Europe Part 2

 Country number two was Norway.  We were in Nord Odal and Oslo. Our flight was on time and we made our way to the car rental place.  Our data was still out at this point, but thankfully the car had a navigation system to get us to Eva's house.  The kids revisted a lot of there old none data apps on the hour drive to Nord Odal.  Troy was soon tired of the fancy new car that beeped every time he went above the speed limit!

We spent a lot of time chatting with Eva and eventaully went out to see the Troftgruben mine and church.  The kids were both very patient and good during this whole time.  They were pleased to learn later that Eva had wifi and the were reconnected for a bit!

The sign for the mine and the actually mine.

Eva and Jan put out quite the spread for dinner.  There was meat and cheese, a few salads, lefse with salmon, eggs, bread, crackers, and rommegrot (a traditional sour cream dish).  Both kids were brave and tried a few things.  Troy and I thought it was all delicious.  It was nice chatting with Eva and Jan about differences between our two countries.

Delicious dinner spread

Day Two in Norway was our day trip to Rollag. (And happily our data was back!)  This is where Troy's mother's side is from.  We got a later start after visiting with Eva a bit.  It was a three hour drive.  We stopped for something to eat at a conveneince store and tried to charge the car.  It was complicated and we held off until the way home.  We finally arrived and got a tour of the Stave church Troy's ancestor attended.  He was thrilled!  He had hoped to see a farm where she came from too, but there was no way to find that.  

The church Troy's great grandmother attended.

Then we headed back to Eva's.  We did stop to charge the car.  It took 20 minutes which gave us time for snacks!  We also discovered the google translate app at this point which was very helpful! We were all tired and hungry when we arrived at 7:30.  We ended up getting some frozen pizza to cook at Eva's.  We ended the day with cookies and Danny Gonzalez.

Charging the car and snack time while we waited.

The third day in Norway was traveling to Oslo.  We had to return the car, and then catch a train to Oslo.  Our hotel was right next to the station.  It was a beautiful hotel and our room was nice with a huge bed!  Sadly, the second bed was just a pullout couch.  Troy and I adapted!  We were soon off to join a walking tour of Oslo.  We learned all kinds of historical things about the city and some fo the buildings.  We saw saunas in the harbor, the Munch museum, the palace, really old buildings, and the opera house.

A beautiful hotel room and lobby!

Old buildings in the middle of Oslo

Suanas and the opera house in the background.

It was Timothy's baptism day, so he helped pick dinner.  We ate at Bastard Burger.  Sort of like Smash Burger.  It was good food and we got free tattoos that we all put on!  Troy tried to find some ice cream for dessert, but google was not helpful.  We stumbled on a Churro/ ice cream place that was perfect!

Our first full day in Oslo was a trip to the amusement park--Tusenfryd.  We were up for breakfast by 8:30.  The breakfast here was amazing.  They had a huge buffet that pretty much had any food you could want.  I loved the grainy breads.  Troy liked the fish and cheese. Teresa liked the yogurt and granola. And Timothy liked the pancakes.

We took a bus to the amusement park and got there just as it opened.  Timothy and Troy kicked things off with a coaster together.  Then Teresa joined Timothy on another coaster.  It was not a huge park, so we made our way from ride to ride.  Troy, Timothy and Teresa went on most of them.  I just carried the backpack and people watched!  I got some ice cream there that had the crunchy sprinkles I remember from Bergen.

We finished up at the amusement park and made it back to Oslo for dinner.  We at at Pepe's Pizza.  We all enjoyed the food--great pizza and "nachips". We ended up eating there our last evening too! We did some shopping on the way back to the hotel.  I got a hat, Teresa got postcards and Timothy got socks.

Our second day in Oslo started at the Reptile museum.  It was small but we all enjoyed seeing the animals.  We did some shopping after that.  Troy got his sweater and Teresa found an ornament.  The afternoon was a trip to the Vigeland Sculpture park and the swimming pool.  Truthfully, the pool was the bigger hit.  Troy, Timothy and Teresa all got in the pool.  Troy and Timothy were the brave ones and slowly conquered the diving boards.  There were boards at 3, 5, 7 and 10 meters!  It was the platform boards like at the Olympics.  They were very brave!  We ate dinner at Pepe's again.  Troy, Teresa and I ended the night walking around and atop the Opera House.

We had to check out of our hotel at 10.  We left our bags in storage and set out for the Folk Museum.  We took a boat there.  Troy and I had been here years ago, but it did not seem quite as interesting this time.  There were lots of interesting older homes, and a stave church.  I think the kids will likely remember the cat we saw playing with and eating a mouse!

We did a little more shopping in Oslo, and then took the train to the airport.  We looked at duty free items a bit and then found some food for dinner.  We found our gate and waited for our 7 pm flight to Amsterdam.