Today was GREAT. We got to sleep in - we needed to get to the bus at 11 so I slept till about 9:45 and it was glorious!! I did miss breakfast at the hostel, though. It worked out because my friend Dave shared his bread, sausage and grapes with me. Great guy!
We were dropped off in downtown Oslo and had about 2 and a half hours to make our way to the venue where we were playing a concert at 4:00. I went with my group and did some great things. We went into a second hand store, watched street musicians, visited other souvenir shops (where I got some GREAT sunglasses) and participated in "Crystal Ball Paul"'s street show. Very funny.
We ate lunch in a park near the concert venue and National Theater - I had Thai Curry Pizza (actually DELICIOUS, though seeing peanuts on my pizza was a little odd...) - then we headed up to the Palace. The guards there are friendly and are allowed to talk with you!! Unlike England - though we're only allowed to stand to his left...We walked around to the back of the palace and visited the gardens there and spent some more time walking around the expensive living area of the city where the old apartment buildings and condos are. SO PRETTY.
We set up for our concert around 3:00 so we could begin playing around 4. It was lovely (despite the drunk man who kept yelling out phrases in Russian/Norwegian/English - he was taken away by police after he started kicking people.) There were SO many people all around the square and the fountains were going, the light was perfect, and it was just a magical sight. The venue itself felt a little bit like playing in a shoebox, but I think the sound out front of the pavilion was pretty okay.
After the concert I was happy to run into Jan Ake and Bente Karlsson. They were the Presidents of the Stockholm, Sweden mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Spencer was there serving a mission for the church. He was the "assistant to the president" for quite some time so he is fairly close with them. They took me out to dinner at TGI Friday's (because of the free refills on drinks -but a salad there is upwards of 175 NOK which is over $20!!) and then walked around Oslo with me, telling me about the history and buildings and we headed down to the water where two of their sons are working on ferry boats for the summer. We hopped on one and boated all around to these great little islands and it was beautiful. The weather is perfect - a little cool, but still sunny. I was lucky to spend the evening with them.
Tomorrow we're off to Drammen, then Kongsberg, then goodbye Norway and hello Denmark!!
Interesting Norwegian things:
Apple juice and orange juice look like the same word!! Eple juice or appelsin juice :)
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