Our overnight ferry service from Copenhagen to Oslo will be the first of many boats we use on this journey. The ship has room for nearly 2 000 passengers and 450 vehicles. I was a little worried that we wouldn’t be able to find it from the station near it in Copenhagen. But it was very obvious.

Here is a reference to the Oslo airport.

Great. The combination of extreme amounts of sun and jet lag can be deadly. My feeble brain can only be boosted by a certain amount of caffeine.

The following is a list of things I should have expected on the ferry from Oslo.

• On two separate occasions, I stubbed my big toes while going up the stairs to the bathroom (I’m dead from these mortal injuries).
• The shower in the cabin is perfect, considering its size
• The cabin has only one outlet
• I forgot that people smoke cigarettes in public places.
• The shop was a large duty-free store that sold a lot of Toblerone. (How often do people purchase Toblerone in duty-free shops? You’ll find out at the end.
• The boat is a time capsule of the 90s. It’s in pretty good condition.

The room was small (as to be expected since it is a boat), and the hallways had a dark pink color that can only describe as pepto bismol. This shade was popular in the 90s. The navigation to our room felt a little claustrophobic as everyone settled in because the ceilings were lower and there was no interior light.

Some great horror movie fodder

I thought about having all four of us share a room because Scandinavia is expensive. It’s a good thing I wasn’t cheap because that would have been a disaster with all our luggage.

Pictured: All our shit with almost no room to walk.

It was a great room for two adults!

Our tiny cabin

Our 90s bathroom is a delight!

Here is the one plug

During the trip, you had access to several outdoor areas (except the pool, which was closed). The stinky smokers would go here when they left their designated smoking areas to create general smells. There were not many smokers, but there was enough to make it annoying. The top deck provided a great place to enjoy the view.

As we left the land and saw the windmill farm, you could see the beauty in the sea. Gorgeous.

Windmills near Copenhagen

The dinner on our boat was a buffet. Europeans tend to eat later, so the 6:00-hour slot wasn’t crowded. We were fortunate to be seated near the windows on the prow. The food was good. There were a lot of vegetarian dishes, which weren’t just pity salads. (And apparently, some really great pork jowls.) We made the right choice.

The view of the restaurant from the front

They listed these as lemonade, but I don’t think they know what it is. (It was still good)

The worst night for jet lag was the second night in bed. By staying up late (late was 11:30) to read a novel, I thought I could force myself to make it through at least the night. I was wrong. I forgot to close the curtains. As I woke at 4, I left the curtains open because I was excited to see Norway. Online, you’ll read that you should “get up early” to cruise into the fjord.

The internet also said that the cruise left around 2pm. So we started to see fjordiness at around 7:30 am. It’s not 6 am, and it is not 4 pm. The fjords rolled by as we pumped ourselves up with caffeine in the onboard café.

Nature

Fjord!

The disembarkation at Oslo took much longer than our embarkation. It took an eternity for us to get through passport control. Don’t use the escalator. Take the stairs. It’s faster. We were all able to get off the boat before us.

We could purchase our Oslo Pass through the official app while I waited in line. It’s a 3-day sightseeing pass which includes admission to many attractions in the city and public transport. It’s super convenient.

Rhett was the only one who could purchase an Oslo Pass through the app. This is because all of our credit cards were against us. Rhett’s card worked fine, but mine failed mysteriously (It had also done this when I booked lodging, so whatever card). My other card asked me to text my US number to activate it (argh!) )….so we had to get Ye Olde Fashioned Paper Pass at the customer service area of Oslo Central Station.

They accommodated and directed us to luggage storage lockers at Oslo Station since we still had time to kill before check-in.

The national museum is our waiting activity. The museum has a good selection of Norwegian paintings, historical artifacts, and one of Munch’s Scream paintings. The plethoras of religious images in European museums are usually meh (because you can only make so much Bible fanart). Norway divorced from Catholicism, and many painters have spent time in the beautiful Norwegian landscape. This museum has a wonderful collection of Not Religious Art. I love the angry Baby Jesus paintings and Over It Marys.

The woodworker made this: “I know how a cat looks.”

Drinking Horn

This is a fun fact: it’s done on cardboard

Baby Jesus pictures are far superior.

A super cool tablecloth dating back to the 1600s

Balls

Because I had to, I also dragged all of you to an exhibition about dresses.

The hat is a reasonable one.

Inspired by the anime villains

Peacocks are giving birth

We stopped outside the museum for a quick Bolle before heading to City Hall.

City Hall is closed today and will be for the remainder of the month due to an event. We did get to see the tulip gardens outside.