life in the old lane

I really liked the houses that were buried in snow. Today’s images are from my train trip from Oslo to Bergen. 

Think I have about worked the jetlag gig long enough. I attended to all of my essential record-keeping, accounting, bill paying, etc chores today. This is a wreckage of the future thing – but – I think that my tax stuff might not have made it to the CPA’s office. I put it in the mail before I left for Norway. Not I big deal. But it would be a major pain in the butt to have to get it all together again. But, this is wreckage of the future. I didn’t want to ask the tax guy about it until I was ready to deal with a possible “No, we didn’t receive anything from you” response. Tomorrow, I will ask. 

As usual, when I come back from a trip I am amazed at how much STUFF I have. Stuff. Piles of it. Stuff that doesn’t really add anything to the quality of my life. I ask myself. OK, suppose I don’t wake up tomorrow morning… What’s going to happen to all this STUFF? Well, someone, will come and send it all to the dump, the Asylum’s “What Not Shop”, or the Goodwill. So, why don’t I get rid of some of it now? 

I will do something with clothes. I have clothes for a life that I don’t live anymore. I have clothes that are really not age-appropriate. (Even with my very liberal age-appropriate meter.) I have clothes that I am keeping for “just in case”. 

The state of Virginia seems to have discovered that I had been out of the country. Who knew? And they sent me an email suggesting that today would be a fine day for a Covid test. Since the Old Bat Cave is well supplied with Covid tests, I tested myself and am still negative. 

This image happened with the Pixel 6pro. From the time stamp, I am pretty sure that I was shooting out of my window on the ferry. One thing is for sure, I could never recreate this image. Whatever happens, is what I planned.

Over the worst of jet lag now. Maybe tomorrow, I can tackle some tasks that require functioning brain cells. 

The food here at The Asylum is still unacceptable. For over a year, they have been testing a system to allow online ordering. Any so-called production system that is beta test for over a year is doomed to failure. And they keep serving things like kale and black-eyed pea soup.  We are a bunch of old people. We are not likely to even consider kale and black-eyed pea soup. 

Took about 2,000 pictures on this trip. About 200 of them with the GoPro. Got my first look at the GoPro photos today. There were a couple of interesting shots.

Yesterday I noted that my pack and tote weighed 20 pounds. Upon unpacking I discovered that I have 2.5 pounds of origami paper in the pack. I have a very hard time passing up origami paper. 

I did get my stuff unpacked and put away. Ready for the next adventure. 

So, what other shots did the GoPro catch?

Ok, short entry. 

1 train + 3 planes + 2 busses + 33 hours = Home. Gotta love IcelandAir. 

Note to self – return home weight 13 pounds backpack. 7 pounds in tote bag. Plus coat. 20 pounds is the absolute max that I can handle. 15 pounds would be better. Or, I could use wheels. I’ll do wheels when I get old!

Absolutely great trip.  And, return to a nice sunny warm day. Which helps with getting over jetlag. 

If you think you are having fun you are having fun. Nite nite.

 I found a place that only did Tavel Covid tests. I thought that would be better than going somewhere that tested people who needed a test for some other reason.  And, I passed. 

That was today’s only must do. But I will finish packing, and I will decide when to leave for the airport. And what to take.  Bus, cheap train, airport train, cab.  Cab is out of the question. The cheap train cost $6. The airport train costs $12. Think I will spring for the airport train.  It’s worth 6 bucks for hassle free.

it was cloudy today. But I went walkabout, just soaking up some last Norwegian goodness.

Whats not to love about Norway?

Flying out at 12:45 tomorrow. Supposed to land about 7pm. But Icelandair isn’t very reliable.  And, I have to get my Global Entry card renewed. So, I might be very late getting back to The Asylum. Don’t expect a blog entry. 

 I am feeling the years today.  Tired and suffering from a bit of vertigo.  But there was something I wanted to see. So, I womaned up and headed out. I wanted to see the good ship Fram. The Fram was a state-of-the-art polar exploration vehicle from early in the last century.  The Fram has been a museum piece since 1913. She fell into decay and neglect, but  is now nicely housed and presented in its own building nowadays.  

The Fram’s most famous voyage was to the South Pole  1910-1912 under command of Roald Amundsen.  Amundsen was an absolute fanatic for details. That’s why he beat Scott to the South Pole and lived to tell about it.  

On a previous expedition Amundsen lost men to scurvy and insanity in long arctic winters.  He stocked the Fram with 3,000 books, a piano, beer and wine, games and musical instruments.  The ship had electric lights. The power came from a windmill. And, it was diesel powered as well as sail powered. 

the audio visual etc makes for a rather realistic experience on deck. Of course my vertigo also enhances the experience.

The Kon Tiki, the adventure was grand, the science not so good. Think I will get back on the bus and come home.

 

6.66 miles of sightseeing today. Plus a couple of street car rides. Mostly pictures today.

Started out at Vigeland Sculpture Park..

A fine day. Oh, and when I was out looking for dinner, I was given a couple of boxes of DIY Covid tests by some official looking people. I said I wasn’t a resident. And they said “why would that matter?” I thought well,  Ok now I have 2 Covid tests. Wrong, each box contains 5 tests.  

 I truly hope that there isn’t going to be construction activities on this part of the building.  This building used to be the train station. The location is great. I was rather spoiled by my last hotel.  I was scolded for not telling them that I was leaving before breakfast this morning. The clerk called the kitchen and in less than 5 minutes a take away bag appeared. When I got on the train, I investigated it. There was a croissant, grapes, strawberries and an apple and what appeared to be a roll with smoked salmon.  I figured that one really should not eat a smoked salmon sandwich on a crowded train. Especially since the trip was over 6 hours.  When I got to my lodgings, I tore into the sandwich. It was actually a fried egg and salmon on a roll.  Sort of a Norwegian egg McMuffin. I wonder what they would have provided if I had notified them earlier about my early departure?  

That was an extraordinary hotel. 

By 4pm, I had finished my breakfast and went out for a little walk and air. The opera house, the water, the new Munch museum. All within a couple of blocks.

Notice the graceful lines of the opera house.

Then, not-matter that it was only a little after five, I was suddenly taken exhausted.  So, I headed back. Stopping to get a coffee and cup of yogurt at a 7-Eleven. $6.43. Norway isn’t cheap.  

So, here I am in my room, essentially ready of bed and it’s not 7pm yet.  Not much of a party animal these days. But still crazy.

This morning my plan was to go see the penguins at the aquarium. But, there was that mountain or large hill. The one that I was supposed to go to the top of via funicular if I was in Bergen on one of its rare sunny days.  But the funicular is out of commission. I think of Carlton who was always hiking to the top of mountains. And my friend Stephen, who rides his bicycle 100 miles just because he can. Surely I can walk up a 400 meter big hill. Google says I can do it in 49 minutes.  Well, maybe 90 minutes. Google doesn’t seem to take my age into account.

What the hell. Off I go. There are lots of people on the trail. And everyone of them pass me. That’s Ok. I stop and rest at every bench. I make it to the top. 

This is Europe, there are amenities at the top of mountains. 

Now, I must get myself ready to be at track 3 of the train station before 8:15 tomorrow morning. That involves a little packing and dinner. Lots of restaurants near by. But, I am thinking maybe room service burger and frites.

Bergen was good. Back on the train to Oslo tomorrow. Staying at the same place. Wonder what I will find to do in Oslo? Gotta get and pass a Covid test on Wednesday.  And that’s about my only plans.  I have done ZERO to prevent Covid. Haven’t even looked at a mask since I stepped off the plane in Oslo two weeks ago.

Champaign and chocolate covered strawberries just showed up.  I love this hotel.  Actually, I rather like Norway.  There is the 38% VAT on every thing that I have purchased. But, I think that is how the Norwegians finance their gracious lifestyle. Happy to pay it.

The plan was to take the funicular to the top of town. And walk back down. But, the funicular was closed for repairs and I am way to old to be climbing up mountains. Even big hills, for that matter. 

There was just a knock at my door, the hotel delivered tea and cookies to me. For no apparent reason.  It was a lovely surprise.  

Well, since the funicular was out of service, I headed to the “fortress”. The buildings were closed, this being the off season. But I walked around. 

The WW2 museum was open.  Been thinking a lot about WW2 on this trip.  Part of it is Ukraine. Part of it is walking through towns in the North that were completely destroyed by the Germans or Nazis as the Germans would have me call them. And other towns were undamaged. 

Norway had a rather checkered WW2 history.  They were officially neutral. But, they were occupied by the Nazis. My dinner mate from Switzerland said “there are neutral countries but not necessarily neutral citizens”. She was referring to Switzerland during the war. The implication being that many Swiss supported the Nazis. 

The museum made much of the resistance fighters. But also made it clear that many supported the Nazis. And, indeed those northern cities that were not damaged by the Nazis as they retreated were the cities that cooperated with the Nazis.  

The hardest part of the museum was the “facing history” part. After the war Norway sent 1,200 small children born of Norwegian mothers and German fathers to Australia.  Without their mothers. That’s harsh. Other things were mentioned, but this was the worse.

Next on tap, the Leprosy Museum.  You know I love strange museums. But alas it too is closed until April.  

So, I go in search of wall art and/or graffiti.  It is sometimes hard to tell the difference, but…

Well, it’s not really on the church, it’s on a construction fence attached to the church.

I wonder if the bee was able to fly with that load of pollen?

First challenge of the day. Get packed. My stuff expanded!  I did not buy anything. It must be the salt air. 

This is one of the “old” ferries.  There are 14 of them. 365 days a year one leaves from Bergen going north and one leaves from Kirkenes going south.  They carry passengers, cars, and freight.  The main cargo seemed to be bales of peak moss.  

I make my way off the Ferry and with Google’s assistance I find my hotel.  

 I was told that the hotel was a bank in its former life. It is fine inside. Not so grim.  I connected to the WiFi and figured out the shower.  In my experience, the more you pay for a room, the harder it is to make the shower deliver water at the desired temperature from the desired faucet/shower head. 

Haven’t a clue as to what I am going to do here in Bergen. I think that I will enjoy some downtime. Maybe I will just BE in Bergen. And enjoy not doing anything.