Norway continued...

The first few days of our Norway trip was spent being complete tourists which included lots and lots of picture taking and lots and lots of walking (my feet were hurting!!). We spent the first day in Oslo taking a bicycle tour through the city. I felt like it was a great way to get around fairly fast while having a guide to help keep us from getting lost. I think it was definitely worth the money. Plus it was super fun to get back on a bike again. Houston isn't exactly known for being bicycle friendly. With everything being so spaced out and our 100+ degree summers, Houston isn't the ideal city to ride a bike in. So of course I was excited to get on a bike since it had been YEARS since I last rode. And of course, being the dumb American moron, I was the only idiot who didn't know how to work the bike shifter thing. We were getting ready to head out on our bikes and I was playing around with the shifter while we were parked when the tour guide kinda called me out (yikes, I had no idea you weren't supposed to shift when the bike was stopped). It was slightly/very embarrassing. Anyway, we got a nice tour of the city and it helped give us an idea of the layout of the city.

Our first stop was Akershus fortress.


|View of Oslo from Akershus Fortress|




A hop and a skip further east on the coast led us to the Oslo Opera House. This building is amazing. The simplicity and clean lines of this building really blew me away. Unfortunately it was in an area of Oslo that was being renovated. Not the prettiest surroundings but the building itself more than made up for the construction.

Visiting the "Old Country"

I'm Norweigan.

Kind of weird to say but it's true. Norway is where, for the longest time, I considered home. I spent the majority of my childhood in Oslo (capital of Norway), from infancy until I was nine. So truth be told, Norway is technically my first home. It's funny, when I tell people that I'm from Norway, I always get the same reaction. "What?" "Can you speak Norwegian?" "How did you end up in Norway?" So let's start from the beginning:

After the Vietnam war, my parents fled the country. My mom was pregnant with me at the time. My parents were able to make it to the Philippines when I was born. I was born on April 6th in Bataan, Philippines in a refugee camp. Shortly afterwards, my family fled in a boat, hoping to make it to America. I've been told that the boat had horrible conditions, from sickness to starvation, it was hell on water. My mom has recalled having to witness people throwing the dead of the boat. Somewhere along the way, everyone on the boat were rescued by a Norwegian ship. Norway provided us with asylum and citizenship, and for that we were and are very grateful. Since then, we spent the next 9 years living our lives in this gorgeous country. I ate Norwegian food, learned to speak/write Norwegian, and assimilated and immersed myself in the Norwegian culture. My home, the only home I knew, was Norway. After living there for 9 years, my parents were finally able to get approved to come to America, and that's when I lost my childhood connection. Everything that I knew and was accustomed to just vanished. Norway has since been nothing but a memory and a few pictures.

At least until recently when after 20 years, I finally got to go back home. It's funny, I've built up this whole imagery of Norway being perfect and you know what, it was. I couldn't get enough. I love Norway. There's A LOT of pictures that'll need to get uploaded (shocker, right?). I want my memories of this trip to stay as fresh as possible for as long as possible.



Aker Brygge is this popular area of Norway where a lot of people go to eat and socialize. It is right on the coast and there are numerous restaurants lining the water. It was definitely fun to walk around and people watch... not to mention all the photography opportunities :)




After a loooooong 9 hour flight + a 2 hour flight, our only chance of eating non-airport/airline food plus a place that accepted our US credit card was at the hotel's restaurant. It's our first day in a foreign country, and what did we eat? A BLT sandwich with a fried egg and burgers & fries. How American of us!! But I do gotta say, that was one delicious, fattening, albeit expensive meal. Norwegian hotels have a foot up on good food.






It actually took us a few days to discover Karl Johans gate. This is the main street in Oslo that leads up to the Royal Palace. The street itself is full of stores and restaurants to entice any tourist to walk in and spend money.

| 1. The Royal palace in the background 2. The other side of the same street |



That's enough for now. Stay tuned for more ;)