Oslo Offerings

To catch up over the past few days seems so crazy!

 

I moved out of the Italian Share House on Wednesday, hauling all of my things over to my friend Laura's place for temporary storage. I had rented a car for myself and two suitcases....somehow I had a tiny bit more stuff than that.  Upon looking at my things the driver said - "You're moving house, aren't you?"

 

The next few days were filled with me running frantically around London in search of a mega-large suitcase (impossible to find when you need one), nearly buying a mega-large suitcase that was missing one wheel (bad things would have happened when I tried to roll that bad boy) and settling for the purchase of more vacuum-seal bags instead. Add in some last minute catchup dates with friends and the building of a few items of IKEA furniture, and you have the makings of a very tired girl.

 

Friday was my final day at work, which turned out to be pretty sad in the end. Everyone was really kind to me on my leaving and I felt really appreciated which was nice, but bittersweet! I will definitely take away fond memories of my time in the office and will miss the satisfaction of all that reconciling and payment authorizing. The staff Christmas Party was a pretty fun time as well. It culminated with a night at the Penthouse club in Leicester Square which overlooked all of London. A stellar view with awesome people so that was definitely a good memory.

 

Not so good was the next morning.

 

All that matters in the end is that through sheer force of will I got myself to London Heathrow airport and on my flight to Oslo. It is COLD in Oslo. Proper wintery, snowy, cold. Which is great, but my pampered London self was a little shocked at first!

 

Today I visited the Nobel Peace centre and the National Gallery. It was really cool to see the displays at the Peace centre, including a whole exhibition on Ghandi, who strangely enough never recieved the prize during his lifetime even though he was such a big advocate of peace and nonviolence. I also saw that famous painting - The Scream by Edvard Munch and enjoyed some chilly time exploring Oslo.

 

I am here for a couple more days before heading off to my next stop, then back to London briefly before coming Home Sweet Home to Canada.

 

Things to note about Oslo so far:

There are so many H & M's here!!! I have gotten lost because I'm like, oh, that's by the H & M on the corner, only to discover that there are three H & M's within like two blocks of each other. Do people really shop there that often?

 

Oslo is quiet. Walking around the harbour this morning was eerie. Granted there was me and a couple of other tourists, but compared to London this city feels like a ghostland!

 

Christmas is coming! There are so many Christmas lights and decorations up here in the city! It is dark out after about 3pm here so I guess that makes sense, but still, it is exciting!

Off to bed for me to prepare for another big day in the city.