Boarded the plane for Oslo via Newark. Sat next to a lovely young woman for the transatlantic flight, and downloaded all kinds of clubs and restaurant names from her and the service captain. All good to go, I wash down my sleeping pill and enjoy the (mostly) flatbed all the way until about 40 minutes from landing.
Breezed through customs and hopped on the Flytoget for the 22 minute ride to the central train station at Oslo, where our hotel is located. Couldn’t check into the room yet (only about 11 am), so left my bags, grabbed my critical and valuable items and hit the streets. Tay, could be in Eugene! Drizzling on and off and people either carried umbrellas or adopted your attitude that it really wasn’t raining at all. Walked down the main drag, past the National Gallery and various and sundry shopping areas, up and down this-gate and that-gate (must be Norwegian for street) until I arrived back at the hotel (main train station in the back and tram/bus terminal in the front – so convenient). Got my keys, headed up to the room to lay down for a nap. Stuffy room! The friendly young man at the check-in desk came up and confirmed that the air system wasn’t really working, so he upgraded me for my trouble, and I got a lovely, slightly bigger room (not until much later did I realize the room now faced a disco, and so could hear all manner of goings-on until 3 am, closing time). The 1 hour nap turned into 3 (kept dreaming I was waking up and then realized still sleeping all in the dream) and I took some deep breaths to really get myself awake.
Slowly collected myself, dressed and hopped on a tram to the hip neighborhood of Grunenlokka for dinner. As I found the restaurant the young man reserved for me, I scanned the menu and decided I wasn’t really interested in pizza or burgers. I strolled back up the main street to a cool looking place called “Food Story” and got a table. Fixed 3, 4 or 5 course menu (seems the standard way around here) and enjoyed a nice supper before tram-ming it back to the hotel. Checked on Lance’s arrival time and went down to the Flytoget to meet him at the tracks. Some sailor dude (no, not Popeye) ambled up and started a long conversation with me about his competitive sailing, his broken back and shoulder, etc etc, all the while smiling and eyes twinkling. He ran out of gas and went on his way and I continued to play Jumbline to pass the time. I then went in to check out the man station hall (and of course during those few minutes, Lance arrived), and returned. Beginning to think I may have missed him, I headed back to the hotel to let them know to tell him where I was, and there he was in the lobby! Big hugs and smiles, then up to the room to (both of us) sleep off travel fatigue.
Next two day posts and pictures will be made tomorrow on our 5 hour train ride from Oslo to Flam Yes, internet service and lots of time to write….ttfn