mmm-yoso!!!

Tromsø - Dinner at Mathallen

We'd had a fun day exploring Tromsø. It was so different from San Diego. Polar night is fascinating and a bit disorienting as noon seems like dusk and by 2pm it looks like had fallen. We really only had time for one dinner in Tromsø since the previous evening we'd been "Chasing the Aurora". We had decided to stay close to the apartment, just kind of chill and relax, and had made dinner reservations at the highly regarded Mathallen. Locally sourced ingredients and they had something on the menu I wanted to try....and no, it's not reindeer.

We had early reservations, which really didn't matter, since it already was so dark it felt like 9pm.

The menu was really small, with only four starters and three mains.

And like almost every other restaurant we had dinner at in Norway, they had an open kitchen.

We love the bread in Scandanavia and Mathallen was no exception. Also, I had wanted to visit Mack Brewery, founded in 1877, it is the northernmost brewery in the world. But we had run out of time, so I settled for a Mack Pilsner at Mathallen. Not very distinctive in flavor; very light and easy to drink.

The Missus started with the King Crab Soup (185 NOK - about $22/US). Yes, that's right, this bowl of soup was over twenty bucks.

Not too much crab, but the soup was nice and rich and obviously made with a very good seafood stock. Loved the texture which coated the tongue quite nicely.

We just couldn't seem to get enough pickled herring, so I ordered the Christmas Herring (155 NOK - $18.50/US).

This was delici-yoso!!! Just a couple of bites, but man, the herring melted in your mouth. It wasn't fishy in the least; very savory, and I'm thinking the Aquavit really added a nice touch of sweetness.

The Missus went with the "Catch of the Day", Cod (320 NOK - about $39/US).

She enjoyed it and said it was nicely cooked.

Since we were in Norway, I really wanted to try Lutefisk, which is made by air-drying fish, usually cod. A few weeks (yes weeks) before serving it is soaked in water for a week, then in lye (!!!) for two days. At which time it's pretty much poisonous. It is then soaked in water for another ten days to make edible.

I ordered the Lutefisk (575 NOK - $70/US). Yep, about seventy bucks US.....yikes!

The process gives the fish a jelly like texture, which was a bit odd. At least you can't complain about dry fish here, eh? Apparently, during the last set of soaking, the fish becomes so hydrated that you don't need to add any liquid to "boil" the fish! It also has a fairly strong smell; but not too bad. The flavor is fairly mild, on the briny salty side. It definitely needed the lardons and mustard sauce for flavor. Those brown shavings are Brunost, a brown "cheese" that is made from milk, cream, and whey. It has a very interesting slightly sweet and yeasty flavor. The mashed peas were very bland, the potatoes, simply done were delicious.

It was an interesting meal, the service was fine, not as friendly as at other places in Scandanavia. And heck, I'm not opposed to having lutefisk again.......

Mathallen
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway
Hours:
Tues - Sat 1130am - 11pm

We took the short walk back to the apartment and relaxed. I just sat at the window and watched the snow flurries come in.

Our flight from Tromsø was scheduled for 1030 am. We got up, packed and walked over to the stop for the airport bus.

It was 8am in the morning......

And it looked like midnight. We watched these guys working on the roof of a building across from the stop. Man, I sure wouldn't want to be doing that during the winter.

The airport in Tromsø is fairly small.

But SAS actually has a small lounge.

Where we were able to grab breakfast.

While staring off into the snow......

I'm not sure we'll ever be back in Tromsø, but we really enjoyed our time here. It was a great experience, but we were now looking ahead.

Next stop.....Amsterdam.

Exploring Tromsø and Lunch from Mathallen Deli

Because of polar winter, it was really hard to tell what time it was when we awoke. It had snowed quite a bit the night before.

This is what the apartment's parking lot looked like as we headed out.

I had planned two nights in Tromsø just in case we missed seeing the Aurora Borealis on the first night. So, since we'd been rather successful  the night before we had a free day to just wander around. Most of Tromsø is located on an island (Tromsøya) and we wanted to see what options for tours and such were available, so we headed down to the TI.

Storgata and Kirkegata are two of the main streets in this city of about 70,000 people. We'd prepared rather well for this trip; I found that my silk base layer, in spite of being very light (a plus when travelling light), was actually quite warm. I only needed the bottom layer during our time in Norway, but the top layer was used during the whole trip. So we walked along the streets down to the TI near the port area.

Along the way we passed Tromsø Domkirka (Tromsø Cathedral), the northernmost Protestant Cathedral in the world.

The Cathedral was completed in 1861. And can hold 800 people.

It started snowing a bit as we neared the TI.

This is a memorial for Richard With a Norweigan businessman and politician who was born in Tromsø. You can see the snow as it blew by the memorial stone.

And yet, this didn't bother us much.....we were enjoying the novelty of it all. Also, the rather stark grey and white made lights and colors really stand out.

I wasn't quite sure what the significance of the statue of famous Norweigan explorer Roald Amundsen was to Tromsø.

Until I read that he lived his final years in Tromsø. In 1928 set off on a rescue mission, it was his last expedition as his plane crashed and the remains of the crew were never found.

We got to the TI and inquired about some tours; but most were either all day affairs or something we really weren't interested in doing. The really nice young man suggested walking across the Tromsø Bridge to visit the Arctic Cathedral. So we decided on doing that. So, that's the bridge and the cathedral from where we were at the port.

So we headed off......

It really didn't take too long to reach the very striking Ishavskatedralen (Arctic Cathedral).

You get a great view of the city from here.

Though I was distracted by the rather random "Artic Phone Booth".

I think the stark background really made the red color of the phone booth really stand out.

Meanwhile, the Missus was distracted by the trees.

We really had a great time just walking around and taking photos. Of a place so different from San Diego.

After a short while we decided to head on back.

While crossing the bridge I looked up. I saw the dark clouds approaching and said "oh-uh". Just as the high winds and flurries hit us.

I think the cars crossing on the bridge must have thought, "there's two more crazy tourists....."

The snow flurries stopped just as we finished crossing the bridge (of course) and I shook off the snow that had accumulated on my shoulders and head...shaking like some bear awakening from slumber.

We headed back towards the apartment on Grønnegata.

As we walked past Bardus, where we had a late lunch the day before, we saw this striking building to our right and decided to take a look.

The building is the Kongsbakken Upper Secondary School and that area in front of it Kongeparken (Royal Park).

For some reason, the statue of King Olav V seemed dark and brooding, staring at us. It kind of creeped us out.

We walked along the street named Verstregata where I noticed that the view looked really nice near some apartments. We then noticed that there were some stairs leading to an outdoor area. We enjoyed the view of the city from here.

Worried that we might be trespassing, we quickly took photos and headed back to the street.

Heading back down to Grønnegata and decided to make dinner reservations at Mathallen which was literally one block from our apartment. We'd be taking things easy this evening.

After making our reservations, we decided on getting lunch from Mathallen's Deli which was right next door. For some reason, the cold really dampened our appetite.

We got the Baked Cod and Creamed Fish Soup.

Of course the fish was very good, fresh, moist....though fairly bland overall.

We actually enjoyed the potatoes.

I wasn't sure what the Creamed Fish Soup was going to be like; but this was very good. Not too thick, fairly light, yet hearty.

The fish was very tender; the vegetables, especially the celeriac were delicious. I'm not a big fan of cream soup, but this was just right.....warming and hearty and quite good with bread.

Mathallen Delikatesser
Grønnegata 58-60
Tromsø, Norway

A very nice pre-nap meal.

Thanks for reading!

Tromsø - Chasing the Aurora and Lunch at Bardus Bistro

So, you might be wondering why Tromsø? Well, seeing he Northern Lights was a "bucket list" item for the Missus. We missed out on the Northern Lights in Iceland the previous year. I wanted to have the best shot at seeing them on this trip. Granted, there are many great places to see the Aurora Borealis from above the Artic Circle, but I chose Tromso for several reasons. I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not much of a roughing it kind of guy. So while your friendly neighborhood mining town, no matter how large would be great for some, I wanted something that would be more suited to the soft American in me. Tromsø while being 250 miles above the Artic Circle is home to the world's northernmost university. The city has an international airport and I'm not much of an outdoorsy kind of guy. I just figured Tromsø would be a better fit.

So did we see the Northern Lights?

More on that later.....

If you looked at the last photo in my previous Tromsø post, you'd notice how wet the streets were. Yes, it was drizzling off and on as we awoke from our short afternoon nap. It was 3pm, but could have just as easily been midnight. Most "Chasing the Aurora" tours are large motorcoach kind of things. I paid a bit more for a small group (no more than 15) tour. Since these tours can be up to 10-12 hours long, I thought it best to get something to eat.

It was still drizzling outside, so we decided to head on over to Bardus Bistro which was three blocks away.

While I'd heard that Bardus can get pretty full, it was fairly quiet at 330pm, so we easily managed to get a seat. Plus, they serve up the lunch menu until 4pm.

You really can't go wrong with fish in Norway, so the Missus ordered the catch of the day. In this case it was Pollack.

You couldn't complain about the fish; it was nicely seasoned, cooked well, very moist, and very mild. It was the barley risotto that we really enjoyed. Nutty, with a great "chew", we both enjoyed it.

I had wanted the Reindeer Steak, but they were out, ditto the Duck Confit. I really wasn't very hungry, so in the end, I just went with the soup of the day....Cauliflower.

This was a good sized portion. I wasn't too much of a fan though as it had too much cheese, almost stringy, like a fondue, too salty, and really didn't have any cauliflower flavor. At least it was very hearty and could hold me over all night.

Bardus Bistro
Cora Sandels gate 4
Tromsø, Norway

This is how the place looks during the day.

We were to meet outside the Tourist Office at 6pm for pick-up. The rain had turned to sleet. When we arrived at the now closed TI it was getting pretty cold.

By the way, that's a usual bus chasing the aurora tour you see across the way. Overcast skies meant that things didn't look very promising. But we were here....

Our guide worked really hard using both what was available in terms of weather forecasts and maps. We were also told to bring our passports, in case we'd have to drive all the way into Finland.

Eventually, we found a clearing, a place that's a usual stop. And while it was difficult to actually see the Aurora Borealis with the naked eye, our cameras, with the right settings were much more successful. In fact, I would scan the sky with my camera and the sensors would pick up the Northern Lights.

Meanwhile the folks leading the tour would provide tripods and help folks get the settings right on our cameras.

I'm sure the Missus wanted the ultimate pulsing Northern Lights she saw at Aurora Reykjavik, but this was nature, the real world, I'd take whatever it would give to us.

The second part of the tour was to have a campfire and soup in the wilderness. So we stopped somewhere....I'm not sure where, and hiked into the forest from the road. I've never walked in knee-high snow before so it was quite different. No matter what your dad said about walking in two feet of snow uphill both ways; it ain't easy. One of the more portly women fell face first in the snow......man, it was really hard getting her upright! We finally found a clearing.....

 

A fire was started and soup was passed around. We had reindeer soup, which was fine if a bit salty.

And then of course, there's me, in a thermal suit......looking like a Ultraman wannabe......

And having a couple of young males on the trip; well, they had to compete at things like; how fast can I climb crawl up the hill in two feet of snow......which was kind of funny.

All in all, we spent about nine hours on this tour. There was a couple who had tried the previous night, a total of ten hours with no results, so I felt pretty lucky. Most folks were sleeping on the drive back, but I watched as we drove thru two snowstorms. It was so fascinating to me, so different from where we live.

We got back to the apartment at 2am. After taking a shower I sat with a cup of tea and watched the waves of snow come in.

There would be a flurry, then it would stop. A few minutes later, the next flurry would come in.

We live in such an amazing world; I felt blessed to be able to be here and experience some of it.

From Oslo to Tromso

Our flight from Oslo was scheduled to leave at 1135am. I picked our hotel specifically because it was next to train station; the Flytoget High Speed Train to the airport leaves the train station about every ten minutes arriving at Gardermoen Airport in about 20 minutes. Another reason for picking the hotel; well breakfast. In this case breakfast was served in the Scandic Byporten location of the Egon Restaurants chain right across the walkway from the hotel.

It was still pretty dark at 730 in the morning here in Oslo.

Every breakfast features smoked salmon and-or pickled herring in these parts. Something I really enjoy for breakfast. The Missus enjoys the dark and dense rye breads and soft boiled eggs.

Nothing fancy, but enough to keep us until dinner if necessary.

We checked out, walked across the way to the train station, bought our tickets to the airport from the ticket machine (180 NOK - about $20/each) and got to the airport in no time.

Our flight to Tromso was quite punctual taking off on time. The flight was a quick two hours. It was quite interesting to see the landscape rapidly change as we headed North.

As things changed to what looked desolate a far as the eye could see.

As we got closer to our destination; Tromso, things looked even colder.

Our flight arrived at 125pm sharp. As we only do carry-on, we found the Flybussen; the Aiport Express Bus in rather good time, paid the driver and got aboard.

So here's what things looked like 145pm

Tromso has what they call Polar Night. During this time of the year, while it's not completely dark during mid-day, the sun never rises above the horizon. To quote this nice piece from Atlantic Magazine by Kari Leibowitz (date July 1, 2015):

    "Located over 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Tromsø, Norway, is home to extreme light variation between seasons. During the Polar Night, which lasts from November to January, the     sun doesn’t rise at all."

We found it quite fascinating, somewhat disorienting, and quite different. Like the article says; we found the folks in Tromso to be quite friendly and cheerful, in spite of the almost constant darkness. For some reason, the movie 30 Days of Night kept coming to mind.

Anyway, the airport bus stopped a couple of blocks from the apartment we were staying at. The owner was a very friendly guy. The apartment was spacious, with everything we needed in walking distance.

It also had a view of the street below that I would find mesmerizing.

We decided to take a short rest, then go ahead and grab something to eat.

There were plans for a very busy night ahead of us!

Thanks for reading!

Oslo - Dinner at Arakataka

We'd done a good amount of walking in Oslo, so we settled in for a nice nap. I awoke to the sound of a ships horn. I looked out the window, it was already getting dark at 430pm, and I saw the cruise ship we'd arrived on leaving the harbor.

It was time to wake up. We had dinner reservations at...surprise, a place the Missus picked out. I managed to get reservations at Arakataka which seemed a bit off the beaten path, though it was only a half mile away. The darkness probably had something to do with it.

The restaurant was rather small with an even smaller open kitchen.

The bar area was a bit larger, but the place was still not very large. The Hostess and our Server were amazing. Very knowledgeable, amiable, and just so nice. I mentioned being told to try the Aquavit in Norway; specifically Aquavit Linie. Man, this stuff is good. I ended up bringing back a couple of bottles. I'll tell more about it in a future post.

Most folks were getting the tasting menu, but having a bunch of tasting menu meals coming, we decided to order from the menu. And it turned out to be the perfect thing to do.

The weakest item of the night was the Potato Bread and Smoked Artic Char.

The potato bread was on the soggy side, the flavor of the char very mild and lost under all those greens and herbs.

Things turned around with the rather interesting Rutabaga, Porcini, and Pecorino. Which looked nothing like what I had imagined it would.

Thinly sliced and made pliable; the rutabaga had a nice crunch, the fragrance of porcini danced around the plate, and the pecorino added a nice milky-saltiness which really elevated this dish.

The Reindeer Tartare, Beetroot, and Juniper was another nice combination.

The mild, clean flavor of the reindeer, matched with the sweetness of the beets, and the tartness of the juniper was a surprisingly nice combination!

The Dry Aged Pork was nice and tender....and yes, it medium rare, making it ever so moist.

But the real winner was the combination of shaved black truffle and kale. Another interesting and rather delicious combination of earthy flavors with the crunch and bitterness of the kale.

The Skate was so buttery and mildly sweet. A wonderful piece of fish....the Missus claims one of the best She's had.

But I really enjoyed the pungent-mildly garlicky ramps and the savory and almost briney flavor of the salsify. We were both enjoying vegetables that we really don't get much back home in San Diego.

Of course we had to order the Duck, Cabbage, and Lingonberries, which looked quite lovely.

 A nice sliced duck breast on the right. Nice and gamey. Slices of duck confit under roasted wild cabbage, lingonberries, with black garlic. This looked and tasted wonderful itself. But then another bowl arrived and was poured on the dish.

A espuma of duck confit, hearts, skin and barley......

Good lord! This was like being invited into duck heaven! The texture of the duck hearts were especially satisfying.

We were wiped out after this hefty dish and had no room for dessert. Another glass of Aquavit....well, one does need a digestif, right?

This was probably our favorite meal in Scandinavia. It had the right combination of comfort, flavor, and interesting, yet tasty dishes that were nicely seasoned and kept our attention. While the combinations were interesting, nothing was so over-the-top to be strange. And like all the places we ate at in Scandinavia, service was so friendly.

Arakataka
Mariboes Gate 7
Oslo, Norway

As we were finishing up dinner, we noticed a large queue lining up one block over. The Missus was curious. So we walked over after dinner and asked what was going on. We were told that there was a concert going on....and then in the typical Norweigan way, we were told that there were "still tickets available....so please, if you're interested we'll be happy to have you...." Such nice folks!

It was pretty chilly as we walked back to the hotel.

And yet Oslo was so relaxed.....it definitely had an affect on you.

We headed back and got to sleep early. Tomorrow, we'd be flying to a city 250 miles above the Artic Circle. It was going to be an interesting day for a kid from Hawaii.....

Thanks for reading!

Oslo - The National Gallery and Lunch at Grande Café

Though there we buses, shuttles, and taxis queued up as we disembarked from the overnight cruise we decided to walk to our hotel.

Our hotel was located in the Byporten (City Gate) Shopping Mall. Since we'd only be spending one night in Oslo, this was the perfect location as it was next door to the Central Train Station, with direct service to the airport.

Upon completing the twenty-five minute walk from the cruise ship terminal, we arrived at the train station and Byporten. We knew it when we were greeted by this fellow.

"Tiger City" (Tigerstaden) is Oslo's nickname and this statue stands proudly in the square in front of Østbanehallen and the Train Station. We quickly stored our bags....we were too early for check-in and headed out.

The main street of Oslo's downtown area is Karl Johans Gate, which stretches from the train station to the Royal Palace. We decided to check out the National Gallery as it held a painting that both the Missus and I wanted to see.

Along the way we passed the Oslo Cathedral, which was built in 1697.

It is actually Oslo's third cathedral; the first was abandoned when King Christian IV decided to move the city west to be within the protected confines of Akershus Fortress. The second was completed in 1639, only to burn down fifty years later.

One of the things that caught our eye was this carving.

I later read that this corner stone is a thousand years old. It was taken from Oslo's first cathedral and placed here when the church was being built.

We peeked in the door and were welcomed in, but didn't spend much time as it was Sunday and there were services being held.

 

Across the way is the public square known as Stortorvet. The statue of Christian IV hovers above the square.

From there the boulevard turns into a mass of chain stores and such for a while.

Until you get to the long stately boulevard that leads to the Royal Palace.

On this day there was a lively Christmas Market right on the main street.

You couldn't help but stop at the skating rink and watch parents teaching the children how to skate....not always successfully.....

But quite charming nonetheless.

On our way to the National Gallery we took a wrong turn and ended up looking at this huge building. Turns out it's Oslo's City Hall.

A quick note; this is where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented every 10th of December. There's also supposed to be some really nice art pieces, but we needed to get to our destination.

A quick turn back and past the National Theatre.

We found the National Gallery. There are quite a number of famous works here....but of course we came to see....

The Scream by Edvard Munch. There's something so compelling about this work...panic, fear, anxiety.... To quote Munch himself:

"I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

There was one other work that really made an impact on us. It is entitled, "A Sick Girl", by Christian Krohg. It is a painting of a young lady dying of tuberculosis. The painting is so realistic....you meet the stare of the child who seems to look right through you. You see suffering, you see fear, you see the rose in the grasp of the girl slowly falling apart. Whoa.... heavy stuff.

We headed back to our hotel to see if we could check in. On the way back, as we walked past the historic Grand Hotel.

The hotel's restaurant, the Grand Café is pretty well known, once the hang out of intelligentsia and the elite, it just seemed a nice place to stop for some coffee so we stepped in.

The service is not overly formal, though there's definitely an old world vibe to the place. As you can easily tell by the folks having lunch and coffee when we arrived.

There's a famous mural showing some of the cafe's famous clientele (the "Kristiania Bohemians"), like Munch and Henrik Ibsen.

The Café actually closed down in 2015, but was reopened in 2016 with some modern touches....which probably included the open kitchen.

The menu seemed quite interesting so we decided to have a nice snack in addition to our coffee.

Starting with the Pork Cracklins with Parsley and Black Truffle Sauce.

The pork cracklins were very light and crisp and not greasy in the least. The sauce was on the weaker side in terms of truffle flavor; but we loved the way it coated the pork skins. Which tasted just fine on their own as well.

We also had the Horse Carpaccio.

While I wasn't sure what to make of the plantain chips; this truly isn't what I'd call a Nordic ingredient; the horse was cold, clean tasting, a hint of sweetness to it and very tender. The light mustard and sesame dressing really brought out a savory element in the dish. The carpaccio was wrapped around some lightly crisp, yet very tender salsify, which added another layer of a distinct taste to things. It's hard to describe the flavor. It's not parsnip, but almost slightly savory-briney in a way. This was really lovely!

The service was excellent; not overly stuffy, but quite professional. The prices aren't cheap, but we'd gladly return. There's a kind of casual elegance and refinement that a storied history brings....though I'm very much the uncouth visitor.

Grand Café
Karl Johans Gate 31
Oslo, Norway

The snack was perfect as it held us until dinner and fueled us for the walk back to our hotel. Our room was ready when we returned. After not getting much sleep the night before, even the coffee we had with lunch couldn't keep us awake. It was time for a short nap. Then we'd head out for dinner. This time, the Missus had chosen the place.

Thanks for reading!

The DFDS Overnight Cruise - Copenhagen to Oslo

As I mentioned in my previous post; I'd made reservations to take the overnight cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo. I thought this would be interesting for several reasons; first, the Missus had never been on a "cruise" and I thought this would be a nice way to see if this suited Her. Second, the Missus just doesn't care to see the same folks day after day. This was an overnight cruise, so I didn't think we'd be seeing the same folks all the time. Third, in terms of price, $269, think of it as a room and transportation, I thought it reasonable. A quick note on prices, there were fares as low as $88. But, having a read a few posts and I actually know two people who have done this, it became quite clear that a lot of young people take the cruise because booze is so cheap......international, duty free and all. So, since we'd be leaving on a Saturday night, more comfortable accommodations, I believe we had what they called "Commodore De Luxe" class would suite us well.

That's the view from our cabin. Our room was very comfortable.

And there was an attendant who went over our cabin with us....including the mini-bar with complimentary sparkling wine, beer, and water.

There was also a lounge for folks in Commodore Class, which was a really nice touch.

Complimentary beer, wine, drinks, and snacks.

Right out the door was the deck. Even though it was winter, the views were quite nice.

Soon we were underway. We decided to take a look around. Here's our Captain for this cruise.

The Duty Free Shop was a feeding frenzy of folks buying up cheap booze, clothes, and other stuffs. It was kind of crazy so we just headed back to our cabin.

We decided to get an early dinner. I'd spent an extra $40 for the "Christmas Buffet" dinner. So we headed down to that dining room. There weren't very many people eating at 530pm.

It was quite a generous spread; but much of it wasn't to our liking.

We enjoyed the pickled herring and smoked fish the best.

Much of it was either too salty, over-cooked, and just not prepared to our taste.

I was excited to try the game meats, but was also disappointed in preparations. Lacking in flavor other than being really salty.

The Missus and I split up and came back with a sampling of the various dishes.

In the end; we might have been better off just grabbing a sandwich and relaxing. Though the smoked and pickled fish were quite good.

After dinner we just went up to the lounge and relaxed.

Before ending our evening, we took one more walk around. At 9pm there already were folks feeling....well, pretty good. One guy was doing the Tarzan yell down one of the hallways! It was time to call it a night. After a nightcap of course.

The location of our room was very quiet, except for the two guys pounding on some door at 2am in the morning.

As for the Missus; well, She had a hard time sleeping. Not because of the movement or noise, but because of the vibration of the boat. So, I didn't get a ton of sleep either.

We decided to get an early breakfast. The "Commodore's Breakfast" was included in the price of our cabin and was in a different dining room than the regular buffet breakfast.

The selection and quality was decent.

More pickled herring and smoked salmon.

We took the long way back to the cabin. We enjoyed spending time on the deck.

In spite of the cold; it was really neat watching the ship slowly arrive in Oslo.

Soon enough we'd arrived at around 945am. Folks gathered to disembark and it was a bit of a cattle-call.

Though I'm certain it wasn't everyone....especially the folks who drank the night away.

As for us...well, it was a brand new day....and we'd arrived in Oslo!

Where in the world are we - Part 1

After all the long hours of work, the Missus and I finally took off for a break.

There were two main objectives on this trip.

I can say that we accomplished the first.

And visited some great places along the way.

And also checked out some of the usual tourist sights as well.

And of course, there was the food.

And learned some new things along the way. About stuff like “Polar Night”....

Which gets pretty darn cold.

We’re now in a warmer (it’s all relative) locale and enjoying the early winter weather.

So that’s it for now.....please don’t “Scream” at me.

And don’t be offended.....

Let’s strike up the band and celebrate the season!

Cathy will be back with another new post soon!

Thanks for stopping by.