Oslo is Magical

The story of the missing keys continues...three of the girls went back to where we played in the leaves to look for the keys and four of us looked where some kart-wheeling was taking place earlier in the day. Both explorations went without reward and we headed to look by the palace. When we got to the infamous hill that we rolled down, Kelsey found some of the Ashley's eyedrops...we knew the keys had to be there somewhere!!! Sure enough, a few seconds later, Ashley Mac yells, "keys"...and so ends the curious case of the missing keys. This is why we say Oslo is magical, because that would never have happened in Florence.

We were a pit pooped out after all the searching so we caught the tram up the mountain to our cabin. We were also quite excited because we bought the fixings for grilled cheeses the night before--something we all missed quite a bit and had been craving for oh, so long. We made grilled cheese after grilled cheese and kept cutting them in quarters and everyone got their fair share. Let me tell you, mom, everyone was quite impressed with my grilled cheese making skills, so thank you! We also had a pack of dry tomato soup mix with instructions--in Norwegian. Although some words some similar to German, that doesn't cut it with soup making directions. Fortunately it was tomato soup, so we added a little water and a little milk (we were able to decipher the word milk on the package). It was graded by the group a C for eating as soup but an A for dipping your grilled cheese in. Grilled cheeses were followed by ice cream and bed. We put all of the mattresses on the floor of the living room and had a sleepover...whose idea was that, you ask? Of course, it was yours truly. It was a great sleepover.

Sunday morning we woke up and had some more eggs and french toast for breakfast...oh yeah, and leftover ice cream! Then, Diana and I had to jet to get to mass and everyone else was going to meet us in town later in the morning. Mass was so great in Norwegian because it sounds like everything is made up and they aren't actually saying anything! Also, the priest looked like Paul McCartney thirty years ago...weird.

After mass we met up with the other folks and walked by the water's edge. We stumbled upon a castle--only in Europe--and wandered around until we had to catch a bus for the airport at 2ish. We made our flight and got to the Milan airport on time. We then found our rental car and drove home. This time, we stuck two people in the trunk and it worked out quite well!

There are a few things I loved about Oslo:
1) It was super clean.
2) They had big cars--trucks, range rovers, minivans--I know these are not so environmental friendly, but I like big cars.
3) The Norwegian language makes me giggle, a lot. (I learned a great Norwegian phrase: Jeg Elsker Deg...it means "I love you".
4) It was so beautiful
5) Free tap water at the restaurant
6) Toilet seats and soap in bathrooms

The list could go on and on. I think I may have fallen in love with Norway, and when I go to Stockholm soon, I'll see if I can say I've fallen in love with Scandinavia.