First Day in Oslo

We've arrived in Oslo! After a very long traveling day, we are finally settled into Cochs Pensjonet, relaxing with tea, snacks and soft beds. Once finally checking in, we both crashed promptly for a nice, long nap that even a major street construction project right outside our window couldn't disrupt! It's a bit rainy and we're so wiped out from jet lag, poor airplane-cramped catnaps, the time difference, and walking around the city since 10am while our room was being readied. The walk-around was welcomed after so long on the plane, but soon my feet were screaming in pain thanks to old lady crap like plantar fasciitis to deal with, and after fetching a few groceries we made our way back to beg for our beds.





From Minneapolis, we were bubbling with the excitement of hitting the road again. We arrived very early to the airport, anticipating a major security hassle. It was fairly quick, and I didn't balk at getting x-rayed, in fact, I gladly hopped in the full body scan booth to avoid any groping by our Big Brother, TSA. Our flight to Newark was delayed by 45 minutes, being notified of this delay as we were taxiing on the runway. Oddly, the time seemed just part of the suspended moments known as "a butt-long time to get overseas". We knew we had 5 hours of waiting once arriving in Newark, anyway, so it just shaved more time from our sitting around there. As seems to be the norm on our travels, there were some celebrities waiting for the same flight we were, and this time it was serendipitous; a Minneapolis band we tentatively planned on seeing while here, The Hold Steady, guitars and Twins caps in tow :) I'd been quoting one of their songs at every security checkpoint, muttering quietly to John, "I got busted by the cops, and they found it in my socks and I got probed!"



The flight to Oslo was on Scandinavian Airlines, which was much more pleasant than any other flight we've had, and yet the first realization that we were heading into a foreign-speaking country. Every announcement was first in Norwegian, then in English. We sat next to an adorable couple who spoke flawless Norwegian and English, and bless them for their assistance with our jackassery of trying to figure out all the funky, hidden contraptions on the plane! Each seat has its own entertainment centre with movies, music, even camera shots from the front and below the plane! But as anyone who has hopped The Pond knows, it's long and arduous sitting there for so long. Kids were squirrelly and everyone else was restless. I resorted to sticking my face into my hoodie to try to get some broken sleep. Though it didn't feel like I slept at all, I had broken bits of dreams that escape me now, but I seem to remember were fraught with worries expressed in Norwegian phrasing that I couldn't understand. Thankfully, getting through the Norwegian passport checkpoint was no biggie (not like the mega questions we had to answer in Gatwick airport in London, years ago!) and after a spacey walk though what seemed like a giant IKEA store, we made it through the airport and onto the bus to the city centre of Oslo!!!



The scenery here is remarkably like Minnesota. Loads of evergreens, cliffs just like bluff-country and the wonderful grey, ocean-like clouds of my favorite kind of days back home. They do have very strange looking crow-type birds, though. They are grey and black, having sort of a pigeon-y feather look, but cawing, flying and hopping exactly like black crows. They have interesting mallards, and teensy-tiny funny jumping birds that have yellow heads and are so quick I could hardly see them. I'm a bird-nerd, so I notice these things :) The area we explored today was very like San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, even Minneapolis. I had envisioned Oslo as a lot cleaner and happier than other cities, but it is exactly as any other: rude and rushing business people, skinny fasionista women on teetering heels, grubby streets, lots of construction and a very noticeable population of street urchins. There seemed to be lots of scammers, so we kept our wits about us and kept moving. We finally decided we had to eat, and though we swore we wouldn't eat out in the prohibitive restaurants here, it was clear we needed to eat and had no idea where a grocery store could be found, and we still had time to kill before we could get into our digs. We happened across a cute little cafe, and after the scary prospect of ordering off of a menu that may well have been written in Martian subsided, we dropped a cool $40 USD (NOK 228) for two pieces of focaccia pizza and two OJs. Obviously, we spent our time there searching for the nearest market!! After finding a nearby store to fetch some foodstuffs, and the adventure of trying to guess what we were buying, we spent the same amount for a bunch of healthy items that should sustain us for a few more meals.



Now, it's time to chill with some British comedy, hit the sack and get refreshed for a new day! Hope all is well at home!! We miss our two little furry nutters and hope they are behaving themselves <3
Goodnight Moon! Love, R&J