Skål - Cheers

Before we knew it, we were off into the clouds again. Something I will never get over. We saw some more windmills way out at sea. It was amazing watching the many boats and huge tide waves from the airplane. Pretty unbelievable flight. 

Ryan Air again!

In customs we finally found a bag of crispy m&ms which we enjoyed on the bus to Oslo. Norway has beautiful forests and pretty rock formation, reminds me of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nearing closer to the city we passed through very long tunnels cut through some of the hills. Jens had told me the ride would be 44 minutes at most, so when i took us about an hour to even get to a stop we got very nervous. As soon as we got off I asked where the train station was, worried I'd have a hard time finding someone who spoke English. The Norwegian security guard surprised us with near perfect English and sent us quickly on our way. 


Seeing Jens and, to my wonderful surprise Mads, sitting there waiting for us was priceless. So wonderful to see them again  - I was instantly at ease, happy and finally unstressed. We picked up like it had only been a few weeks, not years, since we last saw each other. As we walked outside of the train station a man stopped Mads in an attempt to sell him tobacco - in bags that you place in your top lip. A little further on Jens and Mads pointed out a section where the drug dealers were. Recently politicians got angry by the corner they were taking over and passed a law to push them over to the other side of the station. It was a rough crowd and a fight was breaking out in the middle of the square. After waiting a bit to avoid the disturbance, it was 11pm when we got in, we went across the street to buy tram passes - or trick as Jens kept calling it. We bought 24 hour tickets which worked out perfectly. They told us no one used to buy tickets but now "Nazi Police" patrolled the transportation system and were too inconspicuous to not buy a ticket. Jens said sometimes they'll barge on to check tickets with no warning or they dress as citizens on the bus and will randomly check - and unlike a lot of the transportation people I've dealt with, the guys said they know all the tricks people used to try and get by without paying or getting away from the police.


Jens took us back to his place to drop off our things, grab a beer, Tuberg, and sit around his living room to catch up. He also gave us a homemade Norwegian take on a burrito and some amazing Norwegian chocolate. Great to have good food again. We met his roommate Nicoli, who was very quiet but still spoke decent English and was very welcoming to us. After our quick break Jens took us to a Microbrewery that was designed to look like a dungeon and was used once - or had something to do with them. We each tried three different kinds - and learned how expensive beers are in Norway, especially in this bar. They use krone as their currency, 5.6 = $1, meaning the beers were around $10 a piece! Won't be getting drunk in these bars.