Europe India Trip: Day 22-23 - Ringebu - Oslo & wait day to collect my passport [ May 4-5, 2023 ]

Oslo was not in my path but I had to come & stay in the city for a day. Also, I could get free stay both days. Thanks to hosts I found on Bunk A Biker

This is part of my Europe India solo motorbike trip . Please read the post for more context.

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I had a pretty cosy night at Friya Leir in Ringebu (refer to my previous blog post for details). The place was army barracks & it was warm & I was one of the two guys in the entire barracks. I remember waking up to a sunny day & guess it was a sunny day after a long time in Norway for me :).

View from my room

I had cooked myself dinner the previous night & decide to cook myself breakfast as well. Oslo was just 300 kms away & I knew I have enough time. So I can leave late as well. After cooking dinner, I spent time writing the blog post & it was like 3 PM by the time I was ready to leave.

bike all packed up. The view of barracks where I stayed.

Thats Wojciech ( pronounced Voi Check), owner of Friya Leir. ‘Befals Forlegning’ means officers accommodation in Norwegian which Wojciech explained to me.

Parting gift from Wojciech. He mentioned this is popular in Norway. It is some kind of biscuit & cake combined.

My destination was set as Oslo Youth Hostel as that where my passport was shipped by Georgi.

Wojciech mentioned about a church in Ringebu & I located it on Google Map & decided to stop by at the place. I remember I missed the turn for it & then Google Map rerouted me through a gravel path. I was a bit scared initially (my first time riding in gravel path), but it did not go as bad. I also felt, it is prep time to ride through Central Asia :-D

Some place have very steep hairpin bent on the gravel path & I was concerned, I may lose balance & fall on the side.

The Ringebu Stave Church. It was all wood made unlike the churches in rest of the Europe. It also has accommodation for pilgrims at a building 50m away

I then started to ride towards Oslo & soon entered roads with 90 kmph speed limit. That was the highest speed in Norway I have seen (been riding on 80 kmph roads). I guess at some point, the speed limit got increased to 100 as well, probably 110 as well but I dont remember that well.

I stopped at a petrol station for coffee & that is when I remembered seeing quite a few pin markers around Oslo on Bunk A Biker Map . So I thought of dropping email just to take my chances. I think I dropped like 6 emails & I got response from four. Two of those were out of town & the rest two were ok hosting me. Kurt from Helsyfr was first to respond & I said ok to him. So I decided to ride to his place instead of the Oslo Youth Hostel.

Coffee shop where I stopped & messaged Bunk A Biker hosts. It was a K petrol pump.

I also remember the guy on the reception & he cracked some funny jokes. While in the UK, it was usual for people to crack jokes, I was amused to see that in Norway. Scandinavian people have reputation of keeping to their business & not interacting much with strangers. I forgot his name but he was Swedish, was in Swedish army for some time & he narrated an incidence when someone tried to steal from the shop he was manning & he figured the gun the guy has is fake & gave him back decent beating after telling him it is a fake gun. I wanted to take a pic with him but by the time I was leaving, he got busy with another customer so I just left.

I reached Kurt’s place (my Bunk A Biker host) by 9:30 PM as promised. Kurt made space for my bike in his parking lot. He has a Thai partner & she very nicely cooked fried rice with chicken. It was yum & it felt like ages after which I am eating rice. I wanted to devour it quickly but had to keep my manners intact in front of people I met for the first time. Sadly I dint click its picture either.

Thats Kurt. We took this picture next day when we went for a small bike ride & Kurt helped me buy shoe covers

Kurt & I spent quite a bit of time talking. Kurt had roamed around the world ( very sheepishly he said - except Africa ) on his motorbike. His longest stint is 200k kms ride in 5 years from Norway - Europe - Central Asia - China - Thailand - Indonesia (shipping bike to South America ) - South American countries (I forgot the names) - USA - Canada - Alaska . In this trip, he had to rebuild his engine once (or maybe twice, I dont remember exactly). He also has very fond memories of Indonesia where his friend gave him a police person contact who paid for his stay at two places, one in a very luxurious hotel.

Not sure if Kurt was really in ‘pain’ in the pic or was just a passing expression :-D

I slept off late & had decided go for Oslo’ walking tour the next morning. I went for one by Free Nordic Something folks at 11. I got a call in the morning from Georgi who said the delivery person had called him & ask him to come down & collect. I told him I did not go to the hostel & he then said he would take care. Apparently, the parcel was taken by the Youth Hostel reception (or at least that is what Georgi & I hoped for).

I was late to start the next day. Earlier, I had thought of collecting my passport first & then go for the walking tour, but I decided to reverse the order as it would be 11 soon.

Metro station next to my place of stay

Unlike Netherlands & UK, train stations in Norway (& also in Germany) dont have gate that would open when you scan the ticket. You can potentially ride ticket free although I would recommend buying one. The Ruter app is the one that you can register with your foreign phone number & buy ticket. It costs 40 NOKs for a 60 min ticket.

View outside Oslo central station. The Scandic hotel on the left. I read in some blog that they do very nice buffer breakfast but I could not try one in Norway

I went inside Oslo Central station to find a toilet. The display was one of the most modern display I have seen among all the train stations I visited. The difference was like Tesla car display vs any other car display :-D

The start point of our walking tour, tiger statue outside the Oslo Central Station

Oslo’s Opera House

These were Sauna’s next to harbour that you can use for 200 NOKs an hour. Apparently, they were a few on sailing boats as well. So you can sit in Sauna & the boat will sail off in the water.

Munch where all the Scream movies are being shot

First Oslo Townhouse built by Dutch people & hence the dominance of red color. Thats Daniel, our tour guide at the center.

Oslo’s architecture reminded me of London. It is very varied & pleasing to someone who is interested in architecture. No other city than Oslo & London have this kind. Although obviously, London’s architecture is much more ‘vastly spread’ compared to Oslo.

Some Danish king came to Oslo & declared this place to be Norway’s capital. Thats what the finger pointing sign indicate. The yellow hut on the right is where the city executioner lived.

Apparently executions happened on this circle & the executioner house has 12 rooms that were rented to Biology students, who eventually get a new ‘subject’ to study every week probably.

The fort of Oslo which was never conquered but was only once given (or rather surrendered)

So every time Swedish came conquering Oslo, Norwegians burn the city & flee so that there is nothing left for the conquerors . So maybe, that is why the fort was never conquered ( well there was nothing to conquer maybe). It was once handed over by the traitor Mayor of Oslo to Germans during World War it seems. But overall, the story is not as appealing as it is made to sound :)

The harbour view from the fort.

Forgot the name, but this is a Danish general who demolished a lot of Swedish ships when they came conquering Norway. So Norwegians decided to pay tribute to him

Apparently Norway’s Royal blood line was all dead due to Black Plague & then Danish rulers took over Norway. Norway & Denmark are considered allies & both dont like Swedish who were apparently, the most powerful of the people in the region.

Was pleasantly surprised to see Hindi written in the city center

The building where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded

View of National Theater

This was the parliament house or something like that.

The walking tour was over by 1:30 PM & I was hungry. While looking for a cheap coffee place, I found Subway & I was like - thats the best thing happened to be with respect to food in Norway so far :).

I remember paying like 65 NOKs for a sub & it was pretty cheap as per Norwegian standards. It was also the tastiest sub I had. Scandinavian countries are known to have high standards in fruits & veggies and it showed (rather showed in the taste).

I then took a train to the youth hostel as I had to collect my passport. I remember boarding the wrong one, going to a different path & then changing train back & then changing to the right train. So it took me a good one hour to reach.

I spoke to the person in reception & he remembered the parcel & was quick to hand it over to me. I was relieved to find my passport but deep down inside, I knew I will get it anyway :).

I came back to Kurt’s place & we then decide to ride our bikes to a shop where I can buy shoe cover. My shoes are not water proof, I feel freezing in them while I ride & my existing shoe cover were pretty old & badly torn. Kurt took me to a place & I was able to buy a pair for 300 NOKs (it was quoted as 350 but when I asked for a lower price, the shopkeeper agreed).

I had to stay one more night in Oslo & Kurt’s place was unavailable for the night. I had got response the previous day from Nanna & I emailed her if she can host me for one night. I did not get a response for like 2 hours & that is when I messaged her on Whatsapp. After a bit of back & forth, she agreed to host me but asked me to come by 8 PM. Kurt & I were outside soaking the sun in a cafe & then we rode our bikes back. I packed stuff & left to Nanna’s place.

Nanna’s place turned out to be very relaxing. She is an artist & practiced Buddhist meditation ( Vipassana ). Nanna & I ended up talking about her bike rides up in North Norway, her spiritual trip to India & her work trip to Tibet which inducted her to Buddhist meditation.

I remember messaging a few folks on Bunk A Biker towards Stockholm, for an accommodation & a few hosts on Airbnb around Karlstad area if they are ok with a reduced pricing. I then slept off hoping by next day, I would have decided on a place.