The Norway Diaries - Part Four

This post recounts May 28th to the 31st.

May 28 Kirkenes
We were able to take it easy the morning of the 28th because we had nothing to do until meeting the bus to the airport around 2pm.  We had a leisurely breakfast buffet at the hotel and just relaxed in our room until we had to check out. 

I only took one picture this day.  The view from the hotel lobby where we continued to relax until it was time to meet the bus to the airport.  Once at the airport, we relaxed more because security was actually closed until 6pm.  Once through it was more waiting until we boarded our plane around 8pm.  We had “lunch” at the Narvesen in the airport once we were through security.  I actually like the Narvesen sandwiches.  Ours were chicken with some sort of pesto on small baguettes that were then pressed in a sandwich press.  Quite tasty for convenience store food! 

Lance’s parents picked us up at the airport and we had Grandiosa for a late-night dinner before bed. 

May 29 Oslo

Our vacation was drawing to an end at this point but we still slept in a little due to the super late night the day before.  Lance’s mom made us a great breakfast of eggs and bacon and then we headed into Oslo for the day. 

We took the bus which went past Maaemo, the restaurant we ate dinner at the following night.  Then we went to the mall to hunt down a VGA cable for Lance’s parents’ TV and saw lots of “Bielebers.” 

We met up with Lance’s brother at the best movie theater in Oslo and saw Men in Black 3D.  I wanted to see churches on our trip – Lance wanted to see a movie at his favorite theater. 

Back at the house we had a lovely, simple dinner of “eggs and stuff.”  I think the “stuff” included salmon.  Yum.  Then we did a slideshow for Lance’s parents with the VGA cable we had acquired earlier.  They were happy to see all of our pictures and I was happy to see how many of them had turned out nicely! 

You can view all the pictures from the day here. 

May 30 Maaemo

We spent a fair portion of this day hanging out with Lance’s parents at the house just chatting and watching TV off and on. 

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik was going on so the TV looked like this for most of the day.  Filming isn’t allowed inside the courthouse, so they’ve got a live text feed along with a picture of the outside of the courthouse. 

Then we went to Maaemo for dinner, but that deserves its own post with a ton of pictures!  I’ll be making the Maaemo post by the end of June.  Or else. 

You can view all the pictures from the day here. 

May 31 Strømmen

The last day of May was also our last day in Norway.  We left the house super early on the first of June.  For our last day in Norway, we enjoyed the day with Lance’s parents, packed, and wandered around Strømmen a bit. 

We had kebabs for lunch – apparently these are an “Oslo Thing.”  It was HUGE and had tons of stuff in it.  White sauce, red sauce, kebab meat, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, and maybe other things I’ve forgotten.  It was served in a paper cone with pita at the bottom and I ate every since delicious bite. 

For dinner, Lance’s mom made whale!  (Lance had asked her too when we were there before the voyage and she was happy enough to do so.)  The preparation was kind of like stroganoff and served with potatoes and vegetables.  The meat was tasty, sort of like cow in flavor and texture.  It was neat to get to experience this traditional Norwegian food! 

You can view all the pictures from the day here. 

The End
And that, as they say, is that.  We spent almost three weeks in Norway and had a really wonderful time.  Aside from the last three days of our voyage, the weather was gorgeous the whole time.  Lance’s family was amazingly kind and generous – we could not have asked for better hosts during our time in the Oslo area.  I sincerely hope that we’re able to get back some day. 

Thanks for reading and keep your eyes peeled for the Maaemo post! 

Begin with The Norway Diaries - Part One