Oslo

August 2, 2013

The overnight ferry was definitely an experience. The Asians and their tax free shopping craze was definitely worth the price of admission. After we dropped our bags in a room only big enough for one and actually sleeps four, we toured the boat and got the lay of the land. We snagged the coveted couch spot for embarking and watching the Oslo skyline fade away into ocean abyss. During our time on the ferry, I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to meet 4 young Danish people who were employed on the boat, but had the day off to go to a wedding. They had the hook up to boat life, so we stayed with them… or actually one in particular, Jonas, stayed with us and NEVER left. We picked him up at the piano bar and could not shake him until we had to sleep. He entertained us with talk of politics and the Danish way of life. We determined that conservatives in Denmark are liberals in America and after some free champagne we decided that dancing was the only thing left to do on the boat before bed. The band was great and we boogied down and then crashed hard in the bunker. The boat was not fun to sleep on, I am not going to lie… but it got us from point A to point B with beautiful views along the way. When we got to Oslo, we went directly to the Hotel Guardsmaden via taxi. 

The Hotel Guardsmaden has Jana Combs (my mother) written all over it. Everything is their own organic products: shampoo, sheets, breakfast, towels, etc. They even have a relaxing organic spa in the basement. When we got to our room everyone wanted a nap, due to the rough night at sea. Our restful morning led to a hungry late lunch at ‘Bit’ and it lifted us out of our sea travel slums and into a wonderful mood. This make-your-own salad and sandwich coffee shop had our stomachs very happy and gave us the energy to walk down to the pier. Oslo is not the most ‘poppin’ city, so we just walked up and down the pier and then went back to the hotel for siesta number two of the day. For our nighttime activities, we decided to go crazy and do a plain ole dinner and a movie. However, if you talk to the bank of daddy, it was a crazy night because dinner at Restaurant Larson and a 3D Monsters University viewing at the Coliseum wound up to be $200+ that night. After our long day of napping and watching movies, we were plum exhausted and decided to go to the hotel sauna and pamper ourselves before bed.


August 3, 2013

Godn Morgn from Addison’s mama: Jana. I have the privilege of writing our (easy) day #2 in Oslo. The breakfast at the hotel was organic and yummy… lots of jams, jellies, breads, teas, fruit and veggies. Delish!

Armed with an ominous weather forecast that predicted rain by noon, we were out the door by 10am and hopped on the tram outside our hotel to arrive quickly at Froggoner Park. About the time that we located the entrance to the park, it started raining… just a drizzle, but once we found the correct path to the Vigelande sculpture park it was more than misting. It wasn’t even 11am; I wasn’t thrilled with this weather prediction discrepancy. So we paused under some trees and enjoyed Alexa serenading us with her potential AU SINGERS audition songs until the worst of the rain passed. We strolled to the top of the sculpture park for some pretty views and photo ops, followed with a robust ‘discussion’ of whether or not Dad should get an updated wedding ring this year. It started raining again, about the time we made it back to the tram; and it continued all of the way home. It was just now approaching lunchtime so the girls headed back to the room and Mom & Dad decided to grab a pizza at the nearby Pizza/Bowling Alley. However, upon arrival, we quickly noted that even with an unlocked door, and despite having operating hours listed on a sign that corresponded well to our arrival, the pizza shop wasn’t open for business. We decided to head to the Kiwi Grocery one (still raining) block away where we grabbed sliced turkey, chicken salad, cheese, crackers and cookies then took them to the hotel for a bedroom picnic. An important insertion is that there are no TV’s in this boutique-y hotel: there are only iMacs. So for our makeshift picnic we loaded up the iMac with some T. Swift on YouTube & sang along as we enjoyed our lunch. Next, we grabbed the cookies and moved to our connecting bedroom for our afternoon event: the movie we downloaded from iTunes on the iMac, ADMISSION, with Tina Fey. After that eventful and obviously tiring afternoon, we nestled in for a little siesta followed by much discussion about whether or not to watch another movie or head to dinner. Since the “100% precipitation” wasn’t evident from our window, we opted for dinner out on the town. A quick internet search revealed a well-reviewed spot right down on the Akre Brygge so we hit the trail on foot, passing several other appealing options along the way, including 2 connecting Thai food restaurants. We arrived at the Akre Brygge a little ahead of our hunger level so we paused on the steps of the dock to chat for a moment about how we really didn’t want to go to the previously mentioned well-reviewed restaurant, and that we’d now just head back to the Thai options.  So we checked out the seemingly empty YaYa’s Thai Beach Bungalow, where we headed underground and into back to a room that was surprisingly filled with people and also with unusual, eclectic décor (and no windows): Christmas lights, neon, fake palm trees, and piped in rainforest sounds. It was fantastic; a unique find, even though the food was just ok. We walked back to the room and couldn’t agree on a movie so all of the girls went on an Ellen DeGeneres video run where we laughed out loud at the Here And Now skit… we’ll never think of the 6 airplane peanuts or public restrooms & toilet paper the same again!

Night night – an early morning train to the fjords is coming SOON!

August 4, 2013

A rushed but yummy organic breakfast #2 started our day at 7am with a 7:15 taxi arrival to take us to the central train station. It’s Sunday, so there’s not a lot of activity, or people around to assist us tourists who are a bit confused as to where to go for this tour package we purchased to see the beautiful Norwegian Fjords. We managed to locate a helpful person who got us in the right direction after some of us stored our luggage in a locker.  We were on the last car of the long train, and quickly learned that they offered wifi onboard. Then more quickly learned that the views out the windows as we traveled superseded anything we could view on a handheld screen (although Alexa did manage to blog a few days from Copenhagen, Dad couldn’t stop snapping iPad pictures – lovely vistas surrounded us the entire train ride.

At first we strolled thru picturesque towns and quaint villages, and then rolling green hills and trees, followed by climbing so high in elevation that the lush green vistas were replaced with rock formations and distant snowcapped mountains. We had about an hour stop in (chilly) Myrdol at a cute little depot where we grabbed a quick bite and took a few pictures of the surrounding beauty. We then boarded the Flam Railway that descended from this 966m height all the way to the bottom of the valley. It took 20 years to build and was completed in 1940. We passed waterfalls and rivers and more beautiful views before arriving in Flam, a harbor town (complete with a Holland Cruise Ship currently in the harbor) that looked a bit touristy, but still maintained its charm. 

We snapped a few photos, grabbed some French fries for the road and then boarded the Expressboat to Bergen – scoring the last available window table seats.  The fjords were unlike anything we’d ever seen. We took a million pictures, and even when it started raining we braved the elements to try to capture their beauty. Each little port we visited was calling to us to hop off and stay a while, but we were headed to Bergen so we stayed onboard – all 5 hours’ worth! We sailed thru the Sonjge Fjord (Norway’s deepest and narrowest fjord) and the views were remarkable, but one time it was simply raining so hard we resorted to a game of LIFE on Addison’s phone (mom won!). We decided that the fjords, if this stunning in the rain, would have to be even more amazing on a pretty day. We got a few sandwiches from the shop and finally made it to Bergen, where, you guessed it: it was raining.We took the quick walk to the First Hotel Marin where we were introduced to the biggest, quietest most wonderful room yet! We grabbed dinner at the next door Mexican restaurant, Casa de Toro ~ where Addison ordered a chocolate sundae for dinner. Mom had vertigo issues where she felt like she was still on the boat – yuck! Long train rides, long boat rides… we were done for the day!

August 5, 2013

Breakfast was good then we packed up, checked out, stored our luggage then headed to the Floibanen aka the funicular that takes people to the top of Bergen. We weren’t scared of the 100% precipitation prediction and when we arrived the views from the top were flawless, lovely and vast: we could see the whole city as well as the harbor and Norwegian Sea. Nothing but blue skies… but just about the time we completed our photo ops, the rain started. So we ducked quickly in to a gift shop then decide to just brave it and hike down to the city. The hiking path we chose was mostly covered with trees and verdant foliage so we were protected from the rain for our hour long hike; but upon our arrival in to town we quickly realized: “100% precipitation” had come to fruition! We peeked at the old town, which would be lovely if not for the rain, then grabbed some items from the grocery store to carry onboard this evening’s long train ride home. We stopped for lunch at Café Sze Chuan, because who doesn’t want to eat Chinese food in a Norwegian harbor town? Since no outdoor activities were eminent, we headed out to find some ice cream. Instead, we stumbled upon Kaffemisjonen, a fabulous ‘off the beaten path’ coffee shop that made homemade hot chocolate (yum for mom & Addison!).  After warming up there we found a break in the rain to return to the hotel to grab our luggage then headed to the central train station to board for the 5 hour ride back to Oslo. Norway is a beautiful country, filled with amazingly picturesque views, but it sure takes a long time to get where you’re going! We arrived at 10:30, ready for bed but all caught up on blogs and fruit ninja high scores.

August 6, 2013

It’s our last day abroad! Oslo is a great city, but at this point in our journey we were over the rain and city life. Our Best Western hotel offered a filling breakfast and no sooner than we were dressed and down the Karl Johans main street towards the Royal Palace… then, you guessed it, it started raining. We ducked in to the Cathedral, built in the late 1600’s with beautiful mosaic tile ceiling and a rich history of restorations thru the years. We decided to brave it down the Karl Johans, with rain intensity increasing all the while, only to discover upon arrival at the under renovation Palace that they only let you in at certain times. With a guide. And a ticket. None of which we had, so we bailed out of line and headed back down the Karl Jahans, in the rain. After drying off and warming up back in the hotel room, the girls stayed behind for a break while Mom & Dad went to the Opera House for a guided, behind-the-scenes tour of this unique, water- front venue. It was completed in 2008 and is an architectural wonder, as the roof of the building angles to ground level creating a large plaza inviting pedestrians to walk up and enjoy the panoramic views of the city and the sea.  We all gathered again and headed out to dinner, al fresco, at the Cathedral Restaurant. Yup, you read correctly: al fresco! No rain… well, a little pop up shower right smack dab in the middle of dinner, but we were covered by table umbrellas and a shade tree. We all walked down to the large TIGER sculpture outside the main train station then over to show the girls the exterior of the opera house where we sat by the water and finished up our (Norwegian version of) Nutella for dessert . We went back to the hotel to get all packed up and ready for early morning departure…

August 7, 2013

When you’re chasing the sun as you change time zones, it makes for one REALLY long day. It started with departure from our hotel at 4am in Oslo. We walked to the main train station where we caught the shuttle to the airport. We took a 2 hour flight to Amsterdam where exited the airport, took the metro to down town and caught our final canal tour at 10am. Amsterdam was interesting when viewed from the water, but honestly, the canals aren’t nearly as nice as the others we’ve seen. Not even close – the waters are polluted and dirty, and there’s just seemingly an overall lack of pride in the city. But we had a snack, spent all of Addison’s remaining Euros in a convenience store then headed back to the airport… where we received our only passport stamp of the entire trip. Three other countries visited for days on end where they hardly even looked at our passports, much less stamp them…but we stop in Amsterdam for 5 hours and look what happens! We boarded for our last 10 hour flight of the journey and said good bye to many days filled with memories and moment to cherish.

Adjo!

Farvel!

Vaarwel… United States, here we come!

PS: Thanks for letting me be a guest writer on your blog, Addison! Love, Mom

There is nothing more exciting than FINALLY getting home from a 7 week European adventure. Don't get me wrong... I would not have changed my summer for anything! I learned and grew so much over my time away. It was amazing to see and experience 5 different countries and cultures, and to actually live somewhere other than Atlanta or Auburn for an extended period of time. But when you are away from something, some place, or someone that you love, you appreciate it so much more than when you have it available to you  everyday. I was so glad to see Scott Norrell at the Atlanta international airport after our 2 hour flight, our 5 hour layover/boat tour of Amsterdam, and our 10 hour flight over the Atlantic Ocean.