Author: Ella

Post by Ella. Before leaving for this trip, I found a short kindle book, “How to have an Adventure in Scandinavia”, by a 30 year old guy named Rafael Coronelli. It is not a guide, exactly, but seemed to be a compendium of his journals or blog posts. I wondered how useful it would be…

Post by Ella Island hopping in the Oslofjord. Ferry, Ferry and more Ferries.

Post by Ella Grünerløkka, one of the areas we wandered yesterday, is known for its tons of design boutiques, small art galleries and vintage shops. Of course, everything was closed because it was Constitution Day, except for the sidewalk pubs. They were crowded with young people, all in bundag (traditional dress), drinking beer. Many didn’t…

Post by Ella. By a parade of epic proportions. In celebration of Constitution Day. Sort of like July 4 for us Americans but the history is a little more muddled. The Constitution signed in 1814 establish Norway as an independent kingdom but shared a monarch with Sweden. It wasn’t until 1905 that Norway became completely…

Today is Constitution Day and the place was mobbed.  We headed up the street and ran straight into the parade, which went on forever. Then we hoofed it up to the Telthusbakken and Damstredet historical areas, stopping in at Ibsen’s and Munch’s graves.

Post by Ella. We did ramble well off the tourist-beaten path as we made our way to the Intercultural Museum yesterday, a rainy day. But a soft, mellow rain. Rain jackets would suffice but I borrowed the apartment’s umbrella and Grubb, of course, had brought his own.  We’re walking along, the streets start getting narrower,…

Post by Ella. Yesterday we decided to have our dinner at home. At the end of the day, we stopped at a large Co-op market for supplies. I haven’t been drinking much this trip and Grubb gave it up a few years ago but I was in the mood for some wine. Norway isn’t known…

Post by Ella Is the name of a furniture store. Who doesn’t love retro modern utopian furniture? A small shop, two floors packed with furniture stuff. In a building undergoing construction, we had to navigate scaffolding to enter. We paused in front of this beauty (below) thinking it would be the most uncomfortable ever. The…

From Home to the Intercultural Museum on foot     to Utopia Retro Modern by bus     to Kon-Tiki Museum by bus     to City Hall by Ferry     to the Co-op (grocery store) by foot To home by foot

Post by Ella Sunday, 5/14 Foot, bus, ferry Home on foot to Froganer Park (3.8 km) Froganer Park to Fram museum by bus (4.7 km of which 1.4 km was a walk to the other side of the park to the bus stop). Maybe because it was Sunday and everyone was headed to Bygdøskogen Nasjonale…

Post by Ella. Ruter is the name of the company operating the majority of the  public transportation system for Oslo and it’s immediate surroundings. A senior, 7 day pass for unlimited rides on busses, trams, subway and some ferries was $16.00. Ruters has an app, naturally. We bought our passes on the app. Now we have…

Post by Ella Grubb will say his piece about the Munch museum. How could I not give it a mention? The architecture was fascinating. I would have loved to sit in on those design meetings. My favorite place was the room where one could play artist. Engraved into a large table were a dozen of…

Post by Ella But first, let me set the scene.  Dinner at Louise. Despite good reviews and being way overpriced (okay, yes, we knew that from the menu pricing), dinner was a major disappointment. To start with, we chose Toast Skagen (a Swedish dish) which tasted like macaroni salad with too much mayo except it…

Post by Ella. Great views. Great location, mostly. Self check in. No keys required. The front door of the apartment building is opened with an app called UnLoc. Our host, Paul, sent us the digital key. When you are at the door, open the app, it finds the right digital key and then you tap…

Post by Ella. Yesterday was a travel day. One of those days where much of the day is spent waiting. Our train wasn’t until 2:15. We had a late breakfast and hung-out in our room until nearly checkout time (noon). We slow rolled the 10 minute walk to the Gothenburg train station. We walked up…