Friday 26. September 2007:
Arrived in Oslo Bus Terminal at 0530 after a 7 hrs bus ride. Slept well in the bus. Not the same as in a bed but enough. Only thing is that 0530 is not my favorite time of day. I then took the airport bus to Oslo Gardermoen. Found me something to eat and drink in the Airport.
I had 80 GBP or maybe with the coins almost 90 GBP already from my travel in 2005 also to see Fanciulla, no, I remembered wrongly from 2007 Stiffelio in London. Then I withdrew 100 GBP. That was enough for the whole weekend Friday to Monday. Only time I used my credit card was when I paid for my hotel.
Finally it was time to travel from Oslo to London Heathrow Airport SK805 0slo - London Heathrow 1040-1205. Of course 1040 is the Oslo time and 1205 London time. My watch showed all the time the Norwegian time. So I had to remember that ex. 1205 London time is 1305 Oslo time. I chose Heathrow because I felt more sure how to get to London. This time I took the Heathrow Connect and not the Express, mainly because Connect was cheaper and only 10 minutes more (25 mins in stead of 15). With a return ticket, naturally. And soon I was at Paddington station and had to go to South Kensington so I bought a Daycard for zones 1-2. South Kensington because my hotel was 4 minutes walk from that station. Because of the confusion caused my the hotels map and the direction the map talked about it took me 1 to 1,5 hrs extra to find my hotel. Stupid, I should have known, never trust a hotel own map and directions, use GOOGLE maps. Of course, finding the hotel was really easy when I knew, which road to go straight down... but the hotel direction was like go that road and then another... SO when I arrived at the hotel I was both tired and kind of angry and not really thinking this hotel will be OK. I really wanted to get back at the hotel and just change to another, but in the end I was too tired to bother with a quarrel, and the hotel was OK. But I got a cold, that bloody Air Condition.
So I relaxed at the hotel room. Then I went to Covent Garden with the tube, and I ate the most wonderful Pizza Funghi at the Piazza Cafe. But then it had taken forever to get the pizza and even though I had had a quick look at my opera ticket I never saw that it was 19 pm and not 1930 as I had convinced my self. Pizza was still good but it cost me 15 minutes of the beginning of the opera, it is not that bad, Minnie and Dick Johnson had not arrived at the stage yet. I was lucky, the staff in ROH let me in and decided that I could see the opera live from a balcony box. Not that lucky was that is was on wrong side of much of the Johnson/Minnie action. Looking at a TV relay would have been better. But Act 1 was really special, balcony box. But too many people had their head far out of the boxes and I was naturally in the second row but I could enjoy the chair and the music and singing.
More about Fanciulla in London September 26, 2008 tomorrow...
For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com
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