Scandinavia - Day 4: An afternoon in Oslo

 Oslo

Arrival - about 11:00 a.m. 

It took a while to get off the ferry, as we had to go through customs, and there was only one customs agent. It was quite the bottleneck.

Having learned from our experience in Copenhagen, we took a taxi from the ferry terminal to our hotel, the Thon Hotel Astoria. We were too early to check in, but again, there was a lovely courtyard where we could unpack the bikes and then we deposited our luggage in the storeroom.

It was surprisingly hot. We started our explorations by riding up the hill from our hotel alongside a big park towards the Royal Palace.

We were told we could get in for a tour, but after waiting in line for about half an hour, we didn't make the cut-off for admission, so that was disappointing. We walked around, admiring the palace's exterior and gardens, for a while and then got back on our bikes. Here I am with one of the palace guards. He was not allowed to talk, but it was OK to take a photo.

We were also disappointed to find that the Viking Ship Museum, recommended by Rick Steves, and the Nobel Peace Centre, were both closed. However, we were happy to see that there were places to swim on the waterfront. By this time, we were hot and ready to cool off, so we went back to the hotel to get in and get our swimming gear. 

It took us awhile to find the right spot, as the first "beach" we went to didn't seem to exist, and the second one consisted of some slippery steps into the water. But we finally found the Sørenga Sjøbad, which consists of partitioned-off swimming areas, with another open section accessed by ladders. We chose the open section, which was quite amazing. It would have been nice to have a sandy beach, but this was the next best thing, and was a wonderful way to cool off after a hot afternoon of riding. (sjøbad = seawater pool; "bad" = bath)

I thought it might not be bad to live in an apartment right here on the waterfront.

 On the way back to our hotel, we visited the Oslo Cathedral, which was less than a block away. For some reason, I didn't take many photos, but this is one of the outside. It is from the 1600s, but somehow it doesn't look as old as you might expect.

Our flight to Tromsø was early the next morning, so we had an early night.

Madrid -- the palace and a ride in the park

We started the day by pulling our suitcases about a kilometer through several plazas to our next hotel. We had tried to get this same hotel for three nights, but it was full, which is why we had to switch hotels. It was early in the morning and not busy yet, so it was an easy walk. Since our room wasn't ready yet, we stashed our luggage in the hotel's luggage room and then hit the streets. Madrid has a bike rental system called BiciMad, similar to the London cycle hire system, except that the bikes are e-bikes. 

Well, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try those, and there was a bike stand close to the hotel, so we went straight there. It took a bit of time to figure out how to sign up as tourists, but once we did, we took the bikes and rode to the Royal Palace of Madrid.

Photos are not permitted, so I was a good girl and didn't take any, but I thoroughly enjoyed touring the palace. The royal family does not actually live here anymore, so it is strictly a tourist site. A couple of interesting things -- teachers get free admission to the palace, so if I had brought my ATESL membership card, I would have saved 11 euros. Next time. The other interesting tidbit is that the king of Spain is 6'5" tall. There's a family portrait in the first room you enter, and he towers above mom, dad and his siblings. It is really quite weird. 

These photos are not my own, so I've linked to their websites.

Royal Palace of Madrid

Throne room

The room below, the Porcelain Room, was one of the most interesting. The entire room, walls and ceiling, is covered in porcelain.

And I really wish I would have broken the rules and taken a photo of the Sphinx table. Not the legs, which are sphinxes, but the table top, which is inlaid with various stones and is simply breathtakingly beautiful. If you enlarge this photo (which shows the king signing away his right to the throne so that his giant son can take over) you can see some of the detail, but I couldn't find a photo just of the table top.

After wandering around the palace, we were ready for another bike ride, so we found another bike stand and rode to El Retiro park. This is a large park on the east side of the city centre. It dates back to the 1600s. There's a large pond where you can rent boats (we were enjoying the bike ride, so we didn't go on the water!)

and we rode past a big grove of almond trees, which were in bloom. 

I didn't stop to take a photo, so had to borrow this one:

The grass was green and the sun was shining, and we could totally forget that back in Edmonton there is snow on the ground and the temperature was minus 10 instead of plus 15! The path we took through the park was a fairly steep uphill, so we had a chance to test out the battery assist on the e-bikes. Pretty cool!

February 29 - Vatican City and St.Peter's

We booked our tickets for the Vatican online in advance -- right down to the admission time: 10:00 AM. When we arrived at the gates, we saw why this was recommended. The line to buy tickets was more than a block long. We walked right past those poor suckers, who were standing out in the drizzling rain and looking wholly miserable.

Once inside, it was pretty overwhelming. Hall after hall of paintings, maps, sculptures, even an entire hall lined with cupboards (I am not sure what those were about...) Some areas were closed, but we saw a lot anyway.

If I ever have a chance to go back, I will do some advance planning, so that I know more precisely what I want to keep an eye out for. As it was, I felt like I was just following people through gallery after gallery of fantastic artwork and furniture, without really appreciating what I was seeing.

Sistine Chapel 

St. Peter's Square and Basilica

Here again, there was a long line of people waiting to go through security. We managed to find a shorter line, so we didn't have to wait very long. 

Before we left for Rome, we re-watched a couple of movies.  

Of course, Roman Holiday was one, a light-hearted delight, and we made a point of visiting most of the places featured in there. 

But we also watched a couple of movies with more gravitas: Angels and Demons, which in my opinion is somewhat outlandish, but does have good footage of the city; and The Scarlet and the Black, a masterpiece about Rome during the Nazi occupation. 

St. Peter's Square features prominently in both of the last two movies, so it was quite a thrill to stand in the very place Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer (and of course, Tom Hanks) stood.

I loved this marble dove floor mosaic.

I read that much of St. Peter's was paid for through the selling of indulgences, which is a rather sobering thought. Something so wicked, and yet such a glorious result... it makes you wonder: was it worth it? I don't know the answer.

Rome in February - Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon

February 27th - Saturday 

The Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Pantheon

Our hotel was about 2 km from the Colosseum, so of course we walked there. Some of the sights along the way:

an ancient gate

walking through the Roman wall

more of the Roman wall

an old church

and then... our destination!

We came in near the Arch of Constantine -- well protected by soldiers. There were soldiers and police everywhere around here.

 The Colosseum is huge and amazing. 

Full view of the Arch of Constantine

Notice the guy in the kilt? We were haunted by kilts during our first few days in the eternal city. First, there were about 10 of these guys on the plane from Amsterdam to Rome. Loud and obnoxious, they could not be ignored. We thought we were rid of them once we disembarked, but no, it seemed like everywhere we went that weekend, there they were -- sometimes one, sometimes five or six together. One couple even turned up in the breakfast room at our hotel.

Included in the Colosseum ticket is admission to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. As you can see from the map, this is a huge archaeological site.

Unfortunately, it was raining quite hard while we explored this area, but it was completely fascinating. 

I always feel so small and insignificant standing beside these ancient structures.

 We saw palaces, baths, temples, basilicas...

Of course we couldn't resist this photo! 

(Anyone who knows me knows this is NOT the real me!)

We spent most of the morning on this site, and then headed towards the Pantheon. Along the way we ran into another archaeological site, sandwiched in between some normal everyday buildings. This is called Largo di Torre Argentina, and it was only discovered in 1927. It is fenced off, but that obviously doesn't deter the cats, many of whom were enjoying themselves lounging or hunting among the ruins.

A fountain we passed en route -- this one has four turtles on the top. The water was kind of feeble, but the sculpture is pretty cool.

Also along the way, we stumbled across something I had read about: 

Bernini's Elephant Obelisk, in Piazza della Minerva. 

The elephant caught my eye, and I saw this kid being photographed by his mom...

so I wanted my picture taken here, too.

While Dave was taking my picture, other people noticed and next thing we knew, the statue was swamped with people!! The building behind the elephant is the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva -- an old church built on the ruins of an ancient temple.

The Pantheon is just a 2-minute walk from here. 

It was a  busy place -- and every bit as spectacular as you would expect:

After this we were ready for lunch, so we stopped in at a pizza-by-the-slice place, where they sell the pizza by weight -- you ask for a slice "so big" and the guy cuts it with scissors, weighs it, then sticks it in the oven to finish cooking. It was delicious, but we got too much -- it was hard to judge the size of the slices. I wanted to have gelato afterwards, but I was too full!