Monday 9.20.2010

Goodbye Stockholm, Hello Oslo

We have another nice breakfast with Elisabeth this morning with all of the usual staples except the salmon she promised us on Friday. Guess she forgot. She is a very nice lady and she is almost weepy that we are leaving even though we haven’t spent 90 minutes with her in four days. She says she hates this part of her job.

Elisabeth arranges a taxi to the airport for us and he arrives in the time it takes us to get our luggage schlepped downstairs with her help. She has already given us her fair warnings about Oslo which are 1) it is painfully expensive there, and 2) while Norway used to be the well behaved little brother as part of Sweden they have suddenly become very self sufficient and no longer show the proper respect to their bigger neighbors. It has something to do with all that oil in the North Sea.

Our taxi driver is very chatty and is quite concerned about all the V-8s and other assorted gas-guzzlers in the states. We assure him that those SUVs are hybrids, and the big new Cadillacs have great technology that gets them 30 mpg which we calculate is close enough to his Prius cab to be acceptable. It’s good to do our part to keep the international peace. As we near the airport he takes a minute to warn us about how expensive everything is in Oslo.

As we get checked in at the counter and pass through the initial security check the security guy looks at our boarding passes and takes a moment to tell us how expensive everything is in Oslo. "Double," he says.

We spend way too much time referring to Mary’s preflight medication but this is too good. She thinks she may need a little something before we fly so we find the bar. Cocktails are about $15 (110 SEK), and while we have spent that much on a cocktail it is only done begrudgingly. Can’t wait to see Oslo prices. Now we pass through the duty-free shop and see a liter of Tanqueray for $17 (125 SEK.) They don’t put it into a sealed bag, they don’t give it to you on the plane, they hand over the jug right there. Suffice it to say that Mary flew quite comfortably.

We catch the Flytoget train from the airport to the Oslo Central Train Station and it is an easy 4-block walk to our hotel. It is an odd place found through a locked door and into an alley entry. The place is a combo apartment-hotel with reception on the third floor. The hallway lights are all out so we have to switch on the lights as we locate our room. Once again, the place is very Scandinavian with blonde furniture and straight lines.

The Swedes, even Swiss Swedes like Elisabeth, will tell you that their Norwegian neighbors are a step behind on the sophisticated evolutionary ladder. You can definitely see a difference. Everybody on average is about 3 lbs heavier, 5% less fashionable, and smoking. There isn’t a big difference, but you can tell.

We spend a couple hours wandering in and around Karl Johans Gate, the main pedestrian mall in Oslo, that leads from the central train station for a couple miles to the Royal Palace. Here’s what we can tell you about the prices in Oslo. A Big Mac is about ten bucks, a bowl of soup in a nice restaurant about twenty and a good dinner out is in the neighborhood of fifty dollars for a main dish. A glass of wine is about $25 and a large pizza a little over $30. We decide to eat in (remember that we have gin) and grab a couple good-looking deli sandwiches and a bag of chips. We could have dropped a quick $100 at the TGI Friday’s in the next block but think we should save up for tomorrow.

We are back in drizzle mode again. It is just enough to be irritating so we’re packing it in at about 7:00 and getting a good night’s sleep for a big day tomorrow.

Today’s Weather: Foggy and 48 in Stockholm, Cloudy turning to rain in Oslo, high of 60