The light this morning is different. It has that end-of-summer quality, a kind of golden reluctance, the sun taking its time to climb over the rooftops of Grünerløkka. I woke before my alarm, which is unusual, and lay there listening to the gulls argue over something on the neighbour's balcony. Today is the last full day in Oslo before I move on, and I find myself wanting to be present for all of it, even the parts I've already done.
There is one piece of admin left, the final check on my D-number application. I walk to the DNB branch at Karl Johan, the same one where I started the bank account process last week. The teller, a woman named Marit who has been patiently guiding me through all of this, smiles when she sees me. She tells me the application is still processing, that these things take time, but that everything looks in order. I should expect a letter within the next two weeks. It's not the news I was hoping for, but it's good enough. The pieces are moving.
I step out onto Karl Johan and the city is already busy. The summer crowd is a mix of tourists and locals, everyone making the most of these long days. I stop for a coffee at Supreme Roastworks, a small place that has become a kind of anchor for me these past few days. A cappuccino here is about fifty-five kroner, which is roughly five dollars, and I've decided it's a reasonable price for the feeling of being a regular. The barista nods as I order, and I take my cup to the window, watching the trams slide past on their tracks.
The plan for today is simple. I have no errands, no forms to fill, nothing to process. After a week of paperwork and practicalities, I want to give this city a proper farewell. So I walk down towards the water, past the Parliament building, past the Akershus Fortress, until I reach the harbour at Aker Brygge. The boats are bobbing gently, their rigging making a soft, metallic clinking sound. There is a festival atmosphere in the air, a sense that everyone is squeezing the last drops of summer from the season.
I've heard about the Oscarsborg Opera festival, which runs for another few days. Apparently, there are performances in the courtyard of the old fortress, out in the middle of the Oslofjord, and you reach them by a special boat from the city. It sounds like a magical thing, opera under the open sky on an island fortress. I'm told there's a children's version of Peter Pan performed on a sailing ship. I won't go today, the timing doesn't quite work, but it feels good to know such things exist, that the city has these layers of culture and tradition that I've only just begun to scratch.
Instead of the boat, I choose a different kind of immersion. I take the tram over to Sørenga, the little peninsula of new apartment blocks and public beaches that juts out into the fjord. This is my last swim, at least for a while, and I want it to be a good one. The water is calm, a pale green-grey, and there are already a few people floating in it, their heads like dark seals bobbing on the surface. I lay my towel on the warm wooden deck, strip down to my swimsuit, and wade in.
The cold is a shock, as it always is, a physical gasp that travels up my spine. But I push through it, and once my body adjusts, the feeling is pure clarity. I float on my back, looking up at the sky, at the white clouds drifting in from the west. There is a moment of perfect weightlessness, a feeling of being suspended between the water and the sky, and I think about how this simple act, swimming in the fjord, has become one of the defining experiences of this first week. It's friluftsliv in its purest form, the outdoor life, a concept I'm beginning to understand more deeply with every dip.
After the swim, I dry off and walk back towards the centre. The Øyafestivalen is starting next week in Tøyenparken, with The Cure and Nick Cave apparently headlining. The posters are already up around town, and there is a particular energy in the air, that pre-festival buzz. I won't be in Oslo for it, and I feel a small pang of regret. But it's a good reminder that this city is alive in so many ways, that the summer is not just about tourist sights but about music, art, and community.
I stop for lunch at Den Glade Gris, a traditional Norwegian restaurant not far from the cathedral. I order a bowl of fiskesuppe, the creamy fish soup that I had at Elias mat & sånt last week. This version is different, a little richer, with a generous amount of salmon and white fish. It costs around 280 kroner, which is about twenty-eight dollars, a splurge for lunch, but it feels like a proper goodbye meal. I sit by the window, watching the people of Oslo go about their day, and I feel a strange sense of belonging.
The afternoon is for the Opera House. I've seen it from the outside several times, but I've only walked its marble roof once, on the rainy day. Today, the sun is out, and the white Italian marble is warm under my bare feet. I climb the sloping surface, past families with children, past a couple taking selfies, until I reach the very top, the highest point of the roof that slopes down to the water. From here, the view is expansive: the fjord stretching out to the south, the islands green and low in the distance, the city stretching out behind me, a jumble of rooftops and church spires.
I sit there for a long time, just taking it all in. The wind is constant, a gentle but persistent pressure, carrying the sounds of the harbour below, the boat horns, the distant cries of gulls. I think about the week that has passed, the relentless logistics of starting a new life, the paperwork, the bank accounts, the SIM cards, the rain jackets. It hasn't been glamorous, but it has been necessary, and I feel a quiet sense of accomplishment. I have D-number application in process, a bank account waiting to be activated, a transit card that works, and a growing map of the city in my head.
I also think about tomorrow, about the train journey north, up through the Østerdalen valley, through the timber and copper towns, towards Trondheim. The landscape will shift, the fjord fingers will reach out, and the summer will begin to fade into autumn. It's the start of a new chapter, a different kind of exploration, and I feel ready for it. But for now, there is just this, this moment on the roof of the Opera House, the sun on my skin, the whole of Oslo spread out before me.
The evening is quiet. I wander down to the waterfront again, this time to the newer area around the Munch Museum. The building is striking, a dark, leaning tower of recycled perforated metal, so different from the gentle slope of the Opera House. I don't go inside; I've already spent time with The Scream and the other works. Instead, I sit on a bench near the water, watching the light change over the fjord. The sun sets late, just before half past nine, and the sky turns a deep, smoky orange before slipping into twilight.
I think about my new hytte, the little cabin I've rented for the first few weeks in Trondheim. It's small, I'm told, but it has a view of the fjord, and I'm looking forward to waking up to that instead of the hotel room. The rent for my one-bedroom flat in Oslo would have been around 15,000 kroner a month, about 1,400 dollars, which is why I'm happy to have found something simpler for the next stage. It's a different kind of Norwegian life, closer to the land, to the water, to the rhythm of the seasons.
As the sky darkens, I decide to take the metro back towards my hotel. The Ring 4 and 5 lines are still disrupted, the replacement buses running from Majorstuen instead of the trains, a situation I've learned to navigate with a mix of resignation and efficiency. The tram is less affected, so I take that instead, the familiar green car rattling through the streets, the evening crowds thinning as they head home. I get off at my stop and walk the last block.
There is one more thing I want to see. I go to the harbour again, near the ferry terminal, where the boats for the Oscarsborg festival are docked. I can see the lights of the fortress out in the fjord, a distant constellation of points on the dark water. I can just faintly hear the strains of music, an aria carried over the waves, a disembodied voice singing into the night. It's a fleeting, almost ghostly sound, and then the wind shifts, and it's gone.
I stand there for a moment in the cooling air, listening to the water slap against the hulls of the boats. This city has been good to me this week, teaching me its rhythms, its quiet comforts, its stubborn bureaucracy. Tomorrow, I leave. But tonight, I am here, and the music is playing, and the fjord is deep and dark, and I feel, for the first time, like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.
I walk back to my hotel, a gentle fatigue settling in my bones. I'm staying at the Thon Hotel Gyldenløve, a solid, unpretentious place that has served me well as a base. I pack my bags, laying out the clothes for tomorrow's train journey. The journey north is about seven hours, and I've bought a book of Knut Hamsun to read on the way. I close the curtains, the faint light of the summer night still bleeding through the edges, and I lie down in the quiet room.
Tomorrow, the valley. But tonight, the last swim, the last climb, the last aria on the wind. It's been a week of small routines, and I've come to appreciate their weight. I close my eyes, and the last thing I hear is a distant boat horn, a low, comforting sound from the fjord, a lullaby for the last night in the city. Hei, Oslo. Tusen takk. I'll be back.
Good night.