Stumbling Through Adulthood

Or day 12, since I counted our traveling day as 0. Or 13, since technically we left on Saturday... Anyhow. Doesn't matter.

Up early, did most of packing and headed the swimming pool for a last multi-temperature soak. I wasn't feeling great, but this helped.

Our first stop was to the Icelandic Handknitting Association. David had gotten a sweater there on our last trip and the elbow (like all of his sweaters) was in sorry shape, a gigantic hole. So we went and purchased the yarn he'd need to repair it, and another sweater he has, and he got some tips on how to do it best. We got grey yarn and black yarn (his sweater is grey, black, and white), and brown for the other sweater and it never occurred to me at the time to get white yarn too, so we could make a hat or something to match his sweater. Sigh. I can buy the yarn online, and probably will. I was tempted to get some yarn to make myself a hat -they even had kits!- but was afraid of jumping the gun a bit on ability vs cost, LOL.

After, we drove to Hallgrímskirkja. We missed it the previous two trips, the day we were planning on visiting, Perry was sick and not up for the walk, and I have no idea why we didn't go last time, so I was determined to get there. We didn't have a lot of time -actually, considering how early we got to the airport, we would have but eh, we weren't sure and would rather be early than stressed- so we knew we couldn't stay long or to listen to the organ music that was supposed to start in 30 minutes or go up the tower, but we were able to check out the outside, and go inside to visit a bit and gape at the organ. The interior was simple and soaring. The place is truly impressive, the architecture evocative of the basalt columns found in various places in the country. I loved the stained glass doors at the inside entrance, alas as I tried to take photos, people kept on coming in and out and I ran out of patience at time, LOL.









Then to the airport, car return, etc. Boarding and a stoke of luck.

I know I've complained before about how we always seem to have our seats changed at the last minute, to where we end up in the back row in front of the toilets? Well, this trip, on the flights we booked aisle and window on each leg. Didn't matter for the way out, of course, since we were rebooked, but the way back was different: maybe because we weren't together, neither of us was moved, and for the Oslo to Reyjavik trip, we just swapped our aisle with the dude in the middle seat. For the trip home, we figured we'd do the same, but... nobody was there, so we had an empty middle seat. Had not expected that, tbh, it was just another strategy to avoid sitting by the toilets!

Anne-Chloe picked us up in Seattle and we went home to cats!

We had breakfast and headed straight to the swimming pool. There was one not far from the place we were staying and it was one we'd been to on a previous trip, so some sense of easy familiarity.

I love Icelandic swimming pools. It's such a place of neutrality when it comes to nudity and I'm always surprised at how comfortable I feel. I'm never going to love being nekkid in public, but this is as close as I get and I'll take it.

Anyhow, we met in the 38C pool and worked our way up to the 42C, visiting the 40C saltwater pool. The 44C was too hot for either of us, and but 6C (yes, 6.) pool we dipped a toe in was a nope, to the amusement of the elderly lady who was on her way into it. Brr. Nope. That's like falling into Puget Sound which is not something I've ever wanted to do. Air temps were just below freezing so the warm water was wonderful and it helped dh feel better -still with that nasty cold- as well.

After, we headed out to Gullfoss. The weather was sunny and very cold. I mean, it really was only about 16F but OMG, the wind. Wind is always an issue in Iceland and this was pretty close to awful.

Walked to the lower viewpoint on the falls (down icy steps), and took some photos, went back up to one of the closer in viewpoints. Dh opted to head back to the car, I went on to the further out viewpoints so I could see into the gorge. Alas, because of the icy ground I only took my cell phone, not the camera. David took pretty much all the photos on the whole trip because of that. I just did not feel comfortable walking on ice with the camera.

It was fucking windy and cold. But sunny. And windy. Have I mentioned the bitter icy wind? 🥶

After we did a quick stop at Geysir. Didn't bother to go see the dormant geyser but did wait at watch Strokkur. Sun was low and golden and it was beautiful. Managed to catch some of geyser, but it was hard because my fingers were freezing!

Anyhow. Some photos.



Note quite from the same location but it gives an idea of how much water is frozen!



The canyon.




I was so cold!


Strokkur


Thermal area.


Back to our little studio room where it became obvious that I was getting sick too. Sigh.

The day started out with a bit of a bust: the previous afternoon, we'd booked a bus tour of the fjords ourselves. We hadn't been sure we'd be up for it when we planned the trip, since we wanted to prioritize being awake in the evenings, but we figured we could do it so we went online, found a decently rated tour and booked it.

Well... turns out, the tour wasn't for real. Or rather, they only do it during spring and summer, but their booking system lets you book it anyhow. Grrr. Had we known, we'd have looked for something else! The tour place did have a boat fjord trip going on, but since we already had a boat trip that evening, and the boat looked very very full, we declined. The other group that had also booked the phantom bus tour did decide to take the boat tour.

It was Sami week in Tromso, which meant there were reindeer races. Since we hadn't thought we'd be there, we hadn't bother to plan to see them, but while we missed the races, we were able to see a few of the reindeer, which was terribly cute, and much smaller than I expected.

So it was another lazy day. We spent some time confirming flights and trying to see if we could check our luggage through to Reykjavik from Tromso -we couldn't- hoping to avoid having to pick it up in Oslo and check it again. Ah well. And we had to deal with T-Mobile. We had international. We made about 26 minutes of international calls, which should be billed at 25 cents a minute. They texted both of us to tell us send us an "excessive usage warning", saying that if we didn't do something -what was never specified- we might lose access entirely. So yay for spending an hour on the phone trying to tell them that no, we hadn't made $164.25 worth of international calls at $0.25 per minute! That's... lots of hours. Situation still isn't resolved, I need to check on things next week, but last we chatted with them, they too were unable to find all those calls they were billing us for. WhatEVER.

That evening, we had a Northern Lights cruise booked. The boat. OMG, gorgeous. Stella Oceana. It was a small group, only 12 people, so a lot more intense than I usually go for, but it was a nice evening and...

We got to see the Northern Lights again. A spectacular arc over the sky. Even our wide angle lens couldn't catch the whole thing but man, it was bright and gorgeous.









Got back at a bit past midnight, iirc, it was truly magical. And hey, I didn't get seasick!

So. While we were in Oslo, Perry called to tell us he was really sick: bad cold, he tested for Covid three or four times, all negative.

He got sick basically the day we left.

Needless to say, a few days later... David was sick. Not in bed sick, but miserable sick, sigh. Didn't need that.

I resisted until Iceland, and then I got it too. My version, as always when I get sick, started with me throwing up, which was miserable, but then at least I felt ok for most of the rest of the day.

Blah.

Day 4 was as far as I got posting on Instagram during the trip, in large past because I got overwhelemed with the photos I took on the boat.

So.

Boat in the Nærøyfjord.

Wow.

Just... Wow.

It was spectacular, I'm sure it's as awesome in the summer, but the winter was special too! The light, of course, but the blue sky that peaked though the clouds had a special and icy quality of blue that just enchanted me.

It was cold. I didn't have a screen cap, but I saw -1F on my phone, something I have never seen before! That said, the only bits that really suffered were my fingers, because of wanting to take photos!

I took some great video but can't share it because of "codec" issues. I'm so fucking pissed that I can no longer easily just post video!










Bus to Voss then Voss to Bergen on the train. Lovely ride, beautiful sunny snowing landscapes and train tracks by the edge of a fjord!





We arrived in Bergen to the aftermath of what the hotel person said was the worst snow even in 30 years! There was lots of snow on the ground... or rather, let's be honest, lots of slush. By then, I was resigned to snowy walking conditions, so I just rolled with and we had a nice walk along the harbor. I didn't get photos of the classic Bergen houses from harborside until the next day, but here are some others I took.

Behind the classic houses. BTW, not a single straight line to be found anywhere in them, LOL. Lots of settling since the Middles Ages!



Newer but still interesting buildings.

The plan for the day included a boat trip onto the Oslofjord. We took our time in the morning and got moving slowly, to walk down to the piers with the plan of visiting the Nobel Peace Center before our boat trip.



So worth the time! It wasn't a very big exhibit, but it talked a lot of about Nobel, and the influences that may have led him to create the prizes. It situated the prizes in their history, to what was happening in the world, for many of them.

Two things moved me:

-- the gallery with tributes to all the Peace Prize laureates. I don't know if my photos will do it justice, but felt like a sacred space, like walking into a church. I'm not religious, but places of worship that are being respected have a special quality of silence, and this place had it too.


Because I'm a bitch, I sought out Henry Kissinger's plaque and spit on it. LOL, no, I didn't, but I certainly pretended to. I hate that man. He's a war criminal who never answered for his crimes.

-- seeing the actual medal.



There was a pretty flower display in the stairwell, and I glared at the National Museum though the window since I knew I wasn't going to be able to have time to get there.



Note: sorry about the selfies. I could remove them, but tbh, I'm writing this here before sending it family and they do want to see selfies, LOL.

After that, we walked around the piers for a bit -Starbies for Linnea!- and then back to to pick up our boat for the tour of the fjord.



A word on smoking. OMG. Iceland was worse this time than two years ago, and it was worse then than in '18. Scotland was bad. Norway was pretty awful. The difference with the US is that nobody moves away to smoke, they just stand right next to you. With winter clothing, the smell is sometimes awful.

That's what happened on the boat. We got there early and found great seats. And a woman came and sat next to us and we were enveloped with a smoking stench like I'm not sure I've ever smelled before. I gagged and dh started to sneeze, it was that bad. She reeked (and went out to smoke some more.) We ended up giving up our great spots and spent a lot of time outside or in less awesome seats. What was funny? This British guy saw we'd given up our spots and went to sit next to her. A minute later, he'd moved as well. She basically created empty seats all around her.

The nice thing is that this pushed us outside! Some photos.

Cute little lighthouse! I want to live there... I mean, who wouldn't?

David, chilling.

How I looked a lot of time when outside!

House and geologic layers!

Oslofjord

Opera House and sculpture from the water-side.


We walked back to the hotel and ended up just hanging out that evening, having gummi worms and Pepperidge Farm goldfish for dinner, we were that tired!

Travel day was day 0, LOL.

Room was fine, a bit small and the beds were comfy.

We got up, showered and headed to breakfast.

OMG. Someday I will go back to that hotel/to Norway with my rower kids and watch them eat. I don't I've ever seen a breakfast buffet like that one before.

Breads, at least three or four kinds, and butter. Mostly nice grainy brown breads, but the one I tried had salmon in in and that pretty much soured me on the breads.

Small pancakes with three or four types of jam/compote. Croissants. Brownies and millionaire bars, both cut very small.

Smoothie bar, fruit. Three kinds of yogurt, cottage cheese, and a buttload of toppings, granola, dried fruit, nuts etc.

What I called the British section: porridge, sunny side up eggs, beans.

Bacon and chipolatas.

There was something else I forget, but hardboiled eggs and various roasted veggies.

And a table of meat, smoked fish, and cheeses, with bread and crackers, along with various Scandinavian salads. Too much mayo for me, so I didn't explore many of those.

Milk, juice, coffee, tea.

It was impressive, tbh, and we had a full meal. I didn't eat again until our late dinner.

Perry would have been in 7th Heaven. To be honest, that was a lot of the trip, missing the kids and wishing they were there, for some reason or another.

After breakfast, we headed out. Our hotel was in DT, something we usually don't do, so it was pretty much walk out and over to the Oslo Opera House. Alas. because of the snow and ice, the walk up the slope of the building was closed. We walked over to the Munch Museum, then backtracked a bit to the Akershus Fortress and explored that, enjoying the views of the town from there. Then onto Karl Johans Gate, where we checked out the Parliament building (Stortinget), and then onto checking out the Oslo Royal Palace. Then back to the hotel, we were pretty tired, and jetlag was taking its toll.

I posted some photos on Instagram. I started out posting there, but I really didn't like picking photos from thumbnails, so ended up stopping.

It was a nice day, with the biggest issue being how much of the walking had to be done on ice. I was exhausted by end of day because of how tense I am when dealing with that level of wintery conditions, but eh.

Dinner out (expensive but decent pizza) then back to the hotel to collapse.

A few photos...

The Oslo Opera House, just a gorgeous building (more photos of it from waterside in next day's post) meant to evoke a glacier, it's mostly made of Carrara marble and white granite and gleamed in the low light. The sculpture in the Oslofjord is made of glass and steel and meant to evoke an iceberg. These -at very different scales- both hit their marks and complemented each other beautifully.



The Akershus is big, with multiple buildings and walls from different eras. I like how this one shows evidence of prior archtechture!


Norwegian Parliament building and some beautifully inticate detail on the doors.


Royal Palace, which means real live royals live there, LOL. Not being a major fan of the British Monarchy, I've never been to any of their palaces, and certainly France long ago repurposed theirs. I think it's the first time I've actually seen the real live castle that real lives monarchs live in. And BTW, to my surprise, as I get older, I'm becoming more and more of a fan of constitutional monarchies, as they are done in some European countries. They seem to have produced, as a general rule, countries that are kinder to their citizens than average.

I took loads of selfies on this trip. Usually, we don't and I regret it later. I still don't have many photos of us other than selfies, but dh was in charge of the camera (remember: slippery ice, didn't want to risk the camera to a fall) and he never volunteered to take a photo of me, or have me take one of him, and it got old having to request it each time. I'll note that this happens whenever he in charge of photos and he always sighs later that we have all these photos of landscapes with none of us in them, LOL.