Day 1

Friday night, with about an hour’s delay with their flight from London airport Heathrow, Emma and Sandy came through the gates of the ‘Nothing to declare’ zone at Oslo Airport Gardermoen’s custom’s area.

These two girls are friends I met during my stay in Cannes about six years ago, along with a fourth member of our foursome, Angelica, who was the only one who couldn’t make the trip, as she was stuck in California at the time... We were very sorry you couldn’t make it, Angelica, and have tried our best to document the weekend with photos found in the photo section (at this time, only the four of us have access to the album. I will give access to people with passwords later).

Sylvain and I picked them up at the airport, and we arrived at home about 11:30pm. We stayed up until about 1am before I collapsed. Before that, we got the two camp beds ready for the girls in the office, and drank some tea.

They had brought me, upon request, some tea. Sandy had gone to Whittard of Chelsea in London, and gotten me a small selection of English leaf teas (Ceylon, Earl Grey, Darjeeling and English breakfast), all gathered in a very nice wooden box along with a dip infuser.

Day 2

For Saturday morning, we had decided not to use an alarm, and woke up past ten. After getting ready, us three girls headed by train to Oslo. There, we first headed up to my university campus, which obviously was deserted because it was a Saturday. From there, we walked down to the Vigeland statue park in Frognerparken, where you can find, amongst other things, a statue for which my great aunt Tordis was a model when she was young.

After the park, we headed downtown again to buy lunch at the Subway sandwich shop at the train station. I know it’s not very Norwegian, but I hadn’t eaten there in a while, and wished to go there. Fortunately, Emma and Sandy didn’t object to my proposal.

When lunch was over, we headed up Karl Johans gate, the main walking street in Oslo, towards the royal palace. On the way, we went into a couple of bookshops because I needed to look for some post-its to use for my MA literature, and because I wanted to look for English editions of the Sisterhood of traveling pants series.

Before reaching the palace, we passed by the parliament building, where Sandy also massaged my back (thanks, Sandy :D).

Heading back to the station, I wanted us to take the T-bane to get to the station quicker, to be able to take the train that stopped at Eidsvoll verk. Unfortunately, my lousy sense of direction (and memory, and stress) caused us to take a train going in the opposite direction, thus making us miss the train. Instead, we took the train going to Lillehammer, and Sylvain picked us up at the station at Eidsvoll.

That night, we watched Music and Lyrics and The Whole Nine Yards while eating Sylvain’s homemade pizza. Sandy and I also did some yoga, which did wonders for my back.

Day 3

After getting ready in the morning, we headed out of the house for a few hours. Our plan for the day was to visit the Eidsvoll manor house. This was my third time there, but first time with an English-speaking guide. Before going in, Sandy got her picture taken with a man who turned out to portray the Danish prince Christian Fredrik, who had wished to become king of an independent Norway in 1814. During the tour of the manor, we “ran into” him again in the prince’s private quarters, where he gave each of us a copy of the access pass each representative had been given to be able to attend the elaboration of the Constitution.

After the visit, we spent the rest of the day back at our house, first outside on the terrace in the sun, and afterwards watching a series called Medium, which I’d started to watch about a week earlier. Both of them seemed to like it, and also seemed to get caught up in the storylines of each episode. We also watched Robbie Williams’ concert at Royal Albert Hall, which accompanied his “Swing when you’re winning” album.

For lunch, we ate pieces of bread with a kind of sardine paste (mashed sardines mixed lemon juice and butter) which Sylvain had made while we were at the manor. For dinner, we ate pieces of salmon marinated in a soy and lemon sauce and accompanied by tagliatelle pasta.

Day four

This was the only day we woke up with the help of an alarm clock.

For lunch that day, we had decided to make banana and chocolate pancakes. So, first thing we did after breakfast was to head down to the supermarket to get the needed ingredients. There, the girls also got some Norwegian chocolate to bring back to England.

The girls made the pancakes from scratch, whisking the batter by hand, and frying them on Sylvain’s hotplate, which we can also use to melt raclette cheese when we’re eating Swiss.

During that time, I made them some “mixed tapes” (actually CDs, but oh well…) with some French songs, some movie sound tracks (Legally Blonde and Music and Lyrics amongst others), and Robbie Williams’ Swing when you’re winning album.

While waiting for Sylvain to get back from work, we watched some more episodes of Medium, which we continued to watch while eating. All, except vegetarian Emma, had fried chicken for dinner that evening. Emma had a veggie omelet, and I think Sylvain had a piece of that, too, although I’m not sure about that.

After dinner, it was time to bring Emma and Sandy back to the airport. This time, I had to drive, because Sylvain had drunk a glass of wine by mistake while eating.

We made it to the airport about an hour before the plane was scheduled to leave the airport. After the girls had checked in, they wondered if we should go get a coffee or something before they went through the security. Unfortunately, my tears started to appear at that moment, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it if we stayed together any longer. So, Sylvain and I watched them go through the metal detectors and towards their gate before heading back to the car and back home.

I cried all the way home, and then some, while watching the ’50’s movie High society and checking the Gardermoen and Heathrow websites for Emma and Sandy’s plane’s flight status. As they did coming to Oslo, the flight to London was delayed for one hour.

Emma sent me an SMS when the two girls arrived safely at the airport. Her boyfriend Johnny picked her up at the airport, while Sandy, apparently, spent the night in London with her boyfriend Sam before heading back to Cambridge.

My dad left Friday afternoon, after spending a few days with us. We didn’t get much rest, however, because that same night Sylvain’s dad arrived for the weekend.

His visit started with a delayed flight from Paris, and a "lost" suitcase upon arrival in Oslo. It ended with him finding his car with a flat battery, but the middle was, apparently, worth all the trouble.

On my request, he had brought four bottles of red wine (Cahors and St Nicolas de Bourgueil), some smelly cheese and some French sausage for his son. Sylvain wouldn’t see these gifts before retrieving his father’s suitcase at the airport Saturday morning. That day, I had planned for us to go to two of Oslo’s many museums; Norsk folkemuseum and Vikingskipmuseet on the island of Bygdøy. For those of you also reading Sylvain’s blog, his impressions of the weekend are coming up, he just has to get the time to sit down to write an entry about it...

We also climbed up on the roof of the new opera building in Oslo. One word of advice for those wanting to do the same; bring sunglasses, because you risk going "snow blind" from the reflection of the sun on the white marble.

Returning home from Oslo, Sylvain showed his father the building where he works, as well as the bike trail he uses when going back and forth.

Sunday morning for father and son was spent at Eidsvollbygningen, with a "private" tour in English, arranged by yours truly. I will arrange for another "private" tour this weekend, when my friends Sandy and Emma are coming from England to visit us (see The vacation marathon part 3).

As well as discovering the various ways Norwegians have used wood to build houses, I also urged Sylvain’s father to taste a local speciality called "lefse", which is a kind of soft flat bread folded in two, with a mix of a little butter, sugar and cinnamon in the middle. He liked it so much that we found some for him to bring back to France...

We came back from France last Sunday night, and arrived at the house a little past midnight Monday morning.

One of the bitches of traveling by plane, is the weight restrictions - in our case, 20kg of checked in luggage and 10kg of cabin luggage. Because the excess kilos cost an arm and a leg, we decided to send a lot of stuff by mail. Even by getting rid of about 25kg divided into four prepaid boxes, we were still quite close to the weight limit... One of the reasons for this might have been the four bottles of wine we had in each suitcase, but still...

We had a very good time in France, seeing members of Sylvain's family again, some after a one and a half year wait. The weather in Argelès wasn't as good as it could have been, but we still managed to go swimming and get a tan (and a slight sunburn...).

When we got to Evry and Sylvain's mom, we went to see the Chateau of Vaux le Vicomte, which supposedly inspired Louis XIV to build his Chateau at Versailles.

Monday afternoon, Sylvain's friends from Rennes came, and spent the night here, to be a bit closer to the airport. They got to see some of our life here, amongst other things, the house where we lived before, and where Sylvain works.

Wednesday (yesterday) afternoon, my dad and Anggun (the cat), arrived by train from the south of Norway. Anggun will stay with us for a few weeks, before we bring her with us back south. Dad returns to the south tomorrow afternoon, after which The vacation marathon, part 2 begins...