Oslo and Liverpool

On our way back to Birmingham for our final year at university, we made a couple of stops (naturally) to Oslo and Liverpool to visit friends and see the sites making full use of our last week of summer holidays.

We got off to a great start in Oslo by accidentally getting a free train ride into the city. As we didn't have any local currency and they didn't accept any of the 5 debit cards we had between us and the train was running late ruling out the option of getting off and getting cash out at any of the stops, they let us off from paying for our tickets. So that's one way to survive in one of the most expensive cities in Europe- just don't pay for stuff.

After that little experience, we spent the day walking around the city, taking in the sites and noticing the little things like how everyone looked amazing and how tidy and well planned out the whole place was in general. Also, how much Norwegians love their sculptures with one every 20 metres and that for an unknown reason pedestrians have two red traffic lights  at their crossings (guess they just really want you to stop)... 

We managed somehow to get in touch with our friend by stealing wifi from a cafe (seeing a pattern here...) Why we didn't set up a meeting point in advance is beyond me, but there you go, sometimes it's more fun not having everything planned out ahead of time ;)

Met up with our friend in a lively square filled with musicians, people blowing soap bubbles and others who had just left their offices and went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Our day continued with more lovely places, even ended up passing our beloved cafe :P

'Perfect bridge'

The second day was spent visiting the small islands of Oslo which we got to by ferry escaping the craziness caused by the Danske bank marathon. It was a nice contrast to the mainland, tiny summer houses, rocky shorelines and historical ruins painted the city in entirely new colours. We finished off the evening with a salmon dinner, a must while in Norway.

Sneaky sock stealing seagull 

We spent the final day walking around the castle and because I couldn't miss the peoples climate march, I just had to join Oslo's one. Only joined in the last few minutes of the walk and really tried to stay for the speeches, but there's only a certain amount of trying to pick up what they were saying in Norwegian before I headed back to the flat. Despite not being to understand most of what was said I was still glad to be part of the huge global event. 

Back at the flat we decided to stay in and have a girly night in with movies, popcorn and talking, which was nice after an active couple of days of travelling. We regained our strength and got ready to continue to our journey to destination number two- Liverpool.

Liverpool was great, we received a warm welcome and were shown around by some wonderful friends. Hit all the scenic places and got to see the city from an architectural perspective since both of our 'tour guides' happen to study just that.

Superlambanana :D

One of the reasons for visiting Liverpool now was due to Wicked- one of my favourite musicals was on tour there for which we had bought tickets months before. I was so happy to share the experience with my friends as they saw it for the first time (unlike musical obsessed me, who has now seen  Wicked 3 times...)

Defy gravity

Murrr Cafe

Recently had the pleasure to visit the cat cafe, 'Murrr cafe' in Vilnius. For those of you who don't know it's a cafe where you can go have a drink with the added bonus of having cats wondering about the room that you can pet and play with if they're in the mood. If you find yourself falling in love with one of the felines you can even adopt him/her and they will rescue more to fill the empty place. Therefore, it's a great way to help cats in need of a home as well.

We were invited by the owners to come over and draw a nice sign outside of the establishment to get them noticed more by passers by. I believe it went quite well as we saw tourists become quite interested and come in for a drink.

After our work of art was completed, we were treated to some lovely tea and had some time to relax with the cats. Unfortunately, they were all sleeping, but we kept ourselves entertained with the many books and games they have for customer use.

All in all, it was time well spent in a cosy and welcoming place, if you haven't already I recomend checking it out. :)