Up up and away

We have arrived in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. I am still getting used to the hunt and peck typing made necessary by this tiny touch keyboard. The airport is large, but is efficient and well signed. There are many bits of random architecture - like a wooden floor that rears up to form the roof of the adjacent kiosk. There are a pair of cafe style restaurants one done in the style of a grand old train station and the other under the arc of a green metal structure that looks to me like half a carousel. My favourite part is the one done up with green floors and faux trees and log benches with the best part being the nature sounds of birds and water to complete the woodland effect. We are currently enjoying a small outdoor terrace where S. has got the complete outdoor effect of sitting on a slightly wet chair, he notes that this is a clear sign of under cafeination.

The flight was long and cramped and they ran out of chicken before I got my meal- leaving me with the fish- which I couldn't eat. We didn't sleep as much as hoped, but there is still the next leg...

I slept through most of the plane ride to Norway. It was raining heavily when we arrived though it made an impression of verdant farmland of hills and overgrown creek valleys. The train ride into town was uneventful being only marginally awake and was followed by a 3 hour nap. The rest of the evening was spent wandering the downtown area marvelling at the detail of the finishings on the buildings.

There was some kind of concert near the waterfront, but we opted for a stroll through the grounds of the old fortress. Actually it is the largest concert in Scandinavia The VG Lista, complete with slightly overwhelming throngs of enthusiastically noisy youths. The pictures include a view of one of the buildings and the other of some kind of shadow art in a cave.

Dinner was some most excellent thin crust at a pizzeria on Karl Johans Gate. It was a bit of a challenge to order having finally to cave in and check that ost was indeed cheese and ask what skinke was - ham.
This morning we hiked up to Frogner and Vigeland parks to see an interesting select of sculpture in plaster, bronze and granite. We also visited the Oslo museum which was incredibly well done. We are just finishing our lunch now.

Our next stop was the museum of history showcasing the history of civilization in Norway from caveman to Viking to now. There was also a nice bit on cultures from around the world including the Inuit. The evening was spent sharing a lovely dinner with two of S.'s family friends and their kids. Today is a full day and I am going to try to post this before I am without Internet.