A Week with Kyle

Sometimes I think I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Kyle, my wonderful boyfriend came out to see me on his spring break (plus 2 days extra). When I saw him Friday morning it was one of the happiest moments of my life. After we got back to the house he slept for quite awhile, and we did nothing but relax and watching TV, which is one of the best things to do together.

Saturday we walked around the city in a "tour" that I had designed.
-First, we went to the Opera House, where it was as windy as Colorado. It was insane! I've never had such strong wind while in Norway before.
-From there were found our way to the Fortress. I hadn't been to this place yet so it was new for both of us. And really cool!
-Then we walked towards the center of the city and wound around some streets ending up by the City Hall.
-Then we walked around Aker Brygge, the waterside area.
That evening we went over to my cousins house to try a traditional Norwegian meal. Lutefisk. I had never tried lutefisk, though I have of course heard of it, growing up in a Norwegian family. But all I had heard was that it was supposed to be disgusting and smelly. But both Kyle and I were determined to at least try it. And we liked it. It was really good. The fish itself doesn't have very much flavor but mixed with everything it was great. I was very pleasantly surprised! Dinner combined with akavit and wine (for me) lead to hours of eating, talking, and dancing. At 2:30 we finally left to go home.

Because of our late night, we slept in until after noon on Sunday. But we were still able to make it to the Viking Ship museum. It was amazing. There were 3 different ships, all in very different places of decay. The first ship is massive and impressive, and looks like it could go out to sea today. The others were worse for wear but still very cool to look at. That evening we decided to take a walking-tour I had read about in my very handy dandy Rick Steves book. It led us from Oslo Sentre to a bunch of churches and graveyards off the beaten path, and then we followed a park path along the river and finally looped down and ended up in the Grunlokka neighborhood, a popular and "hip" area of Oslo.


Monday began our Stockholm adventure that I previously wrote about. It was such a beautful city! And by Tuesday night we were back in Oslo. 


Wednesday I sadly had to to go class (after ditching my Tuesday classes) so while I was in class Kyle got to sit in the cafe' and read his paper. After class I showed him around campus and we also visited a new part of town for him. It was the "chic" area known as Majourstuen. That evening was our Valentines date, since we couldn't be together on 2/14 we decided that 3/14 was a better date for us. We went to Egon restaurant were I ordered a big juicy american cheeseburger and french fries. It was amazing!!!


Thursday I had a 3 hour lecture for Norwegian class, so once again Kyle sat in the cafe' doing hw, but because of the school system here I had 2 breaks where I was able to go visit with him for a bit. After class we went to the Vigeland Frogner park. (sadly my camera was dead, so no pics) and walked around the interesting statues. Afterwards we went back to the house to relax and watch Big Bang Theory (our show) and Across the Universe (gotta love the Beatles). It was wonderful to sit on the couch and watch TV like we used to do back home.


Friday was our last day. After sleeping in quite a bit, we went to Holmkollen, a HUGE ski jump. At the base was a cool museum on skiing in Norway. It was fun to see how different regions of Norway developed different types of skis. It also had displays about North & South Pole explorations done by Norwegians. I honestly think these people are crazy! that's way to cold for me!! After the museum we took a lift to the top of the ski jump. Looking down the jump I realized there was no way I could EVER be a ski jumper. Not ever. And even though it was foggy, we were so high up that we could still see out over much of the city.


Saturday morning bright and early, I took Kyle back to the airport and said goodbye. Luckily I found out the airport had just put in a starbucks, so I was able to find comfort in the best white mocha I've had in months. After an amazing 8 days together I am looking forward to the next European trip we take together (whenever that will be). I can't wait to see Kyle again in 104 days (or so)