July 23, Oslo, N59°54' W10°45'
I would normally say "up at oh-dark-thirty" for our 5AM transfer to the airport for the flight to Oslo, but it was already light by then, sunrise being at 4AM in Reykjavik (sunset was at 11PM.) We said our farewells to Thor and flew Icelandair to Oslo. When we landed, we met Magne, our Trip Experience Leader for the remainder of the tour. The 150 guests on this tour were divided into six teams of about 25, each assigned a color. All of us who had been on the Iceland pre-tour were kept together as the Red team, joined by three other travelers who were starting in Oslo. (Other colors were green, blue, purple, orange, and... pink? Barby, the TEL of the Pink team, evidently chose that color that I suspect would otherwise have been Yellow.)
Leslie and I were last in Oslo in 2010, at the start of our Baltic Sea trip with Cruise West. You can read my travelogue about that here. Since then, the waterfront area has been filled in and built up a lot. The hotel we were staying in, Thon Opera Hotel, was in a completely new area called the Barcode Project after the profile of the buildings were said to resemble a barcode. It was also within a short walk to the famous Oslo Opera House.
After we settled in, Magne led us on a short "vicinity walk" up Karl Johan's Gate (street) which is the main shopping district and a pedestrian zone. The rest of the day we were on our own. We stopped at a food truck and bought two gyro plates with fries - $20 each!
July 24, Oslo, N59°54' W10°45'
The Oslo Opera House is a stunning building with a sloped roof that you can walk up. We had seen it in 2010 and had eaten lunch there, and were initially inclined to skip a visit to it, but we then learned that we'd get a backstage tour and would see things ordinary visitors wouldn't, so off we went!
We got to see the dressing rooms and the workshops where costumes were created. It was fascinating, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the various rooms. I could however photograph exhibits in the hallways.
Of course, I had to get another shot of the sculpture in the water outside the opera house.
