Living like a Norwegian

An any given day when I walk over to the near by lake there are hoards of people. Groups of kids playing games, families walking, moms pushing strollers, and sports groups jogging. It seems that all of Norway is at the lake all the time. Norwegians really value fresh air and the out doors. In the U.S. I have never seen as many people as I've seen near Sognsvann in Hartley field. Here, being outside, is just a way of life. I read that it's actually mandatory for schools to spend one day a week outside participating in "practical" learning. No wonder there were so many school aged kids out building bon-fires and hiking Tuesday. I've taken up a bit of this way myself. I've started walking every evening after dinner. It gives me a little break from my studies and freshens my mind especially now in the crisp autumn air. The leaves haven't started changing yet. I can not wait until they do!

I'm Back!!!!!

Sunday night I couldn’t sleep. I was sooo excited. I finally fell asleep around 3 am, but then woke up at 5 to get ready. At 6:15 I waited at the top of the stairs in our building for Calysta, the Taiwanese girl I journied with. She didn’t show so I knocked on her door. She had missed her alarm! The last t-bane was coming in 10 minutes! She got dressed and grabbed her things and we were off. We had to take an hour train ride to the airport. At the airport we checked in with the airline, Ryanair. For a ticket from Oslo to Munich it cost me $15! Yah. Unbelievable. The fog was so thick that morning I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to fly.

Luckily as soon as we were up in the air the clouds disappeared. The plane was quite small and my knees, even sitting up straight, we hitting the seat in front of me. It was probably one of the most uncomfortable flights I’ve had. The weather when we landed was gorgeous! It was in the mid- 70’s. The first item on our agenda was to visit the Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was the one that inspired Walt Disney’s castle. It was supposed to be a 2 hour train ride from Munich.
Unfortunately we got off at the wrong station and were lost for nearly two hours.
It was really hard to find our way after that because not many people spoke English or were willing to try to help us. Eventually we found a woman who got us back on track. Along the way we had our first taste of the value of a EURO. SOOO so cheap! And it could buy the most delicious pastries and chocolates!

Eventually we made it to Füssen, the town with the castle. The Bavarian country side is beautiful. There are rolling pastures, roaming cattle with tinkle bells hanging from their necks, and then suddenly they are met with the Bavarian Alps.
It truly is a dream like sight. The castle itself is a beautiful sight of its own. It sits perched in the Bavarian Alps catching the sunlight in all the right ways. The castle was built by Kind Ludwig 2 as a place for the royals to relax. It was built to be a dream- like place. We didn’t have enough time to go inside, but I read that all of the rooms have not yet been completed on the inside because he died before the castle was completed. After his death the castle was opened to the public.

"Sir, can I pet your dogs?"


Unfortunately while we were taking pictures near the castle you had to stand on a wall to get the perfect shot. I had a skirt on. Thank goodness Calysta was with me and she knows Chinese. There were Chinese guys standing nearby and they were laughing. I didn’t really care at what. Suddenly Calysta yanked me down from the wall and started yelling at them in Chinese. I guess they had been taking pictures up my skirt without me noticing. Great… Notice how I’m holding my skirt in the picture. ..

The city by night:


After the castle we arrived back in Munich around 10:30. The instant I stepped out of the train I knew I loved it there. Because Oktoberfest was going on there were swarms of people in the station dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes, Lederhosen (men) and Dirndl’s (women).
SO excited about McDonald's 1 EURO menu:

That night we stayed at Calysta’s friend’s apartment. We had the room to ourselves which was great. I slept on the floor in a sleeping bag she leant me. In the morning we awoke to an amazing view of the Munich Olympic stadium from the 70’s.


The first thing we did on Tuesday was visit the Dachau Concentration Camp. This was the first camp built by the Nazi’s. It wasn’t used as much as a death camp like Auschwitz and some of the others, but more of a prison and war camp. But don’t get me wrong plenty of innocent people were shot, burned, and starved to death here. It is a chilling experience walking on the ground that so many people bled over, seeing the buildings their hair was shaven, seeing the clothes they wore, and reading their stories.


Listening to the audio guide:

The most surreal experience for me was when we went through a room that I couldn’t recognize the use of. After walking through I read the sign. It was a gas chamber. At that moment it all made sense. I cannot imagine that terror that was running through those people’s minds as the gas was turned on and they too realized what it was. We also saw the rooms they stacked the corpses and the furnaces they used to cremate the bodies.


Only 2 barracks were re created out of a total 0f 29. Each barrack housed 1,000 people. Let me remind you think is not a huge place.


Also, in Bavaria the weather is quite nice. While we were there it was in the 80’s. I cannot imagine doing the hard labor they were forced to do in that heat.

After the somber experience of the camp we headed into Munich’s city center. The first sight we saw exiting from the subway was the Neues Rathaus (town hall). The building is stunning. Its turrets are festooned with gargoyles and intricate statues.

The highlight of the building in the larger than life Glockenspiel that plays 3 times a day. We walked around the area for a couple hours taking in the sights and enjoying the food.







Later than afternoon we headed to the Oktoberfest! It was free to enter. Not knowing what to expect t we walked into a beer tent. Holy SMOKES! Absolutely amazing!



We sat down in one for a beer. 9 Euros buys you a liter of beer. Plenty.
After that we roamed eating and completely in a daze. We were actually at THE Oktoberfest. I couldn’t believe it.

The entire time I only wished my dad could be there with me. Dad, you would have loved it. One day we’ll go back together.

I tried a candied apple…



A Weißwurst (White sausage)… a traditional Bavarian sausage made from very finely minced veal and fresh pork bacon…


I bought a Lebkuchenherz (a frosted ginger bread cookie worn as a necklace):



There were rides (quite pricy for us)…


Saying good bye was hard. We had waited so long for this day and now it was coming to an end.
Now we had to find the bus stop. We were supposed to take a bus at 11 pm to Prague, but no one seemed to know where the international bus stop was. We walked, and walked. Thank goodness we had left Oktoberfest a little early. Eventually we ended up in the right spot. I had a pounding headache and the mixture of too many sweets, beer, and pretzels, sloshing around in my stomach weren’t helping. The bus was quite nice. We were served free hot drinks and there was a movie on board. We were also lucky enough to have grabbed our own row of seats. Sleep was impossible though. We arrived in Prague at 4 am, and hour ahead of schedule.
It was freezing and we were exhausted. We desperately searched for a warm somewhat safe place to lie down. Nothing was open. We ended up going through the McDonald’s walk through around 4:30.
I needed brain fuel to figure out what in the world we were going to do. I was in panic mode. Luckily, the train station opened at 5 and we were able to lie down in a corner. We fell asleep for nearly 2 hours. I awoke to a man grabbing my purse. Yup. A pickpocket! As soon as he saw that I was awake he backed off and headed the other way.
We walked over to McDonalds again, the only free bathrooms in Europe. There I washed my hair and changed my clothes. I guess we were ready for the day and it was only 7. Prague is beautiful at dawn. There are NO tourists and the sun perfectly illuminates the beautiful buildings.



Prague is an interesting place. Somehow it was nearly untouched during the war so it has many very historical buildings. Also, because Prague has been occupied by so many different governments there is a mixture of culture there. I could feel the Russian influence in the language, the Russian stacking dolls, and architecture. There were also Italian and French influences in the food and architecture.

We walked Charles Bridge…





Saw the Palace…


Saw the Cathedral…


A vendor guilted me into buying his book. I was hoping that it would give us a little bit of background information on the sights we were seeing. Instead it was strictly photographs. Great. This same man also told us to walk “only” 500 m to a traditional Czech restaurant. We ended up walking nearly 2 miles to find this place. The meal I had below is soft pieces of bread a sliced flank of beef smothered in a sweet sauce. I’m not really sure what it’s called. I just pointed towards the glass at something that looked good due to the fact very few people knew English.
Funnily, when we needed directions we stopped in a Chinese shop to ask because Calysta speaks Chinese. The best directions we got the entire trip. Ha-ha.
We sat down on a park bench and fell asleep for nearly 2 hours. I guess we’re traveling hobo’s now.
We did a little shopping.
Saw the Lennon Wall, graffitied after his death…

Means "love" in Czech:


The Astronomical Clock…


The Jewish Cemetery... Over 100,000 people are buried on an acre of land…


That night we were going to try to take a shower at Calysta’s friend’s house. Her cell phone died so we ended up taking the subway up to a suburb, waiting for an hour, drinking a Czech beer, and then heading back.
The Subway Station:

We loaded back onto the night bus at around midnight, this time even more tired. I slept maybe an hour the entire way to Berlin.
As soon as we arrived in Berlin a kind man helped us get to where our hostel was. We were nervous about following a stranger, but he was very helpful and we couldn’t have done it without him. Once again it was 4 in the morning and we were cold, tired and smelly. We got to the hostel, but because we couldn’t check in until 2 pm we couldn’t even take a shower. We fell asleep in the lobby until around 7 when we woke up drooling on the couches. Ha-ha. We washed up the best we could in their restroom and locked our things in a luggage locker. We bought some pastries at a local shop, the first of way too many pastries in Berlin and headed for the sights.
Brandenburg Gate… Napoleon passed through, Hitler spoke in front of, Michael Jackson gave a concert:


Adlon Hotel… made famous when Michael Jackson dangled his child from the window…

Reichstag… the main government building, you can walk through it and up into the glass dome…



Holocaust Memorial…



Hitler’s Bunker… where Hitler killed himself:
Potsdamer Platz…
Checkpoint Charlie… The checkpoint between East and West Berlin…



T.V. Tower…

That night we walked around the ritzy designer street. Good thing I didn’t bring my credit card. Gucci, Prada, Louise Vuitton, Tiffany’s… We also went back to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag. They were completely different experiences at night. All the while we sipped hot coffee and enjoyed conversation. Tonight I finally felt myself in the company of a great friend.


The Hostel: So basically our room was a very large gym with about 40 beds in it. The bath room disdn't have locks on the doors. While I was in the glass shower some one walked in and started brushing their teeth in my sink. I was too nervous to say anything. Good thing I will never see them again! Despite this we were able to sleep soundly and were safe.


Friday was Calysta’s 23rd birthday so we set out to make it a great and relatively relaxing day. We walked by the East Side Gallery (part of the Berlin wall that has been painted by artists)…



















We went to the Berlin Zoo, the home of the most species of any zoo in the world! I saw animals there that I never even knew existed!







That afternoon we did some shopping Kadewe, a very nice department store. We decided to have a special dinner at a nearby beer garden. Calysta had a salad with strawberry beer, and I had a very German thin crusted pizza like dish and a Fanta. The atmosphere was very relaxing with the hanging lanterns and the background noise of the river.




After dinner we saw the Sony center, a large open structure that’s over head dome changes color. We sat and stared at the fountain for a long while remembering all the bits and pieces of our journey. This was our last night.


Our Last German Breakfast:


At the airport the next day my heart beat a little faster as we went through security.
On the way they had confiscated my face wash and I had bought some large bottles of liquids while in Germany, because it's much cheaper there. I was also worried that my carry on would be too heavy and too big and that I'd have to pay to check it. We had done some serious grocery shopping before leaving Germany. My bag made it through, along with my hair conditioner and shampoo. My bottle of Jager didn't though. Oops.
Coming back to Oslo, was like coming home. Finally something familliar. I was very confused though. I didn't know which language to thank someone in (Takk, Danke, Díky)
or what the value of something was. I have 5 different currencies in my wallet right now (USD, Euros, Czeck Kroner, Norwegian Kroner, and Swedish Kroner).

Here's an example of the prices:
1 yogurt:
Norway 10 NOK ( divide by 6 to get to USD)
Czech 15 Kc (divide by 16 to get to USD)
Euro .60 EUR (multiply by 1.3 to get to USD)

Thus... Norway is expensive and the Czech is cheap!

When I arrived back to Kringsja I checked my mail. I got a package! Thanks Auntie Pat and Uncle Jerry! Accidentally, I opened the bag of candy corns today... the bag is almost gone. I put the window clings in my window. I scared 2 people with those. Haha. They also thought the Halloween marshmallows were hillarious. Only in America would they make something like that :) Tusen Takk! I love you guys! Can't wait to see you in December!