Arrive in Oslo, Norway at 1:45 pm. Passport control is a cake walk - just show your passport, smile and they walk you through. A beautiful airport that they are already enlarging- very Scandinavian in design.
Given our air flight travails of yesterday, I wasn't surprised when all luggage, except my checked bag, rolled off the carousel. We were just about try to locate baggage claim when the errant bag rolled off the carousel - lucky for Norway.
To our surprise, our prepaid tour guide (Birgitte) and driver (Odd, yes that is his name) were waiting for us. There was a moment of negotiation when they said they were going to charge us an extra hour of wait time due to the delay, but after a gentle suggestion that they take it up with United, they calmed down.
They took us around the city of Oslo, pointing out many interesting sites. We went to the pier/bay area near the base of the original city, toured the City Hall (a true treasure where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each December 10) stopped atop the hill where the international high ski jump is located, toured a true log lodge used for a restaurant, and then to the outdoor sculpture park, an amazing accomplishment with countless granite and bronze statuary, all the vision of one artist, Gustav Viegland, who died in 1943. A true tour de force of naturalism and the human form. Astounding beauty and setting, the grounds and gardens must have covered over 100 acres.
On to the Thon Hotel on Ronsekrntz. A very comfortable and modern facility. Our pleasant surprise here is that both dinner and breakfast were included in our already reasonable room rate.
After a tasty dinner of beef stew (titled beef bourginon, but far from the Julia Child original recipe I learned,) new potatoes, bread and salad, we topped with a nice bottle of organic Montepulciano. Very tasty.
Off for a short post prandial stroll and then back to the hotel to retire by 8:45. All in all, a nice first day with a very rocky start, but wonderful "mouth feel and finish."
Southern France and Andorra, May 19 through May 23
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