Day 1 - Arrival

Blessed downtime.

It's been a crazy day. Since arriving, I have schlepped a disintegrating 40 pound cardboard box around downtown, narrowly missed the closing time of the bike-map store, located a replacement front tire, purchased train tickets, and found a place to sleep for the night. Now I'm waiting for the rain to stop (it's been on-again-off-again all day) before I ride cross-town to find my hotel. Oslo is everything the tour books said it would be - nondescript, but pleasant. So far, I'm not really getting the feel that I'm in a foreign country yet.

Sure sign that this is a truly civilized country: 20 kroner hot "wiffeln" with fresh raspberry jam.

Sure sign that this is a bararic country: 10 kroner to use the WC.

Generally,I think it's rude to run up to someone in another country and just start speaking english with them. (Unless they're already english speaking, of course.) I dutifully ask "snakker du engelsk?" every time I have a tricky question. They always say yes, and one women even laughed at me. "Doesn't everybody?" I wonder how long this bit of courtesy will last.

So far I'm digging the whole "skan" look with clean lines, natural wood, and brushed metal. I feel like I'm in an oversized Apple Store.

The "smoking will kill you" message has apparently not reached Norway yet. I may have to adopt the "resignation" strategy of willing myself to not be bothered.

My only really touristy thing today has been a ride around town and a visit to the Viegeland Park. It is populated by naked statues of people frolicking, staring, anguishing, and being piled on top of each other. I'm sure john ashcroft would be shocked.

I think that norwegians undervalue the tourist draw of their own country. Everybody I talk to assumes that I am visiting family or here for a wedding. When I tell people that I'm here to see the fjords, they look at me kind of quizzically as if to say "you crossed seven time zones to see some rocks?" Maybe they're just jaded.