Thursday, February 03, 2011

les bandes de mariage

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

14th Nov (Sun) - ただいま、I'm home!

I almost couldn't come back. Seriously.

My flight from Oslo to Paris on 13th Nov was originally scheduled for 3.15pm. But since I had to check out of my hostel by 10.30am and had no where else to go, I decided to head over to the airport real early. By the time I checked in at the automated kiosk and went over to the baggage check-in counter, it was around 12noon. After the staff checked my ticket, she informed me that I need to head over to another counter to pay for excess baggage and come back here again to check in. So I did just that and probably spent about 15 mins there and went back to the baggage check-in again.

But to my surprise, I was told by the staff that the gate for baggage check-in has already closed. I was dumbfounded. So I rationalized with her that my flight was at 3.15pm and there's no way it's closed this early. Then, another of her male colleague came over and explained to me that there's no flight to Paris at 3.15pm. It was then that I came to realise that my boarding pass had reflected 12-something as well. After much confusion, it turned out that the flight had been brought forward by 3 hrs! Meaning, my flight was about to leave in 15 mins and yet there I was still trying to check-in my baggage. And I wasn't informed. No email. No sms alert.

So after reasoning that I did not receive any notification about the change in schedule, the guy politely said "I'm sorry ma'am. You'd have to question whichever agent helped you booked your tickets."

That's when I showed him my e-ticket. It was issued directly from Air France.

He was surprised and said "well, that's us." He was dumbfounded himself.

And the next thing I knew was they made a few calls, got the gate re-opened again, re-issued me a ticket and I was off rushing to clear the customs. Thankfully, I made it in time - partly because the plane's arrival was delayed as well. Phew!

So, after 65 days of lone "adventure" across 28 cities, I'm finally home again. Spent another month or so (this post is backdated btw) to filter through the 5000++ images and updated my previous entries. And there you go, have a look :)



STOP 1: Madrid, Spain

STOP 2: Santiago de Compostela, Spain

STOP 3: Barcelona, Spain

STOP 4: Bordeaux, France

STOP 5 & 6: Nice & Monaco, France

STOP 7: Rome, Italy

STOP 8, 9 & 10: Pompei, Amalfi & Naples - Italy

STOP 11 & 12: Florence & Pisa, Italy

STOP 13: Venice, Italy

STOP 14: Verona, Italy

STOP 15: Vienna, Austria

STOP 16: Prague, Czech Republic

STOP 17: Munich, Germany

STOP 18: Switzerland

STOP 19: Paris, France

STOP 20: Brussels, Belgium

STOP 21: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

STOP 22: Berlin, Germany

STOP 23 & 24: Copenhagen (Denmark) & Reykjavík (Iceland)

STOP 25: Stockholm, Sweden

STOP 26: Rovaniemi, Lapland

STOP 27: Tromso, Norway

FINAL - STOP 28: Oslo, Norway

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

12th Nov (Fri) - Oslo

Since I only got a day here in Oslo, I went and got myself a 24-hr Oslo Pass from the Tourist Info counter. It's so much cheaper to get it than to spend a la carte. Of course, this is on the basis that I'm cramming all my attraction visits (most museum attractions and transport were covered under the pass and no need for additional fee) in a single day and need to keep changing transports so a la carte would have been super costly.

Places which I'd visited include:

1) Norsk Folkemuseum



2) Vikingkipshuset



3) Norsk Sjøfortmuseum
*P.S.: Nothing much to see here unless you are a maritime fan.

4) Kon-tiki museet



5) Frammuseet

6) Icebar Oslo
Apparently, the interior design of the bar changes every few months. And it's good fun only when you go with a bunch of friends 'coz it's not a free-to-walk-in-anytime kind of bar. What happens is that visitors are let in in batches every 20 mins or so. By then, the previous group had already cleared out. And the bar is actually very small. More like a room than a full-blown bar. So, although it's nice to check it out, don't get your expectations too high.

The entry fee is not covered under the Oslo Pass but you do get a discount off it. Comes with a drink.









Other than the above (which pretty much took up my day already), I went window shopping around the main station as well. Nice stuff. But too ex. So I ended up keeping my hand in my pocket most of the time to restrain myself from buying. Hahahaha.



It'll be nice to visit Oslo again and visit all the other museums (including the weird ones). But I really do need to save up to enjoy myself there. Well, for a rough gauge, I spent like SGD 80++ just for a starter soup, a fish main course and a medium glass of coke. But the food's damn nice. Still, it's expensive. In Singapore, I could get the same dishes for about the same (tasty) standard at about SGD 40 or lower. Jeez... Oh well, at least the food was good :) and I didn't have to stuff myself with another round of pizza tonight just to save $$$ since it's the last night of my entire 2-mth adventure.

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