The air is pure, the skies are spectacularly blue, and the city provides a perfect short escape. It was my first time in Scandinavia and I loved it.

Day 1: Take the fifty minute “mini tour” around Oslo’s harbour, aboard a beautiful wooden schooner. You get to see little islands with tiny summer houses painted yellow, red, or blue while a knowledgeable guide discloses a wealth of interesting facts about the city, in English.

We had a delicious lunch at Cafe Tekehtopa (It’s the Norwegian word for apothecary spelled backwards, and it’s housed in a former one).

The pretty streets of Grunerlokka are lined with an amazing assortment of shops. Most offer vintage clothing and antique housewares. My husband Ram got a red Lacoste sweater and I got a yellow plaid skirt at Fretex. Then, after sifting through the treasure trove of  spoons, records, pans, and purses that is Marita, I made off with about fifteen pounds of flatware and two 1970s-style tea cups. But most of my money went to the Swedish store Granit where I purchased a cool market basket, a wooden tray, and four black plant pots (yes, I lugged them on the plane).

We stopped for a coffee and varm sjokolade (hot chocolate) and La Famiglia (Thorvald Meyersgate 25). The nicest man on the planet owns it. After our credit cards didn’t work, he told us there were no ATM machines in the area, and gave us our drinks on the house.

We had the good fortune of discovering an excellent Chinese restaurant called Dinner, right around the corner from out Hotel, the Rica Victoria Oslo. It was jam packed on a Wednesday, but luckily, we were able to get a table in the lower level dining room.

Day 2: Walk down to the harbour and see what kind of catch the fishermen brought in before taking a stroll down the boardwalk, past al fresco restaurants and beautiful boats. Then head back up to Grunerlokka like we did, stopping at Zenzi‘s shack in the park for an incredible varm sjokolade (yes, I drank a lot of hot chocolate on this trip), or Kaffebrenneriet for a more leisurely cup of coffee and a danish.

A couple museums offer an interesting stop en route to Grunerlokka. The Museum of Decorative Arts features two floors of furniture, fashion, and goods for the home. You’ll basically get an overview of the last four centuries of design, from rococo, to neo-classical, to art nouveau, to mid-century modern.

DogA, the Museum of Design and Architecture, includes a small, but stunning industrial space reserved for special exhibitions. We saw one called “Open House” which featured the ideas of a dozen architects and designers for new building practices inspired by modern technologies.

Before heading to Oslo’s Central Station (Oslo S) to catch the Airport Express Train, we had a really nice lunch at one of Grunerlokka’s hottest restaurants, Delicatessen. The menu includes about twenty different tapas. We went with the fried artichokes, green beans, empanades, chevre gratinee, and “tortilla patatas” which was basically a quiche with potatoes. All were delicious.