Oslo Part II

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We bought Oslo passes this morning that get you into all museums and access to all public transportation; it's quite a deal and worked great. We traveled by bus, tram, and subway. As we boarded the bus on our Oslo adventure, we heard, 'I'm sticking with you.' This voice belonged to Pat, an attorney from New Jersey. She was also going to the Viking museum. We arrived at 10:20 AM, but it didn't open until 11 AM. It felt like our version of one of our favorite TV shows the Amazing Race. Got to our destination, and then it wasn't open. So, we walked to the Kon-Tikki. We stopped part way to see how far it was, and they said it was about a 15 minute walk. We were skeptical, because in Italy that means at least an hour. But it was only about that long. The Kon-Tikki was interesting, and I found that Ken has much more appropriate behavior in a boat and ship museum than an art museum next stop was at the Fram museum which displays the Fram, a the first polar ship that went as far north as 85 north latitude and 78 south latitude. The last stop in this area was the Norwegian Maritime museum which had a great surround video on the fishing villages in the north of Norway. We went back to the Viking museum which was open and ran into our new friend Pat again (we had separated so that we didn't slow her down).

In the afternoon we took a bus,the subway and a verrrrrrry looonnnngggg walk in freak'n cold weather to Frogner Park to see the Vigeland sculptures. It was so worth it though. The sculptures depict human relationships and emotions and are incredible. Words do not do them justice so we took lots of pictures. This park is loved by its citizens and is packed with picnickers when it is warm. Today? Not so much! Kay, Ken's mom, thought that all of the nude sculptures were in Italy. Wrong, these were all nude Kay!

Many similarities: Lot's of cell phones, children with beautiful faces,noisy teenagers. There were lots of school field trips today. It appears that students use public transportation instead of school buses. The Norwegians are reserved, but very helpful. This has been a great first stop because everyone speaks English.....and so well. Ola, the nice young man at the front desk, has been extremely helpful and has tried to teach us some Norwegian phrases. I think that I am very fluent, but Ken thinks that I sound like I am speaking German. When I said, 'Mien feetens daus kopoot,' he knew my feet were tired.

We stopped for dinner at 4:30. I ordered Kyllansnodder becausee it sounded like my feet felt! I thought that I was getting a chicken burger....nope. It was chopped chicken with a creamy sauce on it (ya we are in Norway). Ken had something called club steak and it was....steak. Of course his feet weren't killin him!

I was soooooo tired that the song 'Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down', so I thought that I better call it a day. Ken went on a subway ride to purchase our Norway in a Nutshell tickets for Monday.

We have had a tough year, and weren't sure this would happen, but once here we are reminded how much we love to travel and see other ways of life. We are all so different, but so much the same. We have been treated well so far and expect that to continue judging from past trips. People see us as individuals.

On a lighter note, where are all of the blondes? There are certainly a lot, but there are many brunettes and red heads. There are baby buggies galore, with lots of twins andtripletss. What's that all about. Babies are left in stroller unattended with parents within sight. There are separate spots on the subway for strollers and in the park.

All in all it was a good first day. Blue skies made up for the bitter cold. Oh that wind! It's good to be a Bakken in Norway :). AND no one mispronounces our name. Ken keeps saying that the Norwegians have it figured out. I understand the Bakkens much better after just one day here; there is not a lot of clutter, clean lines, clean look. Ken's 'well kept math mind'is in his genes.

Off to Lillihammer tomorrow to see Vinstra (Bakkenville). Love to you all. Keep those comments and email coming.