Hei, Hei fra Oslo!

We navigated our way successfully through the Icelandic and Norwegian airline systems and have made it to our absolutely charming, friendly and comfortable B&B, Ellingsen's Pensjonet! Iceland Air was a very civilized airline to fly with, and there was zero drama with both flights today. I watched Beetlejuice on the flight to Reykjavik, and John made it about halfway through 2001 Space Odyssey. Neither of us were able to sleep very well, catching only a smattering of snoozes, making the rest of the journey quite tiring. Often at home, I have to listen to books on audio to get my mind to turn off "monkey mind mode", so I tried listening to Harry Potter to try to fall asleep. Though not much sleep was had, the view of incredible, fiery red sunsets and sunrises was our reward. The gal next to me, who (aggravatingly) slept soundly the entire flight, woke to see the sunrise and was in total awe. She exclaimed, "What IS that? Is that a volcano????" I couldn't help but smile. It can be so disorienting to see the world from above the clouds that so resemble the waves of the sea, and the backdrop of an explosion of intense orange, I can see why she was confused. Some sun shows are so otherworldly, they are barely believed even when seen! (See our posts from Orr & Ely, MN for more of that!) Iceland's landscape was so reminiscent of the Jotenheim area of Norway that we saw via train on our last trip. Vast, overcast skies complimented the lonely, mossy, desolate landscape that unfolded for miles and miles beneath it. We tried to snap a selfie with the gorgeous backdrop, but I think we just got a bunch of airplane machinery in the background! D'oh!

Having honored the needs of my teensy-ass bladder all the way by avoiding almost all liquids and making automatic pit stops whether needed or not (they were ALWAYS needed) it made our walks and waiting times much easier. Incidentally, coffee and liquor is off-limits for me during the entirety of this trip. I will be having Earl Grey or Mint tea with cream instead. Nobody's coffee is as good as what John fixes at home, anyway, so it is really no loss for me! We made sure to order food on the planes, even though it was extra, and that was fortunate because by the time we made our way through all the planes, trains and trams, we stumbled into our Pensjonet and utterly crashed with exhaustion. We woke around 5pm Norge time, we went for a walk about, then stopped at the grocery store to feed our intense hunger from so long a while between feedings! We ended up at the grocery store where we shopped the last time we were here, and went right by Coch's Pensjonet sans all the horrible ripped up road construction we endured last visit. We realized with a pang, however, that Kafe Kaffe is no longer in existence :( I was SOOOO looking forward to their spread of smorbrod!! (FYI-I don't have Norwegian characters on this keyboard.) Ah well, we decided on simplicity: sub sandwiches with cheese, salami, pesto spread with potato salad, potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. And we picked up some of the incredible Norwegian yogurt that puts anything dairy in our country to utter shame. It is like eating a creamy, sweet cloud of delicious heaven. You come here, you try the whole milk, PLAIN yogurt. It needs no sweetener, it needs nothing, but it really is fantastic with trail mix stirred into it. I even ordered the cultures to make this yogurt strain at home, but my first try didn't work out too well, and the second packet of cultures is still in the freezer and probably too old, but I think I would need to invest in a yogurt heater to do it properly. (If you're into that sort of thing, you can order specific cultures from Cultures for Health's website.)

Anyway, I am going to sign off and let John upload our photos and call my Mummy. And tonight, we will sleep in this glorious bed with these super-soft pillows that I must have at home! Will post more tomorrow! 

Love to all, 

R&J 

We miss the furbabies!!! 

Flying to Reykjavik

On the Tarmac at Reykjavik

Ellingsen's Pensjonet