Welcome to Norway

I would have posted this yesterday, but the jet lag put me in a sleepy stupor all day.  Fortunately, I was still able to be productive most of the day, and already got to experience some interesting things already.

My initial observations are that Norway is an awful lot like the woods of New England. There are low slung mountains peering in the background, and beautiful coniferous trees dotting the landscape. It has snowed all day, laying a thin blanket on every tiled roof and tree branch. To say the least, its picturesque.

I was taken from the airport at 11AM towards downtown Oslo. Instead of making our way to the city, we detoured to the nearby mountains where an Olympic ski jump was daringly traversed by on-holiday Norwegians. A nearby house gave me an ideal overlook of Oslo, a sprawling small city covering the low land going out to the fjord.

We headed back to my host, Helene's apartment, where I was finally able to free myself of luggage, and grab an afternoon snack. I was given many interesting cheese spreads on hearty bread, which is apparently a stable (if grocery stores are any indication).

I tried ham and cheese that came out of a toothpaste tube. I had a mayonnaise-like spread that had chives in it. I had some interesting vegetable cream cheese spread. But the most interesting cheese spread I had was a traditional Norwegian goat cheese. It has the bite you expect in goat cheese, but it was sweet with a caramel flavor to it. If I could cross multiple borders with it, I would.

The rest of the day was spent visiting the sculpture park, Vigelandsparken, which is a park speckled with figures of humans.

Before returning to the apartment, we did some grocery shopping. I could read just about nothing in Norwegian. Luckily, just about everyone speaks English, which is good since many words are a string of syllables that I cannot fathom saying in the proper tongue. 

We left the grocery store with chicken, spices, eggs, and a bunch of candy I chose. I wish I had documented my taste testing, but I made quick work of most of it. I will just say that jelly, caramel and licorice is a favored flavoring. Two of those are what you would most likely discard from a chocolate box if you found them in a filling.

I cooked dinner because I'm told that Norway is not a foodies paradise, and you also pay a high premium. What do I expect from one of the most wealthy nations in Europe?

I promptly passed out at 8PM.

I'll have further observations tomorrow, and some phrases I learned. Hadet for now.