On the bus
Near John & Judy's flat; ski jump in distance
Oslo from ski jump
John & Judy's flat, highlighted in green
Timothy showing how high the ski jump is
Some work for Apple's or Nestlé's legal department
On Friday, Clara, Timothy, Karen, and Erik all hopped on a bus in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the start of a 13-hour trip to Oslo. If we weren't moving to Vermont, we would definitely take this bus to Logan airport again: it saved us time, effort, and money compared to other options.
IcelandAir was also a real treat. The food was consistently excellent and each flight that we took arrived on time, except once when we delayed our takeoff by 10 minutes to wait for a connecting flight. One of the best reasons to take IcelandAir, though, is to get the chance to see Iceland -- but more of that in a few days.
We arrived in Oslo at noon on Saturday (they're six hours ahead of our local time). Karen's mom, Judy, was there to pick us up and show us which bus to take to their neighborhood, Røa.
We didn't do much on that first Saturday, of course, -- but we relaxed, unpacked, and played with the cool blocks that Judy had made from milk and juice cartons and papier maché. We brought home some pizza from Piccolo Pizza.
John and Judy's flat is in a cosy neighborhood of 10 or 12 small apartment/townhouse buildings; there are lots of trees and plantings and the buildings are arranged in such a manner that no one is forced to look into anyone else's yard or flat. Car-free lanes connect these buildings with roads outside the neighborhood, and after school there are almost always a half-dozen Norwegian children playing with jump ropes, soccer balls, etc.
On Sunday, after listening to the church bells, we went off to visit the Holmenkollen ski jump, first built in 1892; at that point, the jump was only 22 meters high; today, it's 126 meters. From the top of the jump, we saw a great view of Oslo and the Oslo fjord. Almost more interesting, though, was the ski museum, where we saw skis from as early as the 10th century, the clothing and tools used by Roald Amundsen and others, and ski equipment used by the Norwegian royal family. We're not skiers, but this was a fascinating exhibit nonetheless.
On May 28th, we saw the Kon-Tiki, the Ra II, and the Fram.