit the bullet first of all since I was hungry and was looking for a more healthy meal versus just snacking. I choose to take away since of course this would of cost me more as well! In Europe, you will always pay extra to eat inside at a fast food restaurant. Also you will usually pay more for dips etc and re-fills are NEVER free.
As I ventured out of the subway, I walked back to my hostel. On the way back I did walk by a few places to see what the prices were. They were generally in the same price range as my lonely own 6 inch. Unfortunately I was very disgusted and at this point I was also starting to feel a little sick with runny nose headache. Def not starting out to be a good weekend. I ate my sub in the common room amongst the other randoms and then went back into my room. I was debating on going out to get a drink or something, but with all this frusteration and feeling sick - I decided to go to bed early and get a full nights rest and wake up early -- WRONG (Chapter 2).
Chapter 2 starts out with my 6 Spanish girl hostel roomies for the evening. They barged into the room about 30 minutes after I got back. No big deal I was just reading my Oslo book about things to do for tomorrow. They were really friendly and gave me tips on what to go and see and then we talked a little bit etc. They did break the Norwegian law and bring in their own alcohol. In Norway, it's forbidden to buy alcohol and bring it into a public place and drink it. Hostel is considered public. Anyways, I figured they would be leaving soon to go out so amongst the 6 of them and me in the 8 bed dorm room, it was cozy and LOUD. It was about 11 pm now and about 4 of the 6 were taking showers. Ok maybe they weren't going to go out. I wasn't sure. But now I was getting to the point where I was getting a little sleepy and conjested and really just wanted to go to bed. Lights were on, music was playing and they were literally having a party in my dorm room. How rude right? Clearly did they not see that I was trying to catch some zzz's?
2 hours later, the saga continues. It's now 1am, they are still drinking and I really haven't fell asleep yet. I've asked them once to quiet down. I realized now that they were getting ready to ''go out'' as they were getting dressed up. GREAT! I was super excited for them to leave. They finally leave -- 2 hours of sleep for Amanda and then 3am rolls around and they are back and LOUD as ever. The 8th person is now there -- poor Asian guy I think he was and I were drowning our sleepless night away. They blast on the light and start partying again. No joke. Really it's 3:30am now and you are talking loudly, etc. I was super annoyed and this time I yelled a little to ^%$# shut up. They listened for about 5 minutes and then I heard them same like chica, ella, americana, blah blah. they were totally talking about me in Spanish. I wasn't impressed.
I got up early and got the heck out of there with maybe 3-4 hours of good sleep when I wanted 10. At least I was feeling a little better in the morning.
Saturday morning was a fun filled day of sightseeing. Finally the trip was starting to get better. I walked and walked and walked and walked some more. No public transportation for me - I just wanted to see everything I could. I saw all the major highlights in one day, like the Royal Palace, National Theather, The fort (don't know how to spell the name), the Statue area, and the Parliment building. All were very lovely and the building designs were all so unique, nothing quite like I've seen before in my travels. I walked around for about 6 hours straight and then checked into my other place for the evening. I had to stay in 2 different places because when I booked, the first place wasn't available on Sat night. Now I'm realizing that was a blessing in disguise.
The 2nd place was about $25 more a night but was oh so worth it. It was basically centrally located - only 2-5 minute walk from just about everything. These dorms had 4 people vs 8 and there was free breakfast included which ended up to be this fabulous buffet. Never ever had a hostel breakfast like that before. The staff were much more friendly as well. So I checked in - free sheets and I got warm for a little bit and took a 45 minute break. Went back out to walk around and this time went to the opera house! I ended up climbing the icy roof which everyone was doing. I wasn't brave enough to walk out unto the frozen harbour like all the rest of the people were doing. I then went to this cute Irish place for a drink after sun down. It was cozy atmosphere and I really liked it. Ended up going back and meeting some cool people in the common room and just talked about traveling and life! Its USUALLY a great time meeting people in hostels when you're traveling. They are usually so friendly and welcoming. Actually this was my first bad experience with hosteling on Friday night, but I'm not worried as I think these 6 girls were just kind of a gang of people and didn't really care about anyone else. They were nice -- no doubt about that -- but they were all about themselves and there for a reason to celebrate.
All in all -- Norway is a beautiful country really. Its expensive - so make sure you bring your wallet loaded up. I would like to go back, but this time in the summertime and travel to the western part to see the fjords!! Anyone interested?
Here are some pictures:
Oslo's famous Church
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