Actually, it’s rather colder than that now.
My travels have brought me to Oslo, which is a pleasant city with more than a few sights to be seen. Unfortunately, I only had today to wander round. I arrived relatively early this morning and the combination of the hour, being a Sunday and the cold meant that hardly anyone was about, despite it being a bright, clear day. The effect was rather eerie; everything is either clean and well-maintained or clean, well-maintained and covered in snow and with so few people about, it felt as if the city was too big for its population. It wasn’t quite 28 Days Later, but it did feel as if it was circa 2045 and the population had declined somewhat. I fully expect tomorrow to be busier.
As I was saying, Oslo is a very pleasant city to walk around. I wish I’d brought a camera; as it is, you will have to make do with a mobile phone photo of the rather wonderful new opera house.
It seems that Oslo is following in the footsteps of cities like Cardiff and Bilbao in using a cultural centrepiece to regenerate waterside areas. The Operahuset is, I’m told, meant to look like part of an iceberg, something that we might suddenly find to be in short supply, although the ships in the harbour made me think more of the prow of a ship. Either way, the roof slopes down to ground level, meaning that you can walk right up to the top, affording yourself a lovely view of the top of the Oslofjord. I really like the building; its use of glass to open up the foyer, offices and, at the back, the props departments combined with the public space created around and on top of it, are, at a guess, something to do with demystifying or opening up the opera; its unusual shape certainly encourages people to wander round and see what’s going on.
Oslo lying at 59° 56? 58? N, this is the furthest north I have ever been; it edges out my previous boreal approach, St Petersburg, by a few arcseconds. It is two-thirds of the way from the Equator to the North Pole.
xD.