Our first visitor arrived a week ago Thursday. It appears that I am falling behind on the blog. We have been busy with vacation as it is Easter break in Norway and everyone is enjoying the holiday, even the Americans.
My friend Doerte, who I knew in Austin stopped by on her way back to Austin. We worked together at The Montessori Center for 3 years and our kids all went there too. She was in her hometown in Germany visiting her parents with her youngest daughter Pauline. Pauline will stay with her grandparents until June when Doerte and her 2 other daughters return to spend a couple months. Sounds like a fun plan plus they will get out of the Texas heat.
It was great to see her and so wonderful for her to come to Oslo. We had a super time. Here is a rundown of some of the pavement we covered over here....
- Enoteca Wine Bar.... Thursday evening Doerte and I went out for some red wine and a pizza. I've been wanting to check it out since Kent told me about it. We got a reservation (which one really needs at this small, cozy bar.) We chatted and believe me we didn't overeat... very pricey but tasty pizza. The wait person finally told us we had to leave as our table was reserve for another group. Hmm? I guess we'll have dessert when we get back to the apartment. Doerte brought a variety of delicious chocolate from Germany.
- After dropping KJ off at school Friday Doerte and I headed to the Vigeland Museum and the Oslo City Museum (both free until March 31) but they were closed until 11 am. Darn, we had to wait at the United Bakery until they opened. Both Doerte and I agree that the bakeries in Oslo are something else. After some coffee and boler (yummy warm rolls usually with raisins... they remind me of hot cross buns) we spent a little time at the museums. I won't mention since I've already blogged about them before.
- In the afternoon along with KJ we went on the trik to Karl Johan's Gate walked and shopped around. On the trik we saw the 2 American sisters and their mother. KJ has mentioned from school. I introduced myself and Doerte and we chatted for awhile and KJ got their phone number. The dad is the minister at the American Lutheran Church which is close to us. Maybe some new friends? We went to some stores including Norli, our favorite Norwegian bookstore. Doerte introduced me to a new store which I already forgot the name of but it reminds me of World Market at home only nicer. It wasn't horribly expensive either. We stopped at Seven Eleven to get KJ a sandwich and a fairtrade latte for Doerte and me. (I have to mention the coffee at Seven Eleven is good!) We also bought a loaf of the best bread at United Bakery on the way home.
Time to mention how fun it is to have a friend here. I never spent much time with Doerte outside of work. I think we are a lot alike, she's goofy and KJ also thinks she is very nice.... - Friday night I made dinner... we had Uncle Ben's in a jar Indian Curry with chicken veggies. It was actually not bad. We exposed Doerte to Gilmore Girls and Heroes (after KJ went to bed.... Heroes is scary)
- Saturday was for sightseeing... we got an early start and headed to the Bygdoy (barely) island. We started at the Viking Museum which was pretty cool looking at all the huge, old ships. Then we moved on to the Kon-Tiki Museum. I really enjoyed it. A famous Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl made 4 ships, one out of balsa wood, and 3 from reeds. He put together various international crews to see if he could cross the Indian, Atlantic and parts of the pacific oceans. After we stopped for a snack and some coffee. Kent and KJ headed home to read while I took Doerte to the Folk Museum. (This is the only museum we'd visited. We didn't have much time but I wanted to show Doerte the Stave church and different homes, cabins, buildings from the past. We stumbled upon a part I hadn't seen businesses from the past and other displays apartments from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It was neat. We took the bus back and met KJ and Kent. I was pooped! Kent made scampi and we drank yummy red wine from the vinmonopelet and ate chocolate. It was a great day.
- This morning Doerte and I took the train up to the Nordmarka and the Holmenkollen Ski Jump. We wanted to see snow and we saw a little. We met Kent and KJ at Baker Hansen (a bakeri); then onto the magic museum. It was fun and we saw a magic show. The museum is really a proud grand-father's front rooms of his apartment converted to a place of magic shows and memorabilia. His grand-daughter is the fourth generation of magicians in the family.
It was a great time with Doerte. Monday we are all off... Doerte back to Austin and we are off to Tromso for dogsledding and hopefully to see the Northern Lights.
No comments:
Post a Comment