A tale of two (Norwegian) cities

Tondheim was Norway's first capital but the capital was moved to Oslo or Christiana as it was then called in 1308. Norway's history is a bit confusing as for some 200 years it was part of Denmark and then it became part of Sweden and then after a long war it achieved independence in 1720. So yesterday we caught the train east across the mountains to Oslo. It was a very scenic 7 hour train trip, passing many snow-covered lakes, frozen waterfalls and big mountains. Oslo was covered in fog and it was a bit cold and gloomy wandering the streets. We had just enough time to visit the National Gallery where the famous "Scream" painting by Norwegian Edward Munch is located. Whether it was just the effect of the grey light but most of the pictures in the gallery seemed a bit depressing, many picturing young children either dying of consumption or being buried. Even the room of French Impressionists seemed without colour. Very odd.

We walked past the impressive Castle or Slott as it is called here and past the place where the Nobel Peace prize is awarded (the other prizes are awarded in Sweden). After many years of playing the board game Diplomacy it was fun to see Skagerrak, the sea between Norway, Sweden and Denmark, as we were always moving our navies around this spot. But it was too cold to linger outside as you can see from the photos, so we hurried to a cheerful Mexican restaurant to consume spicy food and sadly expensive red wine. But it was medicinal you understand.

Today I fly back home and Hugh continues on to England for another week. While not looking forward to the plane trip I will be glad to be going somewhere warmer. I don't think I am cut out for this cold weather and to make matters worse I have not seen an Aurora borealis as it has been too cloudy and/or we have not been far enough north or far enough away from light pollution. It is all Joanna Lummley's fault as she made it look easy on her documentary. I think you really have to wander around in the arctic circle for weeks in order to see one which is rather a trial by snow and frostbite when you think about it. Next travel blog will be from Indonesia in July where I daresay I will not be seeing snow!