So here is another glamorous trip , we had to get from Nice to Oslo, from our work on a cruise ship to a hotel and get on another ship. It should take around 5 hours max, but it took 10 hours, and we almost used every from of motorized transport known to man. First we got off the cruise ship in Ville-France-sur-mere, the playground of musicians , beautiful people , intellectuals , exiled dictators from times past and present. It is very beautiful there, and even the French presence there cannot ruin that fact, but they try hard, if you talk to them in French they answer in English thereby showing you how bad your French is, but I counter this by answering back in German or Italian and saying I do not understand English, and the waiters and shopkeepers have that bored look and are not bothered to smile and be welcoming in any way (this they must have learnt from all the rich Russians there, experts at not smiling), the ticket dispenser at the train station is only in French, for me not a problem but for all the other tourists a big one. Anyway, we had to take a tender boat from the ship to shore, then we walked to the train station , took a train to Nice , then a bus to the wrong Air terminal, then another bus to the right terminal, checked our bags in and were told that the buggy for my son (life saver for parents) could not come with us past security and to the gate, as Air France’s policy had changed , (Air France , did I expect anything different?)
So on to our first stopover Amsterdam, ( Strange connecting there as it is usually where we get off to go home) We wait one hour , get back on the same plane and fly North to Oslo , we fly over our province where we live but could not see our farm , hard as I tried , I REALLY looked , I knew it was down there somewhere 8 km below us . Must have my eyes checked .
Flight uneventful, same dry cardboard sandwiches as usual but at least they were free , got to Oslo Airport and took another train from there to the center of town which took about 30 min, and then walked 25 min. to the Hotel. Did I forget to mention we have one of my work ladders with me and 2 small cases that I have strapped to a small trolley with wheels, and my wife is pushing my son in the buggy, all this for the purpose of saving money on taxis , so far doing good on that front but my 7 month pregnant wife and 4 year old son are tired by now as its been 10 hours since we left the ship, Finally help is at hand , the Hotel is in sight , I can see it , it is on the other side of Oslo bay!!! I printed out the wrong directions! We need to take a ferry across, so we do that , finally we make it to the Hotel. Man, we are starving, we order a burger , 2 omelets , 2 glasses of wine and an apple juice, 80.- €, there goes the money I saved on Taxis all day!!! Norway is terribly expensive. To top off the trip we were woken up at 3 in the morning with the fire alarm going off, we are on the 8th floor and I am very paranoid being trapped above a fire (with visions of the Trade Center on 9/11) so we run out real quick and make it down stairs and wait outside and its bloody freezing ( My wife has the sense to sleep in pyjamas but I only sleep in a t shirt so I am in my underwear outside, what if i slept al fresco? i cannot imagine) and after half hour are given the all clear by the fire brigade and it was a false alarm and the lifts are still not working so we walk up 8 floors with the wife and child and of course cannot get back to sleep . In the morning we have to get to the ship in Olso port , but I am tired , so we take a taxi this time. Finally we get to the ship, Oh, the taxi ride was 35.- for 3 km, I won’t be eating out or taking taxis in Norway any more if I can help it.!!! But I always say that.
