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The highlight of this day was our visit to the Oslo City Hall. Our flight didn't leave until 2:45 P.M., so we had the morning free for some extra sight seeing in Oslo. We walked back across the city, retracing our steps along the Karl Johans Gate. Our Oslo passes had expired after 24 hours, but we figured that City Hall would have free admission. The Oslo City Hall is famous for hosting the Nobel Prize ceremonies. Once we got inside, we saw the gigantic hall - it was empty now, of course, but we could admire the painted murals and architecture. A set of stairs leads upstairs to more room ceremonial rooms. There were banquet halls and trophy cases and more dining areas - the entire City Hall appear to function as a place for celebration and feasting, rather than serving the normal governing functions. Perhaps all the bureaucrats sat in offices off in the wings that we did not see. There was a guided tour going on, if we had more time I would have liked to take an English-speaking tour and learned about this elaborate building. Obviously a lot of history happened here. We still had a bit of time after wandering through City Hall, so Melanie suggested we check out the Oslo Cathedral. I would have gone to the National Gallery, just to see Edvard Munch's famous The Scream painting, except that the museum is closed on Monday's. We should have gone to the National Gallery yesterday, but I didn't think of that until later in the evening when the Gallery was already closed. The Oslo Cathedral had an organist playing when we entered. It was a Monday morning, there was no service going on, I guess he was just practicing on the pipes. This cathedral has been standing since 1697, it is the important church in Norway. Royal weddings have been held here. My camera battery died here, so I don't have a lot of photos of the interior. We walked back to the Saga Hotel and checked out. The international airport is a good distance from Oslo center. We had to follow a winding route down into a tunnel that looped around on itself - ultimately, we drove through a tunnel that passes underneath the fjord and Oslo Opera House, and when we resurfaced above ground, we found ourselves on route E6. This was a major highway - you can actually drive 100 kph hour on this road! We checked our bags in at Icelandair, and flew home (with a short stop over in Iceland to change planes) and arrived home without incident. Of course, we were overjoyed to see our cats again. Home sweet home! Today we drove 55 kilometers. When we returned the rental car, we had driven 2722 km (1692 miles) Panorama Photos
MapsThis map shows the way we drove from downtown Oslo out to the international airport, which is a good distance outside of town. 
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Click on any thumbnail to begin the slide show at that photograph Oslo Photos
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