Changes in Latitudes

We drove from Copenhagen to Oslo in one day; it's only 6 hours. While we were still in Denmark we found a grocery store to stock up on cheaper beer and some road snacks. But then the GPS took us the wrong way, and we found ourselves in line for the ferry from a city just north of Copenhagen to Helsingborg, Sweden. Instead of backtracking to the bridge, we decided to take the 20 minute ferry ride across. We obviously went way north! Six hours later we were back in Oslo. We took it easy the next day and walked around our neighborhood and up the river. It was good weather for a long walk. Rigmor had us over for dinner and served moose "gryte" (a stew) and "Troll krem" (troll cream = lingonberry, egg whites and sugar) for dessert. We still had some must-sees to cover in Oslo. Mainly the royal palace and ski jump/ski museum. We made it in time for the changing of the guard. Skis varied by region and were over 15 feet long back in the day! Dad...

First Carlsberg of the trip As we crossed the bridge from Malmö, Sweden, into Denmark, we saw blue sky, blue water and white sail boats. The bridge was long, but before we knew it we were in Denmark...yet again, no indication that we actually entered another country, and it felt more like we were crossing the bridge up to the U.P. Following our GPS passed lots of houses that Marius described as "typical Danish", but to me they just looked like "typical northern Europe": brick homes with steep roofs. There were tons of cyclists! A lot of people bike in Norway, but Copenhagen sets the bar really high. We came to the street with our hotel and parked in the street. As well as there being two other hotels, there were also two "gentlemen's clubs", and the street smelled like pee. At least the room was alright! We went to the tourist information center around the corner and got a map for a walking tour of Copenhagen that "should only take...

I realized I never wrote about Mom and Dad's visit back in the beginning of September. They were here from September 2-11. We started in Oslo and then drove down to Copenhagen, via Gothenburg, for a long weekend before coming back up to Oslo. It was a lot of fun! I wish I could remember the "Dad-isms". I should have written them down! I will try to think of them for the next post. We had them in our little 44 m/sq apartment, so it was definitely pretty tight with the four of us, but we all share hotel rooms when we were on our little roadtrip anyways, so it we got used to it fast. When they left, though, it seemed so quiet. When they arrived we quickly got them into the Oslo experience with a visit to the famous sculpture park, Vigelandsparken. A walk is the best cure after travelling. The next day Marius went to the office and we went to the Viking Ship museum. But Marius caught up with us in time for the Kon Tiki museum. I highly recommend both of those...