…we kept up the pace.

I ended the last blog post with “…we may not keep up this same pace…” Um, but we actually did. The second half of Joanne’s visit to the homeland of her forefathers was filled with special lunches with new friends, a day trip to Oslo, one nerve-wracking online Covid test in order to return to the US, and a stay in a cozy Bed and Breakfast near the airport (which boasts its very own fertility-inducing viking stone 50 meters from its doors). I will be brief.

On Monday, we were invited to a friend’s home for a luncheon featuring ‘typical Norwegian food’; porridge, rømme grøt, small potatoes, cured pork, and scrambled eggs, with ice cream and kaffe (of course). The seven of us around the table enthusiastically spoke with one another in whatever language was convenient at the time. Joanne was grinning from ear to ear every time I looked her way, and she mentioned memories of her grandmother more than once. The sun was shining so we moved the gathering to the garden in the back for our ice cream and kaffe, and when it was time to leave, we ended the party with a couple of favorite songs around the piano in the living room. (it is usually at these times when I most wish I played the piano)

Astrid and Joanne sharing a laugh.

Porridge made from rice and milk, with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. So very good!

Our luncheon ended up to be a ‘garden party’!

The next day, the three of us spent the day in Oslo, which, the more I think about it, the more I decide that Our Day in Oslo sounds like a reasonable subject for a blog post all by itself. I will give y’all one picture to whet your appetite for more on Oslo at a later time.

Well, we did more than this…(I laugh at the gal on the bench taking our picture!)

On Wednesday, we met Krista Lauritzen, the Executive Director of the American College of Norway, where Paul taught for two semesters in 2002 and 2015, for lunch at probably my favorite little restaurant in Moss, Cafe Riis. Joanne had shown an interest in the college and had met Krista at the University of North Dakota a long time ago, so I wanted to get the two of them together, as well as have the opportunity to visit with Krista ourselves. Following our delightful lunch, we gave Joanne a little tour of the college which shares a bit of space with the Konvensjonsgården–originally the main building at the Moss ironworks in 1778. It was in 1814 that the Norwegian constitution was adopted (on Syttende Mai), and it was here in Moss in this building that the negotiations between Sweden and Norway took place.

I love this view overlooking the river and the mill neighborhood of Møllebyen.

Konvensjonsgården and the Verket neighborhood (‘factory’ red buildings) we lived in twice.

Joanne was game for a bus trip to the seaside village of Son, so off we went, fortunately catching a direct bus right at the entrance to the college. Yippee! Paul and I have visited this village on four previous occasions and find it to be a sweet town to show off to our friends (Bonnie K. in 2015). We walked around the town, shopped a bit (Grandmas With Money could be a catchy title to a blog post….hmmmm.), and had a bit of a kaffe break with eplekake (me) and ice cream (Joanne). Tonight was a Bible study for Paul and I so we needed to return home in time for a light dinner. Since the next day would be the day Joanne and I were heading up to the Gardermoen Bed and Breakfast, she also needed to pack.

Up one hill and down the next…in Son.

Joanne and I during our kaffe break.

The last full day in Norway for our friend, Joanne, started out with a home Covid test verified online by a sweet British gal–and it was completed with minimal stress. So, I guess Joanne can now return to the States. We had been invited to a luncheon at Bente and Trygve’s house today–an event we gladly accepted knowing that we would still have enough time to travel to our cozy Bed and Breakfast later that day. (Make it Happen is our motto) The luncheon was a delight; kind hostess, delicious foods of varying types, and such friendly lunch companions! All guests brought flowers for the hostess, and everyone seemed to enjoy the conversation, whether it was in one’s mother tongue or one’s second language.

The smorgasbord of luncheon choices were all so good.

Hostess Bente and Joanne.

And, that, my friends, ends Joanne’s time in Moss.

But, we still were able to squeeze in a tiny bit of Norwegian experience yet! A train ride and shuttle pick-up to the cozy and reasonably-priced Gardermoen Bed and Breakfast, located a convenient distance to the airport. Because when your flight departs at 6:30 am, and you are advised to arrive hours beforehand, you don’t want to leave your home which is an hour and half away. [Why is it that most flights heading back to the States from Europe leave at such early times of day? Why can’t they have more reasonable departure times, like three in the afternoon?] And, if this place wasn’t quaint enough, they offered a choice of two (seemingly) home-cooked meals (and wine, people!) for their guests! I love Norway! Oh, and lest I forget, there is an adoringly historic viking stone monument a mere 50 meters from this very bed and breakfast! In the middle of a farmer’s field, cuz, as the legend says, if it is moved or relocated, it can result in serious consequences! (another legend attached to this stone is that by patting the stone, one’s infertility problem can be solved.) Vigsteinen.

Our recommended Gardermoen Bed and Breakfast.

Vigsteinen.

That’s the end of the story of Joanne Visits the Mother Country. I am confident that if you ask her about her week in Norway, she might have a few stories to share with you. And we are thankful for her visit!

The fun never ends!

An American in Paris…or Moss.

What a delight this week has been with our friend from Grand Forks visiting us! Her initial email last month started out with “This is a long shot, but…”, and the next thing you know, we are meeting her at Gardermoen with signs in hand! That, my friends, is the way to make things happen!

Joanne Becker arrives to Norway!

We had written out a tentative idea of what things we could do together to show her the ‘hygge’ that we have experienced during our four times of living in Norway, and she made the mistake of basically writing them in stone. Okay, I’m kidding. But, now that one-half of her stay is over, we all realize that our ideas were just that, ideas. There is always room for flexibility, right?

A trip to Alby Galleri F-15 cafe and Edvard Munch temporary exhibit was on our agenda for the first full day. A 1.7 km walk through the woods (to say there was a clear path would have been an overstatement) to meet our friend, Astrid, and Paul (riding there on a bike) gave us an introduction to the ‘friluftsliv‘ [free air life] typical for the Norwegians. We were not the only ones with the idea to visit Alby that day as the outdoor seating area was filling up throughout the noon hour.

Safely walking in the woods.

Paul, Joanne, and Astrid enjoying lunch al fresco out of the wind.

View from Alby overlooking the Oslofjord.

More visiting after we finished the Edvard Munch exhibit.

Not wanting to waste a day (or meal experience) during her limited time with us, we decided to have a little ‘rekerfest’ (shrimp party) for dinner that night. This was, of course, after walking downtown to the ‘Fretex’ (Salvation Army Thrift Store), where we (read: me) found a few necessary items. Like more little silver spoons. One can never have too many little silver spoons. Paul and I knew exactly how to prepare for such a rekerfest because, as luck would have it, we had just last week enjoyed one at some friends’ home. One needs just a basic list of ingredients to make a satisfactory, nee more-than-adequate, rekerfest. List: thawed whole unshelled shrimp, mayonnaise, butter, crispy lettuce, white bread, avocado sauce (not guacamole), and lemon wedges. If you really want to impress your guests, serve smoked salmon. So we did. And to make this evening’s soiree extra special, Maria Froholt joined us!

Readying for the rekerfest.

Joanne successfully creating her rekersmørbrød.

Maria, myself, and Joanne with our requisite kaffe and ice cream.

A fine ferry ride to Horten was the outing for Saturday, with a brisk walk (about 30 min) to the Preus Museum, Norway’s National Photography Museum. I have written about this museum in an earlier blog post, so I won’t repeat myself. This is where I admit that our addiction to taxis started. We all agreed that it would be worth it to not repeat the walk we took to get to the museum, and instead, hire a taxi. Oh. My. Word. Was that ever worth it! (May I just interject here that the day before, Joanne and I had walked, according to her probably extremely accurate step-counter on her iPhone, approximately 12,000 steps. You read that right.) So, a taxi picking us all up and delivering us to the restaurant for lunch, nearly door-to-door, seemed like a miracle. Just sayin’.

Statue of Leif Welding. A V.I.P. Look him up.

Taking the requisite ‘professional’ photo at the Preus Musem.

Okay, this is more British than Norwegian, but we all had a hankering for fish ‘n chips.

Eating al fresco at Fishland.

Today was Sunday. A Day of Rest. (hahaha!) We had prepared to stay a bit after the service by bringing a coffee cake and three dozen Recee’s Chip Chocolate cookies to share with the congregation. Coffee provided. Our church services are so nice, so Joanne was able to enjoy not only everyone’s kind greeting and welcoming words (including a Welcome in English from the pulpit by Øystein), but today, for the first time in awhile, the ‘Ole Gaither Quintet’ sang. (this is the name we gave the group of five men from our church who occasionally sing together; Trygve, Øystein, Asbjørn, Øivind, and Otto) We visited with as many people as possible, and Joanne was in her element with each person to whom she was introduced.

Trygve, Øivind, Øystein, Otto, Asbjørn.

Today’s preacher, Osvald, also sings, accompanied by his wife, Ragnhild.

Most everyone stays for the cake and coffee and to visit.

Liv Jorunn and Joanne.

We thought a light lunch at Glassverket Bakeri sounded like a good idea, so after a brief rest, we, again, hit the streets to this sweet cafe near our apartment. Hmmm, now it seems like all we do it eat.

This bakeri has become our go-to place…this is our third time here.

Finally, still today, we had planned for a month to attend the annual (having skipped two years due to the pandemic) concert of Samspillbandet and the Moss og Omegn Janitsjar (a community band and a singing concert of developmentally-challenged individuals). The taxi ride was so nice yesterday, and there really was no other way to get to the concert venue, so off we went by taxi! And. It. Was. Magic. One minute we are leaving our front door, and, seemingly, the next minute we are arriving at the destination. Having walked Zero steps. I love Norway. The concert was so enjoyable–the band played six pieces, and the singing concert consisted of more than a dozen songs, including Love Me Tender and Blue Suede Shoes! There was an intermission in the middle, and apparently, we are not feeding Joanne enough, because she bought a sizeable piece of carrot cake to go along with her kaffe. But, to her defense, it had been nearly three hours since our lunch at Glassverket Bakeri.

The band played first.

All the many choices for cake!

The Samspillbandet.

With only four days left of Joanne’s visit, we may not keep up this same pace, but we will make the most of our time. As should we all, right?

During our walk along the canal. Our little blue apartment is across the canal.

Travelogue: Gamlebyen Fredrikstad

Today we will travel to the fortress town of Fredrikstad, or Gamlebyen (Old Town). So, put on your walking shoes, people, cuz we are going for a walk! First though, we get to take the train. Yay! I love trains! And, unlike the one that Pam and I took to Oslo back in 2002 and we were shushed by a lady on the train (apparently our particular train car was a ‘stillevogn’, one on which people are not allowed to talk!), Paul and I were allowed to talk in this vogn. This was a very modern and quiet electric train, and it arrived to our destination within 20 or so minutes. Total cost for our two one-way tickets: 162 NKr. (approx. $19)

I love the classic look of old European train stations.

We seriously had no idea which direction to go to get to the ferry that takes one to the island fortress town of Gamlebyen Fredrikstad…so we followed the sign with an arrow that said “Gamlebyen”. Seemed like a good start. Not more than a quarter of a mile up one street and down the next, we saw the water taxis/ferries/whathaveyou waiting at the dock. Not knowing where to buy tickets and seeing that the ferry would be departing any second, I rushed on board, sans tickets, and waved for Paul to hurry up. Good thing tickets are not needed. Yes, you heard that right–another FREE ride on a boat here in Norway! I love this country!

And, there the ferry goes, back to the mainland to pick up more passengers. For free.

Our first stop was the Information Office where we picked up a very informative tri-fold map (actually, it was a quadri-fold) to help guide us on our journey today. And, not only that, but as we were buying Paul’s requisite souvenir pins (thankfully, our time in Norway will not be a ‘pin desert‘ for him), there was a basket on the floor with various items, including DVDs on the history of Gamlebyen Fredrikstad, and a sign that said “Gratis”. I kid you not. And, we, being the technology dinasaurs that we are who are still enthusiastically watching DVDs on our actual DVD player back in Grand Forks, took one. For free. I love this country.

One of the first noticeable buildings we came across was the infantry barracks which was ‘reportedly built on the calendar plan’ with its 4 entrances representing the seasons, 12 chimneys/months of the year, 52 rooms/weeks of the year, 365 windows/days of the year, 24 panes in each window/hours of the day, and the 60 doors/minutes in an hour. Now, I didn’t count each of these things, but the idea still sounded mighty impressive to me.

The infantry barracks, built in 1788.

This present church was consecrated in 1779, having been rebuilt after a fire in 1764. The bells, one 14th century, the other from 1515, were presented to the church by the Queen Dowager Juliane Marie. It seats 650.

Although the sky is a lovely blue, the sun, unfortunately, is not shining directly on the front.

We kept walking up and down cobblestoned streets, past the Arsenal (sorry, no picture–just imagine a very long stone building with a lot of arches), which was completed in 1775, and was, for a long time, the largest building in the country. It now houses the Fredrikstad Museum, which we did not go through. I did, however, want to take a picture of this next building we came upon, the New Town Hall. It seemed rather imposing, and as it houses a prison, perhaps it should be imposing. It was built by Emil Victor Langlet, the same guy who was the architect of the “Storting” (see picture, below), the Norwegian Parliament building in Oslo, and it was inaugurated in 1864.

The New Town Hall. Notice the similarity to the Storting.

The Storting in Oslo. (picture from 2018) Pay no attention to that couple kissing right in front.

It was time for lunch about this time, so we headed to Mormors (translated: Grandmas), a cafe recommended to us by the guy in the Information Office. It was busy inside, so maybe he was right. We were happy with our choice, however, and even returned here later in the day for a coffee and cake break before we returned to the ferry.

Waiting at our table in Mormors.

Later in the day, we ate outside. I had the eplekake.

After lunch, we tried to be a bit more organized with our walking around the town, so we followed the map, up one street and down the next, reading about the featured buildings which were numbered along the way. We passed again through King’s Square, which featured a statue built in 1917 of the town’s founder, King Frederik II. Interesting to note, the base of the statue was covered with sandbags. (of which we are a bit familiar having some experience with sandbagging 25 years ago, this week. Our city of Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA was inundated with a 500-year flood which caused the entire town of over 50,000 residents to be evacuated for nearly 2 weeks.) There was a box of markers on the ground and a sign encouraging passersby to write words of encouragement or support to Ukraine on the sandbags.

Statue of King Frederik II surrounded by sandbags with words of encouragement for Ukraine.

Never one to pass up a free train ride, we got on board the Little Engine That Could for a trip around the town. It was actually part of the ticket for the Old Town Model Railway Center, Scandinavia’s largest center of its kind…but, between you and me, it was not anything to write home about. There were cute scenes, to be sure, but they needed way more running trains to make it interesting. But I did enjoy the train ride around town–I wanted to wave at everyone and yell “Wheeee!”, but I think Paul would have been embarassed.

Our little train is ready to go. The Rampart Gateway and Guardroom is in the background. It was built in 1695, and for many years, convicts were quartered in one of the rooms.

Scene in the Model Railway Center.

One area that I specifically wanted to see was The King’s Gateway, built in 1684, is the oldest gateway in the fortress town, and the second oldest building still standing in the precincts of the fort. The gate is surmounted by the monogram of King Christian V.

The King’s Gateway, built in 1684. King Christian V.

Here is some information on Fredrikstad from our quadri-fold guide: “Fredrikstad was founded in 1567 during the reign of King Frederik Olav II’s ancient town of Sarpsborg had been burnt to the ground by Swedish troops. It was built on the estuary of the Glomma River, a promising site for a market town….The town was slow to prosper [particially due to the] many fires that repeatedly reduced the wooden buildings to ashes… [Eventually] Fredrikstad assumed a position of strategic importance in the country’s defense and permanent fortifications were erected…and approved by Frederik III in 1663….With the withdrawal of the Østfold regiment in 2002, some 350 years of continuous military presence was at an end. The military buildings now house business enterprises and cultural institutions, and the Old Town is humming with life.”

If my math is correct, there are approximately 74 of these cannons surrounding Gamlebyen in five separate bastions.

My ‘Swine Son’ and Other Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings.

I am usually pretty fearless (read: not caring about the details) when it comes to attempting to communicate in Norwegian or any other language, for that matter. I ask a lot of questions, repeatedly, and, eventually, remember some of the answers. So, this week, when I was attempting to tell a story about my future son-in-law, Connor (or was it about my actual son-in-law, Anthony?), I started regaling everyone at the table using whatever Norsk words I had in my arsenal. When I meant to say, ‘svigersønn’, I instead said, ‘svinesønn’, or loosely translated, ‘swine son’. Immediately, Magnus, to my left, stopped me mid-sentence, and told me that I did not mean to say that. Oops! Now, Britt (his wife) and I exchange knowing glances whenever I attempt to refer to my son-in-law, and I very carefully enunciate the word ‘svigersønn’. Live and learn.

Britt and I now share a little joke between us.

Then there was yesterday, at a waffle lunch, when I was trying to make pleasant conversation, in English this time, and I commented on the fruit dish in the center of the table. I mentioned that these apples looked different that any apples I have seen in the States. Our hostess very quickly replied that these were not apples, they were pears. Maybe I should have actually tried the ‘apples’ before commenting on their appearance?

The fruit dish…sans apples.

Finally, last week at church, I had planned to teach the children’s class a few Sunday school songs in English, so they could then sing them to the congregation a few weeks later. I had been asked to do this ahead of time, so I prepared three songs written out carefully in English on posterboard, had communicated with a friend, Zevile, who works with the children’s class and speaks English to be the translator, and had emailed the guitar chords and words for the songs to the guitar player for the children. The only thing I hadn’t actually practiced was singing the songs by myself in the right key (always a problem with me), but I considered myself about as prepared as I could have been. Well, as the morning announcer, who is also the guitar player, made his announcements, he must have said that today I would be coming up and teaching the songs to the entire congregation. That’s when Zevile, my ‘translator’, sidled up to me and whispered, “Good luck”. So much for planning ahead. She mentioned to me later that it was like I was ‘thrown under the bus’, using a well-known English idiom. We laughed about it then, but if you could have been there when I hesitantly walked up to the front, with no preparation, and attempted to start to sing with little music, no practice, and about ten children staring at me blankly. Oh my. Again, I think there was a slight miscommunication in expectations.

My songs written out carefully on posterboard ahead of time.

More practice would help.

I’ll finish this post with lovely pictures of ideas for gatherings we can all have at a later time. Raclette party, vaffler lunch, shrimp party, they’re all good. Common theme is time with friends, preparing one’s own plate/sandwich/waffle, and good conversation. In whatever language you use. Later, friends!

Preparing our shrimp smørbrød.

Raclette with accessories. Delicious!

Ice cream with an abundance of seasonal fruit for dessert!

Concert, Museum, and Show, oh my!

[Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!] Looking back at the past week, I see that we attended a Bach-Hayden-Bach wind ensemble concert at the town’s 160-year old church, visited Norway’s national photography museum, and had the opportunity to see a Broadway show (that’s Broadway, New York City, New York!). Whew! I’m cultured-out! But, these opportunities do not come around all the time, so we must take advantage of them while we can.

The wind ensemble concert was sponsored by a cultural committee of Moss, or some such group. Tickets were 325 NKr. (about $37), and I saw the ad for this while I was buying tickets for the theater. Our evenings here are not usually that exciting, so an evening out sounded like a fun idea. And we may be of the age to enjoy a classical concert at least as much as, if not more so than, say, electronic or europop. (Not that there’s anything wrong with electronic or europop.) This wind ensemble was based in Halden, a town south of here close to the border of Sweden, and it featured a trumpet player, Stian Aareskjolds, who arranged all the pieces and played a trumpet from, I believe he said, the 1880s! The program consisted of a Suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, a trumpet concerto by Joseph Hayden, and a Sinfonia by Johann Christian Bach (the other Bach’s son). We arrived on time, well, on time enough to be seated and having read the program before the concert started, but not on time enough to be able to relish the entire experience by having coffee or wine in their seating area at the rear of the venue before the concert. Oh well. (There were cute little chairs and tables with candles and everything…) The concert lasted about an hour, and Mr. Aareskjolds did a fine job with his antique trumpet, as did the rest of the wind ensemble. The audience was appropriately appreciative and applauded in the expected Norwegian fashion…aka like a UCLA 8-Clap…over and over and over. Oh, and I gotta say, I was more than a little grossed-out watching the main man, the trumpet player and arranger of all the music, empty his trumpet of all his spit right onto the stone floor of the church more than several times during his trumpet concerto. But I’m not a musician.

The Moss Kirke, built in 1861.

Det Norske Blåseensemble warming up.

The really old trumpet Mr. Aareskjolds played tonight.

The next day, we took the ferry over to Horten again, this time to visit the Preus Museum, Norway’s national photography museum and to maybe get a little lunch while we were out and about. The museum was founded by Leif Preus and his family in 1976 and purchased by the Norwegian government in 1995. He was a famous photographer and owner/founder of a country-wide chain of stores, Preus Foto. It is located right next to the Marine Museum and on the property of what used to be a Norwegian Naval Base. We enjoyed walking through the entire museum, by ourselves, because, literally, we were the only ones visiting it at that time. There was an interesting (and educational!) temporary exhibit about the process of ‘interferential photography’, which was invented by pretty much brilliant physicists in the latter half of the 19th century to provide color to what had, up to that time, been solely black and white (or sepia or whatever) photographs. I learned something! Paul was very jazzed to find a pin for his (gigantic) pin collection in the bookstore, and I bought an original photograph of what could have been me in an earlier time. (if one has a good imagination). We also bought a couple of items for the grandgeniuses….cuz that’s what bestefar and bestemor do.

The Preus Museum.

Down the main hallway of the museum.

There were 12 interferential color photographs in the exhibit. Some from the photographer’s garden and one of this parrot. The gardens were nice, but the color in this parrot was best.

They had a special photo op display which we had to take advantage of.

No waiting in line…cuz we were the only ones here.

View out the window of a naval ship at the museum next door.

And, finally, we attended a Broadway Show (!) with our friend, Maria at the Parkteatret downtown. The show was “Catch Me if You Can”, a musical from 2011 based on the film from 2002 based on the book from 1980 based on the (now proven to be nearly entirely fabricated!) life of crime and con of a man in the 1960’s. Did you catch all that? Well, I was quite excited to see weeks ago that the local theatrical group, A.P.P.L.A.U.S., was producing another show this spring! Back in 2015, Paul and I had attended their production of “My Fair Lady”, and we were blown away by the high production quality of their work. These actors/singers/dancers were just kids between 15-19 years old! This show was just as impressive. The singing was spot-on, every dancer was equally capable, the costumes were aesthetically right-on, and the acting was even throughout. These tickets were also 325 NKr…and worth every kroner. Turns out these kids rehearse for one year for this one week of shows. Good job everyone!

Maria and I ready for the show!

The talented cast and listing of songs.

We had seats in the 4th row, center.

Scene with nurses…yep, nurses’ uniforms are just like that.

Karen Sofie Lunder, who played Carol Strong, we were able to visit with after the show. Maria knew her.

These two actors, who played Frank Jr. and Det. Carl Hanratty, were fabulous. Great singing voices!

Every time I visit this square in downtown Moss, it seems just as pretty.

“Uff-Da” and the Town’s Best Cinnamon Roll

Today, at a lunch with six born and bred Norwegians, I was sharing that in North Dakota (and maybe Minnesota and South Dakota), where most of the population have a Scandinavian heritage, the people think that all Norwegians say “uff-da”. I was met with immediate hearty laughter from all present. Not one of them admitted to ever saying “uff-da”. And I believe them. Sheesh, I say it probably every day! Most likely that is due to my having lived in North Dakota for nearly 33 years. Maybe in the 19th century, when many Norwegians immigrated to the Upper Midwest, it was often exclaimed, or something like it anyway. But now, like the children’s game of “Whisper”, the present-day exclamation is nowhere near what may have been said by your great-grandmother (‘oldemor’). This lunch, by the way, was delicious! It was just (homemade) soup and (homemade) crescent rolls, but it was the conversation around the table of people who had known one another for between 20-50 years that made the afternoon so special.

After lunch, having our requisite coffee and chocolate. Before the apple cake.

Paul with Arne Øystein and Berit Rambekk, our speaker/singers for this morning’s church service. They were quite excited to learn that we have a “Rambeck” family in our church in North Dakota.

Now, on to the Town’s Best Cinnamon Roll. Yesterday, we were, erroneously, told that there would be a concert downtown at 11:00-12:00. So, we planned on arriving in time to hear the concert and quickly grab a bus to Jeløy and walk the 1.9 km to the Cafe Røed to meet some friends there. As it turns out, the concert was at 1:00 pm, so we had time to stop for coffee…before we were to meet friends for coffee. [have you gotten the hint that Norwegians are the world’s leading drinkers of coffee?] Anyhoo, I had spied a little bakeri, Sam Verket, (gotta love those bakeris!) earlier in the week, so we had time to try out yet another bakeri in town. (this one makes four). There was a cinnamon roll (‘kanelboller’?) in the glass case so we split it. Yep, this one was the best one I have tasted in town, so far.

The Best Cinnamon Roll in Town.

About that planned 1.9 km walk (not that I’m counting), we did make it, it was not awful, and the weather was beautiful. But, we went to the wrong place. Apparently, Cafe Røed, is not right next to the Alby Galleri F-15 Cafe, like I thought. Apparently, they are at least a half mile apart. Bummer. But, thanks to Ragnhild (helpful wife of ‘Our Personal Uber Driver’, Øystein, I mentioned in my earlier blog post, “Spring Has Spring…here in Moss, Norway!”), we got a lift to the correct cafe and were able to join our friends as planned! Of course, since we already had our coffee break sweet for the day (see above), we split a shrimp smørbrød for a more healthy choice for lunch.

Did I already say it was a 1.9 km walk? [insert applause]

Heading to the wrong place. It’s pretty though.

See, there is no one at the table. Oslofjord in the distance.

This is the group we were wanting to see.

Our more healthy lunch choice. It’s only half a sandwich. (!)