However soon afterward, the fog closed in to the point there was only about 50m visibility, and we couldn't see anything. Even when we arrived at the port, we couldn't see the wharf until we were right alongside.
The forecast was for for fog to lift, turning into a sunny day, so we decided to have breakfast, and not rush out, and wait for the fog to lift. Within an hour, it started to clear, and we were ready to go.
We had no set agenda, but quickly ascertained there were three things we wanted to see, all apart in a triangle. Firstly, the Royal Palace, which was around a 45 minute walk away across the city. Secondly, the Opera House, again about a 45 minute walk, and then an old fortress which is situation right beside the ship.
Our walk to the Royal Palace was interesting. We walked through the inner harbour, full of sailing ships as well as a few police boats. Next to there is the Nobel Peace Centre, and a large museum.
Oslo is a beautiful city. It's very green, there are many large open spaces, and statues everywhere of famous people, and various other forms. The city is in full blossom with tulips and trees. Just lovely.
I expected the Royal Palace to be like Buckingham Palace, or the White House, where we would stand behind a fence and see it from afar. Surprisingly it is open to the public. Although guarded by both police and military (complete with guns and bayonets), we were able to walk through the grounds and practically right up to the front door. At one point, I put my backpack down to take a photo, and leaned it against a post only metres away from the palace, quickly we had armed guards hurrying towards us. Clearly that was a no-no! Interestingly, some of the guards are female.
There are large gardens surrounding the palace, people are welcome to wander through. We spent a bit of time here taking it in.
After that, we walked down through the city, stopping along the way to find WiFi and phone home, and generally avoiding getting too lost. We made our way towards the Opera House, which is across town from the Palace down on the waterfront. This is a spectacular building, very modern, very bold, lots of big angles sweeping from the water up to the sky. People are welcome to walk all over it, we walked right up to the top, it's quite steep and is all marble, would be very slippery when wet. After heading down, we went inside, mainly for a toilet stop, however the same lines continue indoors and even some of the floor is slightly off level, must be interesting for wheelchairs!
It is also worth noting there are cranes everywhere! Oslo seems very prosperous and there are many modern buildings being constructed especially near the waterfront area. All look to be architecturally amazing.
Next we wandered in the direction of the ship. Right alongside the ship, is Akershus Castle and Fortress. This is a medieval castle dating from 1299. The intention was to walk back onto the ship to have lunch, then wander out again to see the fortress. Actually the direction we took ended up walking towards some gates, again military guards there. It turns out this is a working military base, and although they stop cars, pedestrians are allowed to pass through. They must have just had a formal occasion, there were people in full uniform everywhere, including a brass band, and some on horseback, returning to the barracks.
We walked through the base and came to the back of the fortress. We had a quick look before returning to the ship for lunch.
The ship allowed for a fantastic view of the castle up close.
After lunch, I wandered across to take a further look around the castle, while Helen stayed on the ship. We could see each other, she was firstly at the stern of the ship on the top deck, then returned to our cabin near the bow. Can you see Helen in each of these photos?
I had a good look around the castle, then returned to the ship where we relaxed and had a small nap ready for a big night ahead.
One other thing has impressed us in Norway, and that is the amount of electric cars on the road. Here is an entire row of electric charging station / car parks, and note the four Tesla cars in a row!
Once we sailed, the ship spun around pretty much on the spot, and we got a great view of the city. Then we spent the next 2 hours cruising out through Oslofjord in glorious afternoon sunshine. Our ship must have been a spectacular sight, many boats followed us alongside, and some small boats and Seadoos played in our wash.
The fjord is lined with expensive homes along beautiful shores.
As the fjord opened out more, there was a very impressive (and probably very expensive) speedboat zooming around, and around, the ship. At least six times he did a full circuit of the ship, then played our our wash for a while doing jumps.
After an hour or so, we headed indoors for a nice dinner in the dining room. We then took in two shows, the first a singing/dancing spectacular, the second was the BB King Blues lounge, who play rhythm and blues and are our favourite nightly show.
By the time we got back to our cabin, it was after 10pm, and the sun was near setting. We got to see a lovely sunset as we waved goodbye to Norway for the last time. We have really enjoyed our time here.
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