(1)- In Search of the Greatest Hike: Oslo
Let’s start by restating the phrase, “an adventure is just misery in retrospect”. Not that we coined the phrase; we just appropriated it. It was filled with multiple modes of transportation: Plane-Tram-Train-Hike-Ferry-Bus-Canoe-Funicular-Taxi-Van. If Randy could have thought of another one, he would have added it.
Oslo was lovely, and we strolled the town using the guidebook as a reference for what we were seeing. Good and evil battling it out on the corner of the church, the hotel where Nobel Prize recipients raise a glass, and lots of sweaters and knitwear. That night, Norway experienced an epic thunderstorm. From an East Coast US perspective, it was a summer storm, nothing unusual, even though they can be very intense. In Norway, it wreaked havoc. But that was unknown to us. We headed to the train station for our 8-hour journey across the width of the country. 13 hours later, plus a bus, two trains, multiple hours of just sitting still on the tracks, the conductor telling everyone on the train to ask for your money back because we were so late; we pulled into Stavanger. We contacted our travel agent and she offered to refund us the fare. Crazy thing is, in a country where a hamburger costs $60, and the tram from the airport to the city costs $20, the train across the entire width of the country for 2, is only $50. Move more, eat less?! (Karen)
