Oslo Helgen

After arriving home on Wednesday last week, I repacked my bags to spend four days in Oslo with Didrik!  I hopped on the train Thursday and after a two hour ride, I was greeted by Didrik and his camera at Oslo S. 

Immediately (as I expected) we spoke in Norwegian, which was SO STRANGE for me!  I really haven't spoken Norwegian with anyone other than people that I have known for two months or less.  It was also quite a relief to see someone who has known me, essentially, forever. 

After getting a bus/subway/tram card for the week, we took a bus to Didrik's apartment.  His and Cathrine's apartment is so beautiful and stylish!  And, of course, had many memorabilia from trips to the U.S. :D 

From there we went and took buses and the tram around the city to see different sites. Some of the most memorable for me were seeing the castle, Vigelandsparken, (Frogner Park), Stortinget (parliament etc), Sagene Church and the fort.  The coolest part was that I was finally visiting Didrik in Norway.  We spent the rest of the day walking around Oslo and seeing the sites.  Later, we went back to the apartment and saw Cathrine :):)  I haven't seen her in almost... ten years I would guess.  She was getting ready to host a party for some friends so Didrik and I left to go get dinner. 

Although it was a Thursday night, it seemed as though every restaurant was full!  We found a restaurant after a short walk and had Turish Meatballs for dinner.  (Pretty good!)  From there we went to the butikk to rent a movie to watch that night.  We chose "The Heist" with Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken, but I will say more about that...  When we got back, Cathrine had saved some creme brulee for us (yum!) and then we watched the movie.  I don't know how, but we made it through the movie.  It was not NEARLY as good as we expected to say the very least.  It was really terrible!  xD  I called home and got my dad to go on Skype.  That was when it finally hit that I was really in Oslo with Didrik!  It took ten years, but it happened.



BANANA PANCAKES?!

 The next day we made (American) chocolate and banana pancakes and then headed back out.  I got a call from Artur (from Brazil) that he and Fransisco (from Ecuador) were going to be in Oslo that day so we went to meet up with them.  We caught up with them at Oslo S and then went to the Viking Ship Museum.  THAT was so awesome!!! 

This was definitely one of the coolest museums that I have ever been too.  The fact that virtually all of the craftmanship was from wood that was still (somewhat) together was so neat. 

From there, we went to the Opea house. 

Yes, as you can see from the picture, the building actually goes INTO the water!  We spent quite a while exploring inside and outside.

From there, we met up with a guy from Brazil that Artur knew, and then we went to a cafe after staying goodbye to Fransisco, who had to take the train back home.  While at the cafe, Didrik got a call from FINN.no saying that he got the job he went to the three interviews for!!!! :D :D  GRATULERER DIDRIK!!

We went to Didrik's university, BI, and looked around after saying goodbye to Artur.  When we got back to the apartment, we had dinner and then played TONS of card games.  They ranged from "Go Fish" to "Golf" to "Spit."  Also, we celebrated with BEN&JERRY'S ICE CREAM (VERMONT'S FINEST)!!!!!!  There is a butikk here called Deli de Luca that has food from around the world.  We even found Inca Kola there!  But, it was the equivalent of five dollars per can (when I remember them being between 30-70 cents in Peru...

The next day we went out to lunch with Svein and Bente, Didrik's parents!  I haven't seen them in about ten years!  I spoke as much Norwegian as I could with them.  After walking around and seeing some more sights, we ate at a fancy restaurant next to the National Theater.  It was a beautiful restaurant and we had a great time.  After lunch, we met up with Cathrine and I went off on my girls' night with her.  Didirk had to go to his "last" night of work.

Instead of legitimate shopping or window shopping, we did the inbetween.  We walked through tons of stores and didn't buy one thing.  Who knew anyone (any girl) could have that much self control?!  It makes a difference when you're living in a country where everything is 3-4 times more expensive than back at home . . .

After we ate dinner, Devin came up on the train and met us at the apartment.  We were too tired to do anything, so we just sat and watched SNL and Anchorman.  Night well spent. ;)

Sunday, we went up to the ski jump after breakfast and then had sushi in BI.  Then, unfortunately, it was time for me to say ha det.  :(  But now I can look forward to when Didrik and Cathrine get to visit us in Larvik!!  This time, I'll be the tour guide...  We'll see how THAT goes...

:):)