From there, we wandered the streets, through a colourful (in several senses of the word) square, until we reached the harbour. We stopped in for a coffee and some pastries (a tasty cinnamon bun and a custard filled pastry) at Baker Brun, which was apparently established in 1893. Caffeinated and sugared-up nicely, we set out to explore the harbour around the bay of Vågen. Bryggen (Old Town) lines the waterfront with cute and brightly coloured buildings.

It was an early start, as we had an 8 am train to catch. However, it was convenient to get down to the train station. We grabbed some sandwiches from a deli for breakfast and hopped on our first train of the day. I'd booked us on a Norway in a Nutshell tour, which isn't a "tour" in the traditional sense with tour guides and a group that you follow around but simply arranged transport from one place to another. We spent about 4.5 hours on a train from Oslo to Myrdal, a relaxing ride through the countryside, passing colourful farm houses, frozen lakes and streams and through Hallingskarvet National Park--an expansive snow-covered plateau.

It was another slow-going start, as D was eager to return to Tim Wendelboe for another taste of their coffee. We meandered our way down in time for them to open, and he had another double hit of coffee with an aeropress and a double espresso, which were both thoroughly delicious. Happily caffeinated, we headed off to catch a tram to see the Viking Ship Museum. No good trip to Norway would truly be complete without some kind of Viking fun.

We were fairly leisurely in getting going, as our first stop was a renowned coffee shop, Tim Wendelboe, which opened at 11 am. Thankfully, it was only a relatively short walk away, and we rolled in right as it opened. Perhaps the most striking thing we noticed right off the bat was it wasn’t really set up as a coffee shop, as there were only a handful of chairs. Ultimately, the space was roaster-oriented, with a coffee shop attached in order to showcase the beans. D ordered an aeropress of their Ethiopian beans. He declared it to be the best aeropress he’d ever had–light bodied, tangy, tart but sweet.

One of the major disadvantages to staying at a hostel is that it tends to attract certain crowd of folk, some of which like to return to the hostel at 3 am and hang out in the hallway to have protracted, boisterous conversations. Such was the occasion last night, which made for not ideal sleeping conditions. We groggily got our things together and opted to take a cab back to Central Station to make life easier, which also had the perk of giving us a bit more time. We grabbed a quick bite for breakfast and headed out to catch our train to Oslo.