Day 00 – big travel day across the pond to Oslo
New Country Day, New City Day: Oslo, Norway
a very long travel day with a nice evening in a new place
- On our way to the A Train, we had lunch at Hopdoddy (where I got to have a Shiner) and had a nice little bon voyage from a friend.
- We were told that the A train to DIA had some construction and that they’d put us on a bus for part of it, but we were a day ahead of that. yay.
- TSA precheck was a breeze, once we found it among the constant construction and truly terrible signage that literally points in opposite directions. Airlines have gotten better about apps; it’s time for airports to step up their game. Upon arrival at the terminal, it should direct us to check-in if needed, security, and our gate. It should tell us where restrooms and water stations are. Anyway, even with an extra bag (for reasons) the one security flag we had was tiny and quick.
- We found a table with chairs and plugs near our gate. It was even close to the restrooms and water bottle stations. At some point, they made us go check in with our passports since we had officially checked in online.
- Typical gate lice. People were “licing” in the main thoroughfare of the airport. Large “cars” needed to get through and the crowd was too big to allow that. Airports need to make standing in those areas against the rules, and enforce it. Airlines need to gather up the people who do that and put them dead last to board. Stop rewarding this awful behavior. I get that it comes from anxiety, but sit your butt down until your group/zone is called.
- Boarding was lovely. Air France has it down. They didn’t even blink at my extra (again, for reasons) bag.
- But the gaggle of Spanish dude bros around us were pissed about something regarding their luggage and their seats. One Air France employee spent a ton of time trying to explain things to them. Dudes, the flight is full. You probably got the same option to upgrade that we did (twice). You also could have paid for your seat. If you didn’t do one of those, then that’s on you. It did seem that they had suffered a plane change, but that’s still not the airline’s fault.
- Once we finally taxied to a takeoff position, the captain came on to say that the winds had shifted and so we must too. Between the hard seats, no leg room and the loud Spanish dude bros, we were in for a long night.
- We finally took off at 7:22. During the climb, there was a bit of turbulence. One of the overhead bins popped open. Nothing fell out, but the two dude bros next to us reached up and closed it without even undoing their seatbelts. We and the other dude bros clapped before one of us raised his hands and said, “GOAL!” to help with the celebration. Once the guys settled down, they were fine.
- Service took forever. We ate lunch at 12:30 and it was 8pm before we saw the cart roll by us on the way to more expensive seats. Good thing I packed us a plethora of snacks. Once dinner finally arrived, we found our food good. We had a curry potato salad, a roll with butter, cheese (but American and MAGAt-owned, so why??), a chicken/orzo dish and a dessert that neither of us cared for.
- Neither of us slept much. Air France seats lack all cushion. We both watched movies. Flow is a mostly-sweet, animated, Latvian film with no dialog.
- Our little breakfast boxes were so French: bread with butter and jam, cheese, yogurt, juice, and that yummy French hot chocolate. Oh how I had missed that! So, of course the dude bros had someone in their group complain that the yogurt was out of date. He ate it, then complained and demanded another one. Whatever.
- When we landed at CDG, we had to go through old-school security check–remove liquids, all electronics, even my little watch and my wallet that had nothing but my passport and Euros in it, etc.. They made it much more of a confusing mess than it has to be. However, passport verification was really easy and there was no line. If we were supposed to do the EES thing, we never had the chance. We were shuffled from one process to the next with no other options.
- And then we had Cokes. Real sugar Cokes without any high-fructose corn syrup. And that was when I realized that I had missed those too!
- Both flights had crazy-long routes through the airport and very long taxis, too. At CDG, we had to go downstairs and take a bus to get to our gate for the flight to Oslo. Then, it was back up some outside stairs and then standing in a hot, glass jetway. “Lucky” us.
- Our little plane was quite comfortable, but a little squeaky.
- The flight to Oslo was quite nice. It was quiet and we had tiny sandwiches for snacks. After the long travel day, we both could have done without the stairs down just to go back up.
- We did catch the train with near perfect timing. The Oslo airport is like the Denver one; it’s way out of town. But Norway’s train is ultra fast, clean, and quiet. The walk from the train station to our hotel was short, but by that point, it felt way too long.
- We were both hungry, but showers beckoned first. We found really good Thai food, at a place where I accidentally ordered NA beer. Norwegians don’t sell alcohol on Sundays and have the strictest alcohol laws of any place we’ve been. It doesn’t matter, but we were surprised to learn it.
- When we got back to the room, I did some laundry, including the shirt I wore to dinner because of course I got a soy-based sauce on it in two places my napkin didn’t cover. And while setting up to do laundry, I realized that I didn’t bring the chamois, which makes laundry on the road about 6.7 times easier.
- And then we crashed. After a 19-hour day, we fell hard into bed before 10pm and slept until about 9am. It was rough, but it got us on Norway time pretty easily.
Day 01 – exploring Oslo
our first full day in Oslo, Norway
- In search of the popular-in-this-corner-of-the-world cardamom buns, we found a small cafe that had them: vanilla for him, pistachio for me. It’s what I always wanted cinnamon to be, gentler.
- Money here is Kroner, not Euros. It’s about 10 kroner to 1 US dollar. Some things are more expensive (alcohol because they are mostly against it so it has very high taxes), but most are just normal or even cheaper.
- I forgot my twice-daily stretches on our first night (and couldn’t do them for about 24hrs before that), so my muscles were complaining at me for missing that ritual.
- Our planned adventure for the day was for a new chamois. We consider errands like that an adventure and like the puzzle of figuring out public transportation in a new city/country. We like to see extra areas not near our hotel. We bought 24hr transportation passes, took the train out to a suburb, and took a bus to a hardware store that listed car cleaning products on its website. Once, we took the wrong exit from the subway and had to go back in/down/over and then up, but otherwise, it was very easy. After a train and a bus (and a nice little adventure), we acquired a new Chamois! It was $8.50 tax included (instead of $10+tax in the US), and thinner/lighter than the one we left at home. It’s even the same shade of yellow. He named it our “Viking Shammy.”
- Next, I suggested that we sit at the McDonald’s to plot our next steps, but he said if we went there, he’d eat there, so we made our way back to the city center and found slightly more local food. Los Tacos isn’t Nordic, of course, but at least it wasn’t an American chain. We were both surprised by how good it was; their salsa was a bit more like taco sauce, but it was very good.
- After lunch, we walked over to a park with fountains, found the Nobel Peace Prize building, wandered around the ferry docks admiring the Tall Ships, and saw the (shirtless, hunky) crews breaking down what had been Oslo’s very large PRIDE festival.
- Back at the hotel room, we took time to cool off, rest, and do some chores like getting better organized and rotating laundry around to finish drying.
- For dinner, we went to KöD. She had really amazing lobster tortellini with bisque, addictive cabbage that was rather boring, and decadent potatoes au gratin; he had burnt ends of steak and steak fries. Per Norway’s views on alcohol, the glasses of wine were nearing $20, so we skipped that.
- We like to stay on top of our little blog and pictures. It’s much easier to stay caught up than it is to remember details later. But writing/editing in the hotel lobby cafe was futile. The foreign TV and soccer match between Paraguay and Germany was way too distracting for me. And the furniture I picked was entirely too uncomfortable; no wonder no one was sitting there.
- Turns out, the place we stayed is more hostel than hotel. Some of the rooms have bunk beds. In the hallways, there are bathrooms and showers. At first, I thought they were so more people could get ready at the same time. We had seen similar showers at a resort on Hamilton Island in Australia. But then, once we saw a peek of the bunk bed setups during a cleaning, we realized that those are their bathrooms and showers. I hope we can find more like it. It’s been ultra quiet and there are no kids.
Day 02 – the day Norway wins
Go Vikings!
- For breakfast we made a trip to a Joker mini market for roasted chicken, paprika chips (a must when in Europe), milk, kombucha, a danish, and a donut. Our hostel-not-hotel has a lovely courtyard with cafe tables and chairs.
- Next, we found a public/commuter ferry. The first stop was the most popular. It seemed to be a way to get to many of the tiny/small beaches. We also saw people sunning themselves on rocks…not unlike seals on rocks, sea lions on a dock, or turtles on a log. The homes we saw were brightly colored. Several sets of them seemed to be small vacation resorts. We rode it the whole way around and it was only about an hour. There were several daycare groups on board who did the same thing. We guessed it was a fun outing for the ~3 year olds.
- We grabbed cold drinks; we sat on a bench and tried to plan the rest of the day, but finding nothing we wanted to do, we wandered back to our hotel to cool off a bit and make lunch plans. Oslo has a decent amount of art, lots of fancier restaurants, and a lot of museums. But outside of that, we didn’t find a whole lot to do. We’ll also be passing back through here, so whatever we forgot or missed (other than PRIDE), we can grab in a few weeks.
- While wandering back to our hotel, we found a record (and CD) store. It was a nice tiny trip back in time.
- For a late lunch, we grabbed sandwiches and chips and had a small picnic in a lovely park with a fountain. Throughout the day, we had seen a lot of people wearing white as well as an uptick in people wearing Norway soccer jerseys. Sure enough, the World Cup game of Norway vs Ivory Coast (whose flag is ultra similar to Ireland) was set for 7pm. It was at that park that we learned there was a big soccer festival nearby. We went to the entrance but learned it was sold out.
- So, we headed to a bar (Irish, of course; is there any other kind when we travel?). Good thing we went 3 hours early. We barely got seats.
- Norwegians eat their burgers and fries (the only food the bar had) with a knife and fork. One of us did that. They also put sweet pickles on their burgers. Only one of us ate those, too. Oh, and their catsup has a tiny bit more texture than it’s American counterpart.
- The people of Norway did something truly impressive. They were all quiet for their National Anthem and even sang along. We are always quiet for our own, but no one else at any bar in the US is every this respectful. They were also quiet fans for the first few minutes of the game. It was a welcome surprise to us.
- As the bar filled up, the view we had was obstructed by some tall Norwegians, so he VPN’d to the US, logged into our media account, and got the game on a phone. It was about 30 seconds behind, but it came in clutch when the TV signal went out. Suddenly, it was like we were a cell phone commercial with a small cadre of people gathered around our tiny screen. A couple of them even wondered how we did it.
- Norway’s win was a lot of fun. This is the first time in 28 years they have made it this far in the World Cup. Their next game is Brazil, so I think the whole world except for one country is rooting for Norway.
- On the way out, I complimented a woman on her crocheted bucket hat. Sadly, she didn’t make it, but we ended up chatting with her and her friend quite a bit. They were lovely. And she could gesture wildly with a glass of wine and not spill a drop. She was so happy that I was excited about going to Svalbard that she gave me a hug.
- Once back at our room (across the street), we made our dining selections for a future leg of our journey. We did this to the tune of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” being sung in the streets by several groups. Apparently, after winning their soccer game, Nords walk through the streets singing it. Who knew?
- A typical honking celebration went on for a long while. Some things are the same everywhere.
Day 03 – to Geilo
New City Day: Geilo (YAY-low), Norway
a pretty, and pretty fast train ride
- To start our travel day, we found a breakfast cafe, ran a quick errand, and headed to the train station.
- We found seats at a large bench that circles a giant planter where a turns-out disturbed lady was singing and shouting rantings about Somalia. I guess that’s how those seats were available.
- The train station was a huge mall with a sports bar, tons of coffee shops, several places with quick food like premade sandwiches, clothing shops, and more. But also true to public spaces, bathrooms were 20 Kroner/$2 per trip. You need tap-to-pay or a credit card to go through the little glass gates. We encountered these on a previous trip, and I still find them inhumane.
- No less than eight people reached into trash to get aluminum cans. One guy came by twice. I guess that’s one way to have recycling. Another person had apparently set a glass bottle down near a coffee shop door (so the “little elves” could take it, we guessed). So of course, a guy bumped it with his luggage, broke the glass, and spilled its contents. In the US, this would have been a whole thing. But here, the coffee shop employee just swept it up; it was no big deal. Closer to us, one guy was about to throw away his plastic bottle when an “elf” asked him for the bottle. He poured the remaining liquid in the trash and gave it to him. Another person was done with their bottle and simply handed it to a woman who came by looking. No one gets angry or bossy or any other American emotion; it’s just all friendly. The recycling gets handled. People who need it get a little money. People who have a can or bottle might not even have to get up from their seat to make sure it gets handled properly.
- Our train was delayed twice, which was annoying since we gave up our semi-comfortable seats to be early so we wouldn’t be late. But the platform was roomy and had shade. The train itself was very nice. Our seats had lots of overhead storage, several hooks for jackets and bags, and small work tables with storage for small items. Our train went down into some tunnels and back up. We also passed trains going the other direction. All of that caused a lot of ear pressure, while we were still at only 10 feet of elevation.
- To escape the repeated screeching from a child with zero entertainment options, we headed to the Kafe car. It was at the opposite end from our car. When I ordered a beer, she told me I couldn’t take it outside of the Kafe; more alcohol-is-bad rules from Norway. On our way back, we saw the “gentle” parents with the screech owl for a child headed that way. At least our break from them would be extended. They also had to pass the little play room full of mats and books, so we hoped they’d spend a lot of time in there. Dear all parents everywhere, bring books for your kids, or let them have screen time, or tell them a story, or bring quiet toys, or at least make a basic effort to parent (v) your child in a public setting. Luckily for us, we never saw them again. We guessed they found the play room full of mats and books.
- Along the route, we passed fields and fields of agriculture. We saw a lot of hay and other crops. One was a blue-ish shade of green, but we were moving too fast to get a good look at it. I thought it might be asparagus. Interestingly, we didn’t see any critters: only 3-4 cows, 1 horse, (and not any dogs or cats). So who eats the hay?
- The whole area felt like a lot of spots in Colorado. There were lakes amongst the mountains and trees with Aspen+like bark, but different leaves (European Aspens).
- We were the only ones to get off the train in our town, Geilo, which is a ski-resort town at 794m/2600’.
- Our room had a minifridge, so we hit a grocery store for snacks, lunch, and easy dinner foods. He found thin pita bread (that ended up filled with cinnamon sugar), French tuna (that is made with seven ingredients he doesn’t like), and milk (that turned out to be strawberry). It was not a good day for him.
- We went “adventuring” through the hotel. It’s a weird layout. But we were successful and found the pool with a hot tub. It was very relaxing once the other person left and the bubbles timed out.
- We decided that this small town was the perfect place for a day of rest and catching up. I was going to “just” organize some of our photos before laying down to some videos, but I just confused myself while fighting a headache and gave up.
Day 04 – resting in Geilo
Stormy day of rest
- This time, our room a table with two chairs, so in-room picnics made good DIY room service. Since it was a stormy/rainy/cool day, this was perfect.
- We made another grocery run to top up our supplies before leaving. He got better bread, meat, and milk this time. He also walked around the little town. Mostly, even in pretty heavy rain, people were going about their normal things. There were even some asphalt workers patching a hole in the rain.
- For part of the day, we hung out in the lobby/cafe/restaurant area. It was surprising how many people were ordering meals at 2:30pm. When a large family with a very loud, undisciplined, whiney child came in, we bolted.
- I laid down to watch a video and didn’t even get half way through it before we were both asleep.
- We took a short walk in the remaining sprinkles to grab dinner at a Norwegian fast food chain, Jafs. Our food–”kylling i pita” loaded with spicy chicken and veggies for me and a chicken sandwich for him–was very good.
- The storm was also giving me a sinus-pressure headache, so I doped up with half a gummy, a little sugar, and some beer. He took a small walk
- We packed up all the things we didn’t need for the next day and settled into our tech for the evening: his Steam Deck with gaming glasses (that make it like feel like sitting at a 30” monitor or a much larger tv screen) and my laptop and notes/pics from the day…and some YouTube, of course.
