Blogs from Oslo, Eastern Norway, Norway, Europe - page 11

i landed in Norway and my phone immediately buzzed. "Welcome to Norway" says the text from Andy. Whoot whoot! I am finally here! I get off the plane, go directly to duty free and get wine and beer and head down to get my luggage. No customs no anything! Just straight out the door where Andy greets me. Quick hug and we are out to the car. It was much hotter then I anticipated! Andy and I drove to Oslo. I took in the beautiful country side, and observed the different signs along the road. We passed a harbour when we saw a huge cruise boat that does the Denmark cruise lines. I don't recall ever seeing a ship of that size. we stopped at a boat store to purchase a propellor for the his new ... read more

I spent a leisurely day on Thursday packing and doing last minute chores which were interrupted with the news of the catastrophic plane crash in the Ukraine. As I was getting ready, I pictured the victims of that plane crash getting ready for their business trips or vacations as I was doing and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones. It is not something that one wants to hear when getting ready to take a trip overseas. Nonetheless, that is exactly what I had to do. Lisa, Rich, Ben and Jacob picked me up at 4:00 p.m. to take me to the airport with a stop on the way to pick up my friend, Sharyn. Ben was his usual inquisitive self and Jacob was delighted with the site of planes ... read more

0703 – donderdag – Oslo Met de bus naar centrum van Oslo. 3-uur toer historische stad met Nl -gids. Meeste spots hadden we al eens gezien. Herhaling kan geen kwaad. Lunch aan de Aker brugge. Pizza Margherita en Insalate al salmone. Toch niet zo echt Noors. Wel ….” med de Beste smakene fra Italia”, en 'Grazie e arrivederci !' Toch leuke Noorse bediening. Een draft pint bier kost daar het equivalent van 9€ . De karaf fris water is dan wel gratis. Onze trein-tram-bus ticket was wel niet meer geldig voor de boot naar de Viking- en Kontiki- musea. Senioren van +67 krijgen wel vermindering. Ja, zo lang moeten ze hier werken voor ze bij de gepensionneerden geteld worden. Een idee-tje voor DuRipoff II.... read more

Tuesday, July 1-Oslo-5:21 a.m. On Monday I was again awake from 2:30-7 in the morning...ugh. Thank god the internet works. Finally back to sleep until 10:30...time to get ready for the bike tour of Oslo! I take the short walk to the tiger statue outside the central train station where I meet Graciela, the tour guide and sole proprietor of AlternativOslo, a bicycle tour operation specializing in showcasing off the beaten path neighborhoods of the city in addition to some of the more traditional sights. Graciela only lives here (where her boyfriend is from) for three months during the summer (smart girl) running this business and the rest of the year she lives in her home country of Argentina. We are also joined on the tour by a Kiwi couple that currently lives in Abu Dhabi ... read more

Hello, I'm not one of those creative writers and I'm not even the one who would read blogs. Even though I'm the one who can just bulletpoint things out, my friends adviced me to start with this. Thus I created this blog more to keep people who I know updated and not repeat the same story everytime people ask me "So how is your trip going on?" But feel free to check if you find anything interesting. So I started to plan the trip just three weeks ago and till know I just know how to get to the supposed start point - Tromso, the north part of Europe. Everything else will clear up on the way. I hope... First day was spent efficiently: Glasgow -> Edinburgh (flight, and I hate this so much, but promised ... read more