Road Trip

16 May 2013

I only slept about five hours last night so morning came all too early.  We were up at five in order to get out the door by six for the eight-hour drive to Oslo.  There were a few thrift stores I wanted to stop in along the way so that’s what motivated me to get out of bed so early – otherwise we wouldn’t have had time. 

We thankfully had an uneventful drive and since it was mostly rainy and I couldn’t take non-stop pictures along the way, so I actually got some things done using my laptop, when I wasn’t driving, of course.  Kory and I traded off every 90 minutes.  Both he and Kaleb slept a good portion of the way and we were thankful when we were ready to stop for lunch we didn’t have any rain to deal with.  It was a perfect day really and we even got into Oslo right on schedule.  My thrift store finds weren’t epic, but I did get a moose antler and a nice hand made cake plate, a few Norwegian sweaters and just a few pewter items.  I put myself on a spending (and space) limit so I had to pass up several things I would have loved, but I just had to be sensible about it all.  I did manage to buy a hard shell suitcase though because I know I’ll need more luggage in order to get all my treasures home.  Kory still wonders where I’m going to put everything when I do get home, but I figure it’s good motivation to clear out some things there that I don’t love as much.  My home will soon be looking like a Norwegian handcraft museum.  Woo hoo.

We were stuck in a bit of traffic getting into the city, but it was nothing like the traffic jam heading out of the city for this four day weekend.  Oi.  At one point I was able to get a wireless signal when we were next to the airport shuttle bus, which I thought was kinda cool, sitting on the freeway, surfing the internet.

When we got to the parking lot behind our hotel, I tried to pay for the 24 hour spot with my Norwegian debit card, but it said I had to use coins.  I needed 150 kroner and I was 20 short. I asked Kory and Kaleb to stay in the car so we wouldn’t get a ticket, while I went to check into the hotel and get change for the parking meter.  Neither of them would do it.  Kory’s rational was that “they won’t ticket us now…” as it was after five pm, but the sign said 24 hour service.  Kaleb insisted on coming along even though I begged him to stay with the car in case someone came.  He wouldn’t do it either.

From the time we left the car, walked half a block around the building to check in, get change and come back, less than ten minutes, we got a ticket for $150!  I wanted to scream!  Kory took the ticket to the hotel but they said they don’t have anything to do with the parking lot, and the worse part was we got the change, paid $30 for the parking spot and we didn’t know we’d gotten a ticket until we went to put our receipt on the windshield.  Ugh.  Kory will call them on Tuesday but my experience with Norwegian customer service tells me we’ll just have to pay the ticket – unless God intervenes, which I pray He does.  It was not a warm welcome into the city, that’s for sure.

Our friends Vladi and Eivind from Bellingham were waiting for us in Oslo down on the main walking street.  We went out with them to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, which seemed kind of silly since we were in Norway, but it was the only place that had food Kory could eat, and it was good!

We walked around the town a bit after dinner and wandered down to the government offices that were bombed two years ago.  They have them all fenced off now as the rebuilding is still going on.  Pretty somber place.

It was such a warm and wonderful evening, we didn’t want it to end.  The whole atmosphere felt so much like Europe with the sidewalk cafes, bands playing in the distance, people out partying and preparing for the big day tomorrow.  It was magical, I must say.

Our hotel room had a balcony so we kept the door open and listened to the festivities going on in the street below until midnight, when we decided we’d better get some sleep in preparation for another early wake-up call so we can get the best seat for the parade.  Vladi and Eivind have done this before so we are taking their suggestion.  It’s been a long day.