Oslo was slowly waking up after a sea of people caring roses marched in silence through the downtown area yesterday evening to express their sadness and sorrow for so many lives lost in Friday's terrorist attack. Robert and I joined the 'rose march' and walked for few minutes towards the cathedral before deciding to start searching for something to eat. We were starving after a flight from Reykjavik and a bus trip from the airport to our hotel. Going for my daily run around the city center early this morning I was passing many monuments, buildings, fountains, and parks that were still 'draped' in flowers, Norwegean flags and burning candles; a sight that was very sad and beautiful at the same time.
My run took me to the Opera House where I couldn't resist doing a little bit of 'hill training' by running up and down the amazing roof of the structure. On my way back to the hotel, I met a female runner from Germany who was holding a map looking for directions. She was a journalist who came to Oslo to cover the latest tragic events and decided to go for a morning run to de-stress. We ran together and chatted for few minutes looking for the best way to the city center before taking different turns and going back to our hotels. Running in Oslo is fun but may get expensive. The city has been consistently ranked among top 2 most expensive cities in the world just after or sometimes even before Tokyo. The energy bar and coffee before the run: 50 krones, a power bar during the run: 25 krones, protein recovery drink after the run: 50 krones, Gatorade to get some electrolytes in 7 Eleven will cost you another 35 krones. It all adds up to roughly C$30 with an exchange rate of approximately 5 krones for C$1. However, having paid C$15 for a glass of beer yesterday evening, everything else seems 'relatively' inexpensive in this very cool city :)
