Day one in Norway

August 6, 2017

The trains were not running on Sunday and neither were we [although Daniel & Kim run a lot of miles most days], so we had to take a bus since there are five of us plus baggage. Max & Dylan have been very helpful with my bags. Max picks up my 40 pound suitcase like it’s a bucket of water. This is going to be fun but strange for me. I haven’t been on a family vacation for over 50 years! [I’m not counting all of our campouts at Ravenwood.]

I’ve mostly lived alone for the past 30 years, so touring Norway and Lithuania with a family of four is a new experience. To be fair, I have known them for over 20 years. My swains [the teenage boys] are a lot of fun. We tell 6th grade jokes to each other, and they are both very interested in Norse & Greek mythology, Tolkien, etc. We were tired and cranky early Sunday, but managed to eventually find our tram and arrive at our gorgeous flat in East Oslo. Our hostess was kind enough to meet us at the stop and lug me and the luggage 400 meters uphill. I don’t suffer from jetlag, but we were all out of whack. I woke up at midnight and decided to take a nice, hot bath. We had a two-storey apartment, and I was in the bedroom downstairs. The next morning after Daniel returned from his run he asked, “Why were you taking a bath at midnight?”

“Because I could!”

on our way to Norway

August 5, 2017 ON OUR WAY Beat the Spatzes to the airport by 5 minutes, and the line was loooong, [so it was to be at customs, too]. Had nice front row seats in coach with legroom on our Dreamliner, and we arrived a little early - only 9 ½ hours from Oakland to Oslo. Norwegian.com is very nice for a long flight.  It was pouring down rain when we landed, but I assured the good Daniel that it wouldn’t last, and I’d be searching for shade by the time we cleared customs and so it came to pass.

Euro Travels

Just wanted to let all of you know that I’m NOT going to Milan [& Paris & Prague & London] this trip. The filming and location dates have been changed. We are still flying to Norway on 8/5 and will spend 4 nights in Oslo and 1 in Bergen before we fly to Lithuania for Romuva summer camp 8/11-16. After camp we’ll spend two nights at my favorite apartments on “Freedom Alley” in Kaunas, and then one night in Palanga at my favorite hotel, the bellavila.lt. I thought it’s been hot in California, but just saw that it’s in the 40’s [celsius = 104 F.] in Spain, Italy, and France. We’re expecting San Francisco weather in Norway, so that’ll be a relief. Any of my Norsk friends should contact me, and thanks for all the suggestions so far.