We left Bergen early and after a long drive in the pouring rain arrived in the tiny town that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics: Lillehammer. I mentioned in my last blog about how efficient the Scandinavians are, Lillehammer perfectly illustrated this. Lillehammer is a tiny town of only 24,000 people. They had no infrastructure in place to host anything as huge as the Olympics. So they used ingenuity. Rather than constructing permanent buildings, they erected temporary buildings that could be moved to other locations after the games. Rather than build massive carparks, they turned a massive frozen lake into a carpark.

We had been extraordinarily lucky with the weather so far on the trip and today was no exception. It rained all the way to Lillehammer, but the minute we arrived, the rain stopped, and the sun came out. It was warm and sunny as we wandered through the streets of this quaint town. After lunch, we left Lillehammer and it started pouring rain as we were leaving. Unbelievable.

We arrived in Oslo in the late afternoon and after freshening up, hooked up with another couple from our tour to go out to a nice Italian restaurant for dinner. As we were leaving our hotel, there was a motorcade of black S.U.V.s parked out front. One of the cars had a sticker on the windscreen with the French flag on it and the wording “President and Mme. Macron.” Turns out the French president was in town and staying near our hotel.

The next morning, we took off for a city tour, beginning with the mind-blowing Frognerparken, which is a public park filled with sculptures created by Gustav Vigeland. This incredible artist created hundreds of sculptures that represent humanity in all its forms. All ages, stages and emotions are conveyed in such alarming accuracy that you feel as if you’re watching your own life go by as you walk around this park.

We then drove around the harbour and passed a naval ship. There was a huge police presence here as well as many other security personnel sporting machine guns. We passed right next to the ship and looked up to see President Macron himself inspecting a helicopter on the deck. We were amazed that we were allowed to pass so close.

Next stop was a bicycle tour company. Lidia and I separated: she elected to go on a tour of the opera house while I elected to cycle around the city. The tour company was aptly named “Viking Biking” and they also had a business called “Viking Hiking”. Somebody must have been very happy with themselves when they thought of those names. I spent the next two hours cycling around Oslo, which is a very bike-friendly city. We cycled through the military barracks, past the imposing City Hall, where they decide the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize each year and then through the Royal Palace grounds.

Now I know many of my friends will be rolling their eyes when they read this, but I elected not to wear a helmet. They are optional in Oslo and I didn’t think I needed one. Given my track record with accidents while travelling, I can only imagine what some of you are thinking. However, I must say, I navigated those streets like Cadel Evans, and was only in danger of a major catastrophe twice: once when a Peppe’s Pizza delivery driver opened his door as I was riding past him and then once more when a Japanese lady on a scooter suddenly dodged in front of me without warning. She zigged when she should have zagged, but fortunately, I was able to expertly avoid these two incidents and finished the ride with my brains intact.

After meeting up with Lidia again, we went back to City Hall. This dark building towers over the city, its brutalist architecture, almost devoid of windows, intimidating to the point of oppression. Inside it is a different story. Surprisingly bathed in natural light, impressive murals cover the expansive walls in every direction.

That night we said goodbye to our tour group. We still had an additional day in Oslo, so the next day we took the tram back to Frognerparken to properly absorb the wonder of Gustav Vigeland’s work. We spent quite a lot of time here. Some of his incredible sculptures captured life so beautifully that I was brought to tears. In particular, a statue of a grandfather holding the hand of his toddler grandson touched me profoundly. These statues had a way of relating to every person in a very personal way.

We then made our way back to a Harbourside suburb called Aker Brygge, a funky place with restaurants lining the foreshore. It was a magnificent day and Aker Brygge was alive with energy. We enjoyed an al fresco lunch in the sun overlooking the harbour. The couple on the table next to us leant over and commented on our Aussie accents. Turns out they were from Coffs Harbour. We asked them where they were going next and they said they were due to fly out to Svalbard the next day to join an expedition cruise. Amazingly, it was the same cruise we were booked on. What are the chances?

After lunch we headed back to the tram stop and caught a tram to the Munsch museum. They love Edvard Munsch here. He is the artist who painted the “scream” paintings, and they have built the most massive museum in his honour. It’s a huge, modern, cuboid building. I must say I’m not a huge Munsch fan; most of his paintings look to me like something you’d see on the wall in a kindergarten, however some of his works were quite good. It’s one thing to appreciate the method and message in some artists’ works, however, call me a philistine, but I’m of the opinion that it still needs to be nice to look at. There are three “scream” pieces in this gallery and given they are painted or drawn on cardboard or paper, they can only display them alternately for half an hour each. The rest of the time they lay beneath black, sliding doors. The views from the top of the museum were spectacular, giving a great view of the impressive opera house, which looks like a huge glacier sitting on the edge of the harbour. The opera house, built in 2007, is built entirely from white, Italian marble and you can walk all over the roof of the building, which is built like ski ramps leading off in different directions. Now that I can appreciate. After leaving the Munsch Museum, we climbed to the top of the opera house.

We returned to our hotel to check out. Tomorrow, we’ll be flying to Longyearbyen in Svalbard. Our Arctic adventure will begin.