Oslo in a Nutshell. We love Norway

Oslo was a really beautiful city. It's has a shore line for ships and
boats, etc. but most of it is off of the water. During our time
there, we were able to wonder around on foot quite a bit. It's
becoming a spread-out city as a lot of people are moving into the city
from the country and there is currently a building height limit in
Oslo. It's so expensive it, it's unbelievable. We had a medium
cheese pizza for $30, a smaller bag of chips for $7. The average
entree price was well into $25 (for like a salad) and then just went
up. It's not just Oslo, though. The whole country was expensive. As
we traveled to the west coast to Bergen and back, we stopped at many
small towns along the way and the prices were basically the same. The
cheapest glass of wine was $12. It's crazy.

However, aside from the expense, the country itself is really
spectacular. There was so much variation just in the parts we
traveled in, it was unbelievable. We were in farm land for parts of
it, cold mountainous areas with snow still around in other parts and
tons of waterfalls and water. There are many fjords in Norway and the
size of them is hard to comprehend. The general population looked
like an ad for REI. I think if you live there, you are raised outside
primarily. It's gorgeous.

In Oslo, we were able to walk around to various parks and go to some
museums. We enjoy walking around the cities to different places since
you can see so much more of the color of a city and get away from all
the touristy places. Oslo is touristy, but much less so than any of
the other places we've been to so far. People there are friendly and
helpful and everyone speaks English. So, getting around was pretty
easy. Although most restaurants aren't terribly veggie friendly in
dishes they offer on the menu, I had no problems what-so-ever in
eating establishments when I told the waiter/waitress I was
vegetarian. They were always more than ready to make me anything I
wanted within their ability. It was very nice. The city was very
clean. No smog, no bad car exhaust (unlike Madrid), clean sidewalks
and hardly any graffiti anywhere. There are flowers everywhere and
the buildings are very baroque in style (at least that's the style I
think they are). Overall, I would recommend visiting Norway - Oslo
itself, but also go see the countryside and the fjords - that is where
so much of the beauty and character of the country is.

We went from Flåm to Gudvangen by boat

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A great view of what we just saw in Norway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ1jIcJVu_4

Check it out!!

Uf-da

Take a trip to Norway - Seriously

Norway is pretty cool. I had no idea how cool.

We are here:

http://maps.google.no/maps?q=oslo+norway&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=60.141505,10.744629&spn=5.045484,16.435547&t=h&z=6&iwloc=addr

I have never been farther North.

Today is Sunday the 20th of July, the SUMMER of 2008.

I recently purchased a WINTER SNOW HAT in Bergen, Norway, because I
didn't know how cool it was up here.

Now, we are from San Francisco, and have travelled the world telling
people how it is cold in SF during the summer, and how funny it is all
the sweatshirts and fleeces that people buy, showing that they didn't
pack the right clothes.

Now we are on the epic jaunt about Europe for 30 days. We have two
bags, and planned with coats, jackets and hats. An Umbrella.

Now, in my own defense, I didn't HAVE to buy a hat like this:
http://palenskepod.blogspot.com/2007/11/norwegian-snow-princess.html

It wasn't so bitter cold, that I needed it, but the only had i had was
like this:

http://www.golfgalaxy.com/galaxy/product.asp?dept_id=4524&pf_id=PAPMACILGOFJOPFH&ad_id=PriceGrab&key_id=adidas_Men's_Performance_Visor&

you'll notice my head would show through the top, and so things like
RAIN will get through.

So, we ignored the calendar and embraced the available products. Yay!!

Bergen, Norway is cool, even cooler than Oslo.

Norway is EXPENSIVE. This is helped by the dollar doldrums we are in,
and even against the Euro €, it ain't cheap.

The costs break down like this:

Norway is not on the Euro. They have the Krone (which in English,
sounds like Kroner, as they put that little lilt at the end)

Current the exchange rate is: 5 Krone to 1 dollar. 8 Krone to 1 Euro.
Easy, right?

Well, coffee here costs 22 Kroner. That's the cheapest thing we can
find. A medium cheese pizza is 150 Kroner.

The math there works liks this? Coffee is 4 bucks. Pizza is 30 bucks.
A beer costs between 40-60 kroner.
This means that free food is good, coffee is drunk a lot, and beer is
a distant memory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway

Here is some more;

http://www.ssb.no/english/magazine/art-2005-02-01-03-en.html

We really like it here, and are thankful to all our friends at www.chase.com
for their help.