Day 2 Oslo and onto the Ship

Lois by fountain in front of Nobel Peace Center

Oslo City Hall

Oslo tram

We set an alarm this morning so we could get to breakfast and have time to get our suitcases packed and out the door by 9AM.   The breakfast buffet was included.  It was crowded and the food not so great, but we did finally find seats next to a nice couple from Wyoming, Bob & Rita.

After breakfast we took a walk around the center of the city.  We got to see some of their classic architecture, including the National Library, the Nobel Peace Museum, and the fairly new city hall.  Much of the area around city hall is under construction, upgrading the roads, so the bus had to detour around yesterday, but the area was easier to walk around this morning.

Tracks are visible on most main streets for the streetcars and they still run regularly here.  We would have like to explore the city more, but we only had a few free hours in the morning.

We were scheduled on the noon bus to go to the ship.  It was a quick ride.  Regent checks passengers in on board in the theater, so we had to wait in line for a little while there.  Since this is a relatively small ship (abt. 700 passengers), the lines are not overly long.

Once checked in we went upstairs for lunch and found the coupe we met at breakfast at a table for four, so we joined them for lunch.  When we were finished eating and just chatting, their daughter and son-in-law arrived, so we relinquished our seats to them and went to find our room.

We have a lovely suite for this trip.   We accepted an upgrade offer a few weeks ago, and are very pleased with the room we wound up with.  Plus, our frequent cruiser status entitles us to free internet. This on top of all the other nice amenities included in a Regent cruise make us very comfortable!

The ship pulled away for the dock at 4pm as scheduled, but confused us a bit by backing up quite a ways before it began to exit the harbor.  We finally figured out that our ship was getting out of the way so 2 ferries could get out.  I think they were on a tighter schedule than we are.

We sat on the veranda until it was time to go to dinner, watching the scenery and the small pleasure boats coming up to give us a send off.  Ray even spotted some people watching us from near cannons on the hill.  At least they weren't shooting at us!

We had a nice dinner in the main restaurant and are now back settled in our room for the night.  We're both surprised at how many of the staff recognize us from our Asia cruise in 2013.  We've been welcomed back by the security guard and 3 of the wait staff already!


 Although it is after 10pm, it is still very light outside.  We are so far north, we will eventually get to the point where the sun will never set this time of year.  It is very disconcerting, especially since our internal clocks are already messed up with the time zone change.