Day 13: Oslo - An Iceberg, yet another Scream, and a long long night

As I will have a long overnight train ride at 11.23pm today, I lazed around in the hotel room until it was time to check out at 12pm. I had a good 12 hours ahead of me. Phew!

The check-out process was a breeze. All I needed to do was to press the check-out button, keyed in my room number, then dropped the key card into the box. The luggage room was spacious and there was probably more than enough spaces for all the hotel guests.

I hanged around the Oslo Cathedral before slowly making my way to the Opera House.

The Opera House has a most interesting design - from afar, it looks like an iceberg. Glittering white in the sun, and it seems submerged in the waters by the harbour. You could walk all over the Opera House's roof, which was pretty cool. Kudos to the architect for bringing people literally closer to design and architecture.

I was debating whether to pay the Munch Musset a visit. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest fan although I enjoyed his works. I decided to head to the Botanic Gardens next to the museum instead.

The gardens itself was not too big, but I was pleasantly surprised by a Manor in the middle of it all. It looked so pretty and out of the world. There were several greenhouses near the Manor and I popped into one out of curiosity. And curiously enough, I saw a papaya tree :)

As it was only mid-afternoon and rain was beckoning, so I popped in to the Munch Museum afterall. To my surprise, the "Scream" was also on display and I just saw it at the National Gallery yesterday! Wait a minute - surely one of it must be a 'fake' or replica then?! The answer: both are authentic. Munch had four versions of the work in various media: two painted versions, and two pastel versions. One painted version was at the National Gallery while the other painted version is at the Munch Museum. Personally, I thought the version at the Munch Museum had more 'light'. The colours seem brighter. But then again, colour pigments fade with time. A very wild guess might be that the Munch Museum version has been better 'protected'.

There were also some 150 million years old fossils on display, which was fascinating! The museum is not very big, but all of it is dedicated to Munch's works.

Heading back in the direction of the Botanic Gardens, I moved in the direction towards St. Hanshaugen park and came across Telthusbakken by chance. This is the other street with pretty wooden houses.

Lonely Planet mentioned that St Hanshaugen park was where the locals go and besides, you could get a good view of the city. I guess this is Olso's answer to London's Hamstead Heath although I have yet been to Hamstead Heath.

The park was pleasant enough but the view was disappointing. I had expected better views with strategic vantage points. In any case, it was still nice strolling around the park.

I made it back to the hotel at around 7pm. Collected my luggage and lounged at the lobby till 10.30pm before moving off to the train station for the 11.23pm train to Bergen. Alas, I could not get a sleeper as all sleepers were sold out. Hopefully, the seat would be comfortable enough for the 7 hours ordeal ...