Currently in the SAS lounge at the Oslo airport, waiting for my flight to Manchester. Transit from Oslo to airport absolutely no problem – Uber’d to train station, Norwegian driver of Pakistani descent very nice and friendly. Although Brad and Trond had told me the secret of getting to the airport via train cheaper than the “Flytoget”, I couldn’t be bothered – was happy to pay extra for the handholding and the luggage space.
Speaking of luggage, I’ve seen lately the latest thing is to have you print and attach your own luggage tags. And in this airport, you had to check them in yourself through a somewhat-automated system (you have to scan them too). This is not a step in the right direction. Also, the way the baggage tags print, you peel off part of it and you should get that little sticker to keep on your boarding pass, and then a sticky part to attach to the other end. Well, my first tag, as soon as I peeled off the strip, the little sticker-part flopped over and stuck itself irrevocably to the other sticky part. So… I have no record of one of the two bags. We’ll see if it shows up. Also, on the self-check thing, one of the bags sat in limbo for the longest time – don’t know if that was an operator error or what. One of the employees came out and told me to try putting the other bag through a different machine, which went through beautifully in no time. But the proof shall be in the pudding, when I arrive in Manchester with or without my luggage.
The rest of the Sweden/Oslo trip was lovely, mostly. I had a mild adventure where I walked down to the lake by myself (Brad had given me instructions) and got to take all of two pictures before I got barked at by a dog – and then nicely informed by his owner that I was on private property. At least I think that’s what he said. But I made it clear that I was vamoosing and did so. Brad and Trond say it’s not private property at all, but maybe I was in the wrong place, and anyway, I just really wanted a walk, which I got.
Another lovely cocktail hour in the cocktail cottage, and Trond made sort of a Thai noodle thing with shrimp that was lovely.
Sunday morning, we had to pack up and get out fairly early to get Brad to his church gig in Oslo, which we did. One thing that amuses me is that they bring their adorable Bengal cat, Hopi, back and forth with them, and she rides free in the car once the doors are shut, elevating herself up to look out the windows, yowling, and getting pets from everyone before parking on Brad (the driver)’s lap.
We dropped Brad off at church pretty much right on time, then went to the apartment and unpacked so Trond could go drop off the car (they use a car-sharing service). Apartment is as lovely as I remember – the only other time I’d seen it was when C and I were there in 2017 and they had us over for dinner (we didn’t stay with them). Remembering C in the apartment hit me a little hard, which I wasn’t expecting – but by now I’m used to the random stings. But it was nice to remember that trip, which was before his mobility problems, so he had no problem exploring.
Anyway, after Brad finished with church, we had a brunch date with a bunch of friends in a top-floor lovely apartment with a roof deck. Trond made a strawberry rhubarb pie that was amazing, and there were eggs and pancakes and bread and salmon and all sorts of stuff. And lots of mimosas. Luckily the party was pretty much in English – I think there were only two native Norwegians there – and everyone was totally fun. We ended up on the roof deck towards the end of the afternoon – it felt very much like something out of a movie, and it was totally delightful.
We did go home before dinnertime thought, and ordered pizzas (something that B&T, skinny bitches, almost never do). That was nice too.
Monday was pretty much free (Trond had to work), so Brad and I were going to do museums, but it being Monday, they were all closed, damn. So we just walked around downtown and I got to see a lot of the new stuff that hadn’t been there before, like the new library right by the opera house. We stopped for lunch at a really good burger place, and then were going to go shopping and the skies opened up and it started pouring. (We’re glad we were not at the large outdoor Folk Museum when that happened – that had been our Plan A) We ended up ducking in the train station, so I could get acclimated for my train trip this morning, and also so I could buy a new man purse. I’d brought one of Charles’s but the zippers kept breaking, so it’s in the garbage now and I have a new one, souvenir of Norway!
Still raining, so B and I took a trolley car back and then napped and did laundry (nice to get a chance to reset my clothes this early in the trip). Then a singer friend of Brad’s came over for wine, and then I took B&T out to dinner as a thank you. We went to “Frenchies”, which was excellent. There was wine and an artichoke appetizer, then Trond had mussels and B and I had steak, and then dessert. Lovely meal.
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And that’s it, you’re all caught up. I might add some pictures to this later. And it’s pretty much going to be Festival shenanigans from this point on.
The Toast Point Page 