Day 5: Oslo

After a day of travelling yesterday, we decided to spend our final day back in Oslo. After a leisurely start to the morning, we set off on a walk towards the Bygdøy peninsula, on the western outskirts of Oslo. The guidebook suggested that it was a pretty forested area, with popular beaches in the summer and a large number of museums. We weren't sure how long it would take us to get there - and we weren't sure how to pronounce the name of the place either(!) - but it sounded like a nice way to spend a morning.

Here's an idea of where we were planning to head:

Our route led us through the city centre, where we had time to enjoy the unusual Christmas decorations again.

From there we walked down to the harbour and began to make our way along the seafront in the direction of the peninsula. We were slightly concerned at one point when we caught sight of what appeared to be a cruise ship, but it turned just to be an extremely large ferry which had come from Kiel in Germany.

After just over an hour, we rounded the corner and entered Bygdøy.  We followed the main road through an increasingly rural landscape, surrounded by fields on one side and dense forest on the other. Every now and again we came across signposts which pointed the way to the various museums. Unfortunately with it being New Year's Eve, they were all closed. It looked like the Norwegian folk museum might have some interesting buildings though.

After another hour of walking, we came to the end of the peninsula and were rewarded with some beautiful views out to sea...

...and back towards Oslo.

We had walked about 8 miles by this point, so decided to catch a bus back to Oslo rather than walk. It was about 1pm, so we thought we would head to the Vinmonopolet in the central station and buy a bottle of wine to celebrate the new year, just in case the shops were due to close early. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the station and found Vinmonopolet in darkness! Several other people were standing around in confusion. One man explained in English that Vinmonopolet was closed today... not just this branch of Vinmonopolet, but every Vinmonopolet across the country. In other words, it is impossible to buy a bottle of wine in Norway on New Year's Eve :'( This was an eventuality which we had not foreseen, although possibly it is what the guidebook meant when it said that Oslo was once voted the most boring capital in Europe!