I realize this may be dramatic, but it feels like I’ve come out of the wilderness and back to civilization.  Oslo, a city of many colors and designs, is my first stop in Norway.  If you are planning to make a trip here, save your pennies.  I have it on good authority that Norway is the most expensive country in Europe.  (I am the good authority – meals and drinks, really EVERYTHING is ridiculously expensive).  That aside, it’s a very open, easy to navigate and relaxed city.  I say relaxed because I took a walking tour and noticed that all the denizens of Oslo were reclining on every expanse of green available.  You would think these people never saw the sun – it was almost cult-like; and very reminiscent of San Francisco and Dolores Park on a beautiful day.  The day was spectacular – in fact both my full days in Oslo were picture perfect and WARM.  I am LOVING the warmth – I don’t even need a jacket and wore my Obeo sandals – oh the joy!

But, truth be told the first activity for me was washing my copious wardrobe.  I did that at 1:30am (when I finally arrived) – because I was desperate for clean underwear.  Yes, laugh (LOL) – it’s true, I was up until 3am dealing with laundry because I had nothing left to wear that did not smell like it had been worn twenty-five times by a sweaty, angry woman.  I can sense that this will be a recurring theme in my world for months to come ….

My arrival was a bit dicey as my plane was delayed (naturally – an airline connected with United and they seem to have the same crappy service as United).  The trip to my Airbnb place should have been fast and easy …  but sometimes the Minkey does not read the fine print or the schedules or the signs.  I purchased a ticket on the NSB train for $11 which I could also use on the bus – total expenditure should have been $11.  Sadly, after purchasing said ticket the machine said the next train was in six hours and 42 minutes.  WHAT?!  That confused me …  and I realized that the cheap trains stop running at midnight.  It was like three minutes after midnight. Awesome.  Luckily the ‘flytoget’ train runs all night – because they make tons of money that way.  They charge $22 for a ticket to the same central Oslo train station.  Ha.  Now I’ve spent $33.  But I still have that NSB ticket which I can use on the bus, cool!  No, not so cool, because the bus station appears to be closed, at least, the Minkey can’t figure out how to get over there.  I give up and take a taxi.  Bad Minkey.  That was $23 (for a 15 minute taxi ride).  Total spent was approximately $56 … ouch.  I learned later from some of my new friends on the ship that if you take a taxi directly from Oslo airport to central Oslo – could be $157 … that made me feel ever so slightly better.

Transportation woes aside – in Oslo I could fairly easily walk to most attractions or take the Metro or a Tram.  I purchased the Oslo Pass, which was amazing!  Nearly every museum is free and all public transportation (aforementioned trams, metros and buses) is free!  Fabulous deal if you are spending more than 24 hours in Oslo – I highly recommend it.  I believe that I spent 490 NOK for a 48 hour pass and saved around 350 NOK (NOK – that’s Norwegian Krone – 1NOK = .12USD [August 2016]) – whoo hooo!

My first day I used that pass to do a guided walk along the Akerselva river which flows through Oslo.  Nice way to get acquainted with the city, at least the more twentieth-century part of the city.  The architecture is eclectic, the Oslo Opera House being the most fabulous design that I saw (more on that in a separate post) and (for an Iowa girl) interesting to see that a grain elevator was turned into student housing (Grunerlokka Studenthus).  Then I skedaddled over to the Munch Museum.

You know Edvard Munch, mainly for his painting The Scream.  He had originally titled it The Scream of Nature – and what compelled him to paint this was some odd reaction he had one day while looking at the sky, which was reddish, and he ‘sensed a scream passing through nature’….   Hmmm.  I have to say that Mr. Munch was perhaps not the most jovial of guys.  The museum had an exhibition of Jasper Johns’ work alongside of Munch’s (Love, Loss, and the Cycle of Life).  If you are not aware, Jasper Johns is the artist who is known for his paintings where he depicted the American flag (Three Flags, Flag).  Johns was greatly influenced by Munch, to the point of using his motifs and in one painting his initials.  As you move through the exhibition, slowly but surely, you can see where Johns’ work shifted to incorporate more Munch stylings.  I’d say these two were kindred spirits and (sadly) probably downers at dinner parties.  Mr. Johns is still very much with us, you can read more about him here.  Very cool exhibition – it’s there until September 25^th if you happen to be in Oslo.

As my mother would say, I was pooped.  Too pooped to deal with dining out.  And my wonderful Airbnb host, Anders; had instructed me to try the Norwegian pizza sitting in his freezer.  That’s right, frozen pizza.  He claims that Norwegians are crazy about frozen pizza and this brand, Grandiosa, is absolutely the best.  So, I had a cop-out night and ate frozen pizza and watched a terrible Jennifer Aniston film from 1997 or so.  Jay Mohr was in it too, and Kevin Bacon.  Wow.  I’ll never get those two hours back.  Thus ends day one in Norway, back in civilization.