20230614 Arrival in Europe

We arrived in Copenhagen on the next calendar day.

It was hot (70-80F) and as we came in for a landing we could see a line of windmills and sailboats in the island channels. I asked Amanda where she'd seen the famous Copenhagen mermaid (she called it a tar baby) but she couldn't remember and it was hard to get our bearings from the air.

In the airport we took a seat by our gate and watched the people go by. Two Russians stopped a stewardess to ask (in Russian) which gate was going to the Faroe islands and she told them to look at the board. I was pretty sure they couldn't read the Latin alphabet. After Russia's invasion in Ukraine they weren't much beloved in the international community and I wondered what these guy's story was.

While Amanda went off to look for birds through the airport windows I kept an eye on our bags and, tempted by the haribo candy display, I looked up the exchange rate for Danish Khroners on the airport wifi (it was ~7DKK = $1). The bags of licorice were going for 65DKK (~$9.00) and Gummis for 107DKK (~$15.00). Our flight out of SF was delayed an hour but I'd budgeted for a comfortable layover and the connecting flight was delayed 45min. Before heading to our gate we had to pass through an uncrowded passport control point.

The international airport nearest to Oslo is in Gardermoen, a 20-min train ride from the city. Like last time we breezed through customs with our luggage uninspected and I remembered to ask for the ticket booth to the slow train.

The slow train leaves from Gardermoen every 20min and costs $20. The fast train costs $40, travels the same speed as the slow train, but leaves every 10min. At the kiosk I tried to buy our tickets with my credit card but it asked for a PIN (my card doesn't have a PIN). Amanda's card had a PIN so she swiped it but it just silently accepted the charge without asking her for it. Our train was leaving in a few minutes so we grabbed our tickets and hurried down the stairs to get on the train.

Just as the doors were closing a man ran up. The ticket lady was standing in the doorway yelling at him to stop but he kept running until he slammed into her and they both stumbled inside as the doors closed. She yelled at him for another 5 minutes while he looked at her sheepishly.

Since Amanda's phone worked and we had WIFI we were able to coordinate with Ja and he met us at the Oslo sentralstasjon as the train pulled up. The first order of business was for me to buy a SIM card. These are sold at every convenience store in Norway but were sold out in the three stores we checked.

From Oslo S we took bus 34 to Tåsen allé and walked the block to Ja's house. His living situation was much better than the last time I visited. He shared a building with 3 other families and had a large back yard with apple trees. His neighborhood was nice and quiet and only a street away from the really fancy neighborhood.

I was jet lagged, we were in a new timezone, and it was the height of summer at a high latitude so I was a bit dazed and I don't remember much of the neighborhood that first night. It was 10pm when this picture was taken walking down the street towards his house. The kid had already gone to bed by the time we arrived and we tip-toed around to avoid waking him.

Lukas slept in a room directly below the living room. Jason and Sine slept downstairs across from him and we were put up on a futon in the guest bedroom next to the kitchen.

Though I'd been awake for more than 24 hours I forced myself to stay up a few hours more so I could get to sleep at a reasonable 8-9pm. Getting used to a new sleep schedule is the best way to get over jet lag.