Couchsurfing in Oslo

I really love Bergen! What a beautiful city. I had such a great time staying at Helge's place. The first night I stayed there, I met him when he was done with school, and it was pouring rain and totally miserable out. So we went to his apartment and I unloaded all my sopping wet bags and he brewed some jasmine tea and we sat there in his cozy living room drinking tea and listening to his fabulous record collection. I couldn't have asked for a better evening after such a long and cold wet day of traveling!

He was busy most of the time I was there, but he gave me his spare cell phone and my own set of keys to his flat! So for two days I felt like an independent woman for the first time in a long time. It was a really nice feeling. I also found the big Fretex, Norwegian Salvation Army store, and had a good time feeling right at home shopping for second hand stuff. Found an old leather Nike shoulder bag for $5 that actually seemed like quite a practical purchase because my canvas tote bag was simply not drying after all that frickin rain I put it through. And also cheap embroidered leather hightop sneakers, just because I was feeling so boring with the same 3 outfits for 2 months straight!!

On Friday afternoon, I met up with the lovely Vilde (Anders' daughter) and we drank Chili Kakao (which is really rich cocoa with a ton of chili powder dumped in it) at Vågen (which is an adorable little cafe). Then my good fortune continued, and after wandering the pleasantly dry streets of Bergen for a little while, she invited me over to her place for dinner, with her brother and his friends. So now I've finally met the entire Braanaas family, and I must say, they're all extraordinarily lovely!

I took the train on Saturday from Bergen to Oslo, the same one I'd taken in August the opposite direction. We passed through the same mountains, but this time they were covered in like 3 feet of snow!! It was seriously a winter wonderland. We stopped at all these tiny little mountain villages, and passengers got off the train with their cross country skis, and I got jealous all over again and decided I wanted to be a rugged mountain woman (this from the warm comfort of my cushy train seat, of course).

So right now I'm in Oslo, staying with two really sweet gay boys I found on couchsurfing.com. Medwin is Filippino and his boyfriend Mihai is from Romania. As soon as I arrived on Saturday night, they took me out to a dinner party at their friends house! Fortunately I was warned of this in advance, so I was able to obtain a good bottle of Argentinian wine from Helge to bring them! The friends were a Norwegian-Russian gay couple who'd just recently gotten married and were so happy and sweet and wonderful. We even ate leftover wedding cake for dessert! I should've taken photos but I honestly forgot to. (This is why I don't call myself a photographer)
It was such a fun giggle-filled evening. They were all so welcoming to this stranger who'd just plopped down among them.

On Sunday, Mihai accompanied me around the city for the day. We went to Vigeland Park to see some really strange (and in my opinion, ugly) sculptures. It was perfect weather, so we also went to the Royal Palace, but we couldn't go inside because the flag was raised, which meant the King was there. The King actually lives there, and you can wander around his front yard. Isn't that funny? I'm not used to living Kings, I guess. Hah! We attempted to go to the Munch Museum because one of the guidebooks lied and said it was free after October 1st, when in fact it was like $12, which we didn't feel like spending. So instead we went to the National Gallery, which is most definitely free, and has a whole room full of Munch paintings, including The Scream, which I am not actually a huge fan of anyways (gasp! sacrilege!). But there were a ton of other paintings from various Norwegian artists, and many of them were extraordinarily beautiful, and the museum itself was really nice.
We ended our touristy day by walking along the waterfront to the famous Opera House. I think it's my favorite thing I've seen in Oslo, and I was surprised by how much I loved it, because I'm not even really a fan of weird modern architecture. But oh my god, it's so cool!! It's this strange low white building with incredible textures, and the side of it goes right on down plunging into the sea, and you can walk all over the slanted side and the roof! They have a gorgeous lighting arrangement at night.

This evening, I am meeting up with my friend Jørgen, who I met through his internship with the Woodstock Film Festival back in 2003 when I was working there. I'll be crashing his couch for the next couple of days. So excited for our reunion! Less excited to carry my bag all over the city once again, but hey, maybe I am getting super strong in the process (or just destroying my back, either one..).

Oslo

I'm currently sitting in a little internet cafe in Oslo Station, right around the corner from my hotel.
What did it take me to get here.. hmm. Well, I took a car service to Penn Station where I got on the PATH Train to Newark and then transferred to the Air Train to Liberty Airport where I waited for 4 hours and then flew for 7 hours and landed at Oslo Airport where I had to then catch the NSB train to Oslo Station. Easy peasy!
Oh but I lied in my previous post when I said you won't be disappointed. You will. Already. Because guess who was on my flight from Newark to Oslo? 50 Cent. And his 15 dude entourage. And I didn't document it! So whose to say I'm not making it up? His entourage showed up during final boarding call, but 50 rolled in 10 minutes after we were set to depart. Why is he flying Continental Business Class, is what I am wondering. You'd think a dude who is pretentious enough to make a semi-fictional movie based on his life (and star in it) would only fly his private jet.
But enough about mediocre celebrities. Let's discuss what's really important: coffee and sandwiches!! I'm having trouble with the quick currency conversion in my head (Kuki's parting gift of a calculator watch has proved completely necessary!!) and so I believe that I managed to spend $6.50 on an iced americano today. It was so delicious that I don't feel too regretful, but I might not want to get in the habit of doing that.

Then came the search for the perfect sandwich that Hillary and I had been salivating about for months prior to this journey. I had my eye out for a good sandwich shop all day long, but every time the sight of a display case crammed with delciously filled baguettes would lure me in, I would get disappointed because they only had Italian sandwiches. Finally around 5:30, when the hunger was starting to turn to crankiness, I found a beautiful little bakery with a whole display of decidely Norwegian sandwiches. Buttered brown bread, crisp cucumbers, thinly sliced tomatoes, peppery smoked salmon, and hard boiled egg. Oh my dear god, it was exactly what I was looking for. So glad I didn't settle for anything less.

Ok I'm even beginning to bore myself with talk of transportation and sandwiches. I've been here less than 24 hours and I need some sleep! What do you expect?
Tomorrow I have to wake up at 5:30am in order to catch my train to Bergen, where the real adventure begins. 2 days there in a hostel, and then a bus to the first farm!!

I actually am feeling extremely comfortable and not at all nervous.

This city is easier to navigate than New York, it seems. And in all my aimless wandering, I did not get run into ONCE!! Not by a careless elbow, or a bike or car whose way I was probably in. What a satisfying feeling. Seriously.