Not much time, but enough to get just a taste of the city.  Oslo is charming, with fantastic architecture, sculpture, and gardens everywhere you look.  I asked at the airport “For someone who has only a few short hours in town, what local specialty would you recommend?” The response: Norwegian waffles and brown cheese.  It took me 40 minutes to find it.  For being a traditional treat, not many places serve it.  The waffle was tasty—thin and soft and cold; the “brown cheese” unusual. It was kind of sweet, yet the texture of American cheese.  I would not get the cheese again, but I wished later that I had stuffed my bag with more waffles.

After not sleeping all night on the flight from Boston, I was pretty exhausted, but determined to make the most of the hours that I had.  After all, this was my first time in Norway.  I walked around for about 90 minutes, then sat at an outside café people watching for a half hour before returning to the train station.  The streets and sidewalks are made of cobblestones—beautiful, but hell to walk on, not to mention schlepp luggage around on.  Ironically, after racing back to the airport, my flight was delayed by another 3 hours. That extra time in the city would have allowed time for a proper meal and been much more enjoyable than sitting around, trying not to fall asleep in the terminal.  Years ago, in Paris, I fell asleep at the gate after check in, and my flight took off without me.  I must never let that happen again!

I posted an album of pictures on Facebook on my Photography by Marea page.  You can check them out here:

https://www.facebook.com/MareaWhitakerBishop/?ref=br_rs&pnref=about.overview