Tag: 2024
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Our Unforgettable Grip Island Tour
When planning this trip, we made a list of things we might like to see, containing over 130 attractions. Jason has been keeping his eye on one of the tours we wanted, but it kept saying it wouldn’t be open until closer to June 1st, so we had pretty much given up on it. Yesterday, he checked again, and suddenly, they offered a couple earlier days, as the weather has been so lovely. Jason grabbed us 2 tickets, and we jumped on a bus to the pier where our boat to Grip Island would be leaving. We arrived early and walked down the…
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Hell and Heaven
It was yet another hot and cloudless day. Yet, despite the great weather, a lot of tourist spots and stores still aren’t open. People tell us that the weather we are experiencing is not typical for this time of year, and we are very fortunate to be on the receiving end. We hit the road early as we had planned to make several stops for pictures and stretching our legs while driving to Kristiansund today. Every corner we turned, the winding highways gifted us with breathtaking views, but there weren’t a lot of places to pull over, like we find in the…
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From Scenic Drives to Family Ties
I’ve gotten a bit behind on my writing here, as it’s been a daily whirlwind of activity. Today started with a visit to Ottar and Tutti for the final time in Lillehammer, where they own a house and invited us to join them for lunch and a tour of the town. The drive there was beautiful—full of endless green, grassy meadows and rolling hills dotted with farmhouses and other structures. Sheep were abundant, and it’s that time of year for the babies to hang out with their mothers. We arrived at Ottar’s at about noon and enjoyed a lovely lunch…
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Our Unexpectedly Busy Day in Oslo
We decided this morning to make today an easy and relaxing day. Well, that didn’t happen! We took the bus to an area that housed three different museums. The Fram Museum was the 1st one we visited. Here, we saw a huge ship named The Fram, a three-masted schooner. It was the first ship specially built in Norway for polar research. It went on three expeditions between 1893 and 1912 and is now housed and exhibited in the Fram Museum. We could go aboard the ship, walk the narrow halls below deck, and experience the close quarters once home to…
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Royal Connections
Our day started with our chauffeurs, Ottar and Tutti, picking us up at our hotel to drive to the Royal Palace to take in the festivities for the Constitution Day Parade. Tutti has been my cousin Ottar’s mate for the last 35 years. When we found my long-lost family in Oslo, we never expected to learn so much about my family history. One of the most surprising tidbits we learned was that Tutti is the hairdresser to Queen Sonja and has been for the last 54 years. This has allowed her to travel the world as the Queen takes her whenever…
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From Breakfast Bliss to Opera Oops
One of my pet peeves in life is people who show up late to live events, interrupting those who had planned well and showed up on time. Well, tonight, we became THOSE people! More on what happened in a moment. Our morning started with the most amazing buffet breakfast that either one of us had ever eaten. Counters filled with warm loaves of bread and pastries were followed by another area of nothing but cheeses, huge jars of pickled beets, veggies and things we weren’t sure of and salads. Next in the line were cold cuts of every kind. We…
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Lights, Tacos, and Family Visits!
Jason and I had a lovely send-off at the airport as we picked up the twins from school so they could come along and say goodbye to us. A nice start to our adventure! Travelling these days isn’t for the faint of heart. It was a long and gruelling three-flight trip to get to Oslo, but everything went smoothly, and all flights were on time. Still, I said to Jason, “I knew there would be lots of walking on this trip, but who knew so much of it would be in the airports?” I had a little “grandma moment” in…
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Arriving in Oslo: Day One
Greetings from Oslo! Today marked the beginning of our Nordic adventure, and while the trip here was long, it was smooth sailing (or, I mean, flying) the whole way. Departing from Edmonton yesterday afternoon, we headed through airports with no delays or luggage mishaps to report. The only minor complaint for the trip here was during the flight from Seattle to Reykjavik, where I found myself seated next to a young man who seemed to have brought along a persistent hacking cough and an aversion to personal hygiene. Hopefully, he wasn’t contagious! After making it through Seattle and Reykjavik airports,…
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Elevating Our Adventures
I recently bought myself a drone and I’m looking forward to taking it with us to Norway. It will allow us to get a fresh perspective, so to speak. I’ve wanted to get a drone for a while now. I use them regularly for real estate listing photography and videography, but until now I’ve always hired someone for the service. Moving forward, however, I’ll be able to do my own. With our trip less than two months away, this seemed like a perfect time to get some practice in before we leave. And I do need practice! This thing may…
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Decoding ‘Uff da!’: Unraveling the Nordic Expression
In a recent chat with my almost 8-year-old granddaughters, I casually dropped an “Uff da!” prompting them to question its meaning. Attempting to define this age-old Norwegian phrase proved challenging, as it’s a bit like saying “Oh dear” or “Oh my.” Intrigued, I delved into the depths of the internet to unearth the origins and variations of “Uff da.” Discovering multiple spellings like Uffda, Ufda, and even Oofta, I learned that in Danish and older Norwegian, it’s often spelled Uf, while in modern Norwegian, it’s Uff. Regardless of the spelling, its essence remains the same—an exclamation conveying irritation, surprise, discomfort,…