Oslo Day 2. Stave Church, Norwegian Folk Museum

We had a really nice breakfast in one of our local cafés (we're staying in Sagene, north of the city centre) and then set off on the day's adventure. We'd intended going on a boat sightseeing tour of the islands in the Oslo Fjord, but the 2.00 p, sailing which was advertised in the brochure no longer apples and waiting until 3.30 would have left things very tight for me when it came to getting to the opera.

So we compromised and got a public ferry boat over to Bygdoy, home to several museums including the Viking Ship Museum, the Kon-Tki Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Norwegian Folk Museum, which is where we went. Over 150 buildings dating from various periods ranging from the 13th Century have been re-located and rebuilt here. This is the Stave Church, the oldest of the lot, and probably the highlight.

We walked back down to the second of the two ferry terminals on Bygdoy, half thinking of also visiting the Kon-Tiki Museum, but time was pressing and we were also in need of food. We ate in one of the many restaurants which line the harbour at Aker Byrgge where the tourist boats and some of the public ferries are based. I got the tram over to the Opera House while Carl did his own thing.

The Opera House is as wonderful inside as it is out, with a really wonderful, comfortable and handsome auditorium. The performance of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes was good, with the chorus the definite star of the show and the tenor who sang Peter a close second. Carl was waiting in the foyer when we finished at around 9.15. We studied our various guide books and almost headed for a recommended bar in the neighbourhood of our apartment but on a different bus route to our usual one. Discretion won out, though, and we ended up in the same place we'd had breakfast in.