Norway Bound-On Top of the World

On August 14, 2007 we traveled from St. Petersburg to Oslo. Bruce took this picture from his plane seat as we approached the Helsinki airport. Here we could see the top of the world. Wow.

Norway-Oslo Airport Train to the City

Here's Bruce with our bags ready to jump on the fast train that will take us from the Oslo airport to the heart of the city. So sorry this picture is fuzzy. I am not sure how this happened but at least you can see the clean and shiny place. Wow. It was great to be out of the grit of St. Petersburg. This was August 14.

Oslo Airport Gardermoen is 50 km (31 miles) north of the city. Keep in mind that a kilometer = .621 miles. It was really hard for me to do the calculations in my head all the time so I just doubled the number and we always got there faster than I had imagined.

Also you need to know that one US Dollar = 5.49 Norway Kroner. The train ride was $137 Kroner or about $25 USD each. This was just the first time we experienced Norwegian sticker shock. We knew this would be the case so we were ready for it.

Norway-Olso Harbor at Night

A few hours after we arrived on August 14, we walked from our hotel to the Oslo harbor. This scene is why so many tourist find their way here in the summer. The tall ships are elegant, the water is pristine and in this place on the globe we found this light at 10 pm. Nice.

Norway-Dinner in Oslo

Remember that we had just come from St. Petersburg. I was yearning for something lovely to eat and drink. About five blocks from our hotel we found this sweet wine bar which is a part of a restaurant where we later had a meal.

You can see that I'm having a Chardonnay and Bruce was trying a Pinot Noir. The shock was we ordered asparagus that cost $30 USD and the fish dish was $60. After 4 glasses of wine at $20 USD each we were full and happy and had left plenty of cash in this place. Actually, it was fine. They deserved it. It was all perfect.

Norway-Walk to the Laundry

We had plenty of dirty clothes. Our guide book, Lonely Planet, listed a laundry that was about 20 blocks from the hotel. With the address and a map I took off to find this place that would make me feel so much better. It was raining. On my walk I did get lost but found help from a local. He said he was sorry that we had rain and also was sorry that Oslo's summer was over. Remember, it was August 14. He was right that it did not look like summer that day.

I was only three doors away from my laundry when I found this darling shop. Can you believe that the owner's name sounds like the English word, winter. I told him that he must be the favorite place during the long dark days of Norway's winter. He smiled and said, "of course."

By the way, when we first arrived in Norway I would ask people if they spoke English. Quickly I learned that they all speak English and I was insulting them to ask this question. There are only 4.7 million Norwegians. Imagine if they only spoke Norwegian? They wouldn't have many people to talk to. Norway is smaller than New York City, LA, Chicago, Houston or Philadelphia.

Norway-Roses

These flowers would brighten up any dark winter Norway day.

Norway-Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel is famous. We are in the restaurant and these are its real windows facing the central street of Oslo's historic downtown. We stepped in to get out of the rain and it proved to be a great place to sit out the cloudburst.