This summer, we’ve been doing a lot of weekend trips instead of one big vacation. Had my Stockholm weekend not sadly fallen through, I would’ve gotten all Scandinavian capitals under my belt this summer! After a great weekend trip to Helsinki two weeks ago (read part 1, part 2, part 3), we boarded the DFDS Crown of Scandinavia last Friday afternoon to head on up to Oslo - a city I’d never been to, but heard great things about.

First things first, once we had managed to board the ship, amongst troves of mostly Asian tourists, we headed under deck to find the door with “5613” on it. You will notice I didn’t use the word “cabin”, because what we found behind that door certainly does not deserve that name! We had been a tad bit late with the booking, and there were no more cabins with windows available. So we thought, well, it’s just for one night, how bad can it be? The answer may surprise you… It could be WORSE. We found a tiny little hole in the wall with two fold-out bunkbeds and a bathroom that seemed to be carved out of a single piece of plastic… So we did what any reasonable and responsibe adult would do: start drinking!

For departure, we headed up to one of the on-deck-bars and started the afternoon with a cocktail and a beer, but when the winds on sea got too strong and chilly, we headed to one of the bars under deck and continued with some delicious champagne.

 

Once we got a good buzz going, we decided to catch some fresh air and take some pictures against the beautiful ocean scenery. Turns out, it’s not that easy when you’re buzzed and it’s windy! These two shots were pretty much the only ones where I didn’t have hair in my face or my dress was flying up, Marilyn Monroe-style.

Then it was time to head to dinner, for which we’d chosen the “Explorer” steak house. We commenced by sharing a starter of crab cakes with mango salad and a red pepper and chili sauce. Absolutely delicious! I really need to learn how to make crab cakes…

For the mains, we dug into some nice meat - I got a tenderloin (in the picture), which was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and my viking boyfriend selected a good ol’ manly sirloin. They came with crispy fries and some delicious herbed butter that complemented the meat perfectly. I also stole about two thirds of the boyfriend’s bearnaise sauce for my fries! Mmmmh…

I didn’t even need a second glance into the dessert menu before the decision was made - peanut butter cheese cake? Yes, please! As soon as the first spoonful hit my tongue, I made a mental note to find a recipe for this deliciousness. It might even earn itself a spot on my “mini-cakes for Thanksgiving”-list…

We were lucky enough to be seated at a window table, so we could enjoy the beautiful sunset while eating dinner. In between courses, I even raced up on deck to take some real pictures - together with pretty much all the other passengers… There is just something incredibly beautiful about the sun slowly melting into the ocean at the horizon, isn’t there?

After dinner, we headed back to the bar to try some of the cocktail offer, which all in all was quite good (no Hendrick’s gin though, major minus!). We ended the night in the ship’s own Irish pub-like bar, with some live music and some more drinks, before retiring to our tiny hellhole of a cabin.

Somehow, we managed to make it through to morning - despite me waking about seventeen times during the night thinking I was about to roll off my top bunk, which I luckily didn’t - and, eager to leave the cabin and actually see some daylight, went upstairs to grab some breakfast. On deck, with the fresh, cold wind and a nice hot coffee in my hand, the world looked much better already! And the view sailing into Oslo is just breathtaking, despite the gloomy weather that morning.

We made our way off the ship and walked to our hotel - just a 15min walk through the streets of Oslo, which were pretty empty that early on a Saturday. But more of that to follow later!

Hope you all had a great start to the week. Don’t forget to check back soon for parts two and three!