Boats, Bus, Plane, Train, Trollys, and Then A Train:
The Last Day 7/6/25 And Off To OLSO and Then SOME !!
This morning found us at Alkehorn. This is a beautiful bird cliff. The weather is calm and a light snow is falling. My cold has hit me hard and we are opting to stay onboard this morn. Many other passengers are also opting to stay onboard.
This afternoon will be filled with lectures and preparation for our departure. Tomorrow’s breakfast will start at 0400, a short night as the charter flight to Oslo is an early one.
Also this afternoon will be a good bit of scenic wildlife cruising in Isfjorden. My hopes are high for a bear sighting. We did see reindeer and an arctic fox in the way way distance.
There were a few science lectures in the afternoon on Gasses, Reindeer and More.
After dinner we went up to the explorers lounge for a recap from the Captain as he bid us farewell. It was also a chance to give a big thanks to the crew and Expedition Staff.
As with most expedition cruise companies they have their foundation. HX has such a foundation and and an auction is held to raise finds. A lot of HX Foundation projects are in the Philippines.
The first item up for bid was a company flag, which was flown on this voyage. It was signed by the captain and senior staff. I did place a couple bids to get things going.
The second item was an illustrated map our our cruise voyage. An Expedition Staff member who is an excellent artist enhanced this map with images of the critters we saw on the voyage. It went for less than I thought and will be on display in our Adventures Club in Wyoming. Now we will see who reads these LOL.
It was off to bed as we had a 0345 wake up for a 0400 breakfast.
Our debarkation was later at 0615 and we were in the last group.
As we departed the electronic voice said “GOODBYE”. Then we loaded our bags into a bus for a 3 min ride to the airport. Bags were checked in and boarding passes printed.
Next up was security, all electronics, phone, cameras, chargers, iPads etc etc etc had to be out and in the trays. As we have body metal it was off with your shoes and a hand wand. We made it through with 10 min before we boarded.
It was a very nice 2:45 min SAS flight with an all female crew. Nice Job Ladies!!
Since we were staying over, we let others get a jump on the deplaning process. Having been through Oslo a few times and have always experience very long lines at Passport Control, we took our time. To my amazement, there was no line at all!.
Then off to collect our bags, yes ours were about the last to arrive. No worries for us. Bags gathered and loaded on a baggage trolly cart we walked about 50 meters to the Radisson Red hotel here at the airport. Having stayed here before, rooms were never ready. Well today was different again, ROOM READY. I think I am getting enough Radisson status to get the early check in perk.
Up to the room to repack our day bags and headed back into Oslo. We stay at this hotel specifically for it’s location. Our flight is very early on Tuesday morning so this location works rather well.
It is only a 23 min train ride into Oslo Central Rail Station. At the train station there is a very helpful visitor information center. We stopped by and got some updated info for planning.
The train station is jammed packed full of dining options and the visitor info person suggested a sandwich shop. She was spot on in her recommendation. We got a spicy tuna baguette and a bacon/brie baguette and they were great. They were large enough for this evenings meal.
We were told there was a very good Viking exhibition at the Historical Museum. Taking a trolly to near this museum and a little bit of a walk we were soon there. We arrived just in time for a docent presentation on the exhibit. The Viking artifacts on display are some of the finest I have seen. Her presentation was rather informative and enjoyable.
We saw a couple of these roomba style mowe4rs , very KEWL!!
We then walked back to the trolly stop and continued on to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. The sculpture park is Gustav Vigeland's life work, comprising over 200 sculptures in granite, bronze and wrought iron. It was installed mainly in the period 1940-1949, but is nevertheless a result of over 40 years of work. It is a beautiful park and is open year round. It is said to be the most visited site in Norway.
After visiting the park, we had a coffee and snack at the Vigeland Cafe.
Travel Info: The pay toilets in Olso will cost you about $2 us to use. Seems pricey as I recall ones in London costing only 20-30 pence. I will also add they are really really nice and well worth the cost to visit.
The trolley to rail station.
Like most hotel rooms, we have coffee service and we always travel with a stash of instant coffee, we sometimes buy some pastries for the next morning to have with our coffee. We made a stop at a bakery in the train station and got some pastries for the morning.
I needed to do something very Norwegian, so I stopped at the 7-11 and got some pizza and a Solo soda for the way home. It must be that after all the fine cruise dining I need some junk food group style food. On a side note there are 7-11 stores all over Oslo and their takeaway foods are not too bad.
Back in the room I am writing this and may have a day bag ready to go for tomorrow.
Thanks for following along, and when we return I will be doing a separate blog entry as to why we like Hurtigruten and HX.
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