Twenty-seven hours in transit

Home again after a long day in airline land. Unky Herb and I caught a taxi at 3 am in Ås to catch a bus at 3:30 for the hour bus ride to Gardermoen airport in Oslo. Three plane rides and two layovers later we landed in Minnesota, but not without a few glitches, one of which caused an extra three hours celebrating(?) the joys of Chicago's O'Hare Airport.  It's good to be home sleeping in my own bed and eating my usual diet again. It was worth the trip, however, to spend Christmas in Norway with the Daughter of Norway, and to see what the winter solstice is like that far north. Eleven years ago I experienced a summer solstice in Norway and, in my opinion, that was a much more pleasant time. With quite a bit more solar exposure.

I picked out four previously unpublished photos from the two weeks in the north. I decided to only include those that are more about scenery and activities rather than those about my fellow travelers. This was taken just after sunset at Frogner Park in Oslo at 3:30 on a cold afternoon. It's dark and pretty much represents the environment most of the time we were there.

These three white swans were waddling up the beach in Moss when we visited there near the end of our stay. I guess that most swans in Europe are white and these are definitely so and are extremely large birds. They were banded and seemed tame. They came up to us seemingly expecting to be fed.

One day we visited several museums and the city hall in Oslo. This is Oslo Harbor from just outside the City Hall just after the 9:15 a.m. sunrise. It's a dark city this time of year.

This is a point of interest much more famous than the Kate Moss statue. Here in the Oslo City Hall is the room where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. There are huge murals on the walls depicting Norwegian scenes.

Life is good. Even when adjusting to Minnesota time again.