Travels in February

Zone Conference takes place about every two months. This is our district group. We fly to Stavanger for a day's worth of meetings. I can get all of us to the airport in just two trips in the VW Polo----the ladies in relative comfort and the men crammed into the back seat with both front seats far forward.

Boyz in the Polo



I still love a window seat - especially over fjords and mountains.

Elders and sisters from five cities plus the two married couples, the mission president and his wife and the two assistants to the president make up our group for the day.

President Johansen and his wife are upbeat, enthusiastic, and fun to be with. Our day ended in the late afternoon, so it was back to the airport to catch our delayed flight back to Bergen.

Sorry for the focus problem but this is the sliding door to the first mens' restroom you come to after deplaning in Bergen. What I need is a picture of the men in the same pose hurrying to make it in time.

The very next day I flew to Oslo for an Institute teacher training meeting. This was on Feb 18, and it was still winter in that region of the country. This is the group that I met up with as we took the fast train from the airport to the center of town.

We stopped for about 30 seconds in Lillestrøm, where I lived in 1967. I thought, "Great, I will be able to look at all of the towns on the line where I used to work everyday for those eight-plus months." That was not to be. We entered a tunnel just past the platforms and didn't come up for air until we were in the Oslo train station.

Lillestrøm station platforms

We came up from deep beneath the city at the stop called "National Theater." We went up the escalator on the castle side. We came outside right near the King's Castle, which is the actual residence of the King of Norway. You can walk right up to it - just like in the old days.

There are still special guards (4 that you can see) standing watch in the snowy cold but there isn't any security fence. The residence is in the middle of a park at one end of what is kind of like the national mall in Washington D.C. The street is called Carl Johans Gate. Storting, or The Norwegian Parliament sits in its building opposite the King's residence down the street a ways.

After a day of meetings we walked back to Carl Johans Gate. This is the National Theater.

Fun street! The ice skating is free - bring your own skates. There were also booths with exhibitions and an outdoor big screen TV showing off the big international snowboard competition that took place in Norway that weekend.

It is a little cold and slick for a stroll in the winter, but summer in Oslo is delightful and the street is a great place to take an evening walk. Storting is at the far right top. The day in Oslo was enjoyable but too short. When the trees are green again we will go back and spend a day or two.

The next evening was a great surprise and fun time.

This is Hilde, whom I first met when she was 9 years old in 1967. She is the mother/mother-in-law of a wonderful young couple in Bergen branch. Shanna and I had a dinner and long evening of catching up when she visited. 

I never get tired of the view. We took a hike for a young adult activity. First we took the cable car up the mountain. It was a mostly unrainy day. We took off through the woods, past a frozen lake and then down to a path that leads back to the city.

It was a bit snowy but not cold so we didn't slip and slide - we walked...mostly.

The ice on the little lake behind me was very soft.

The forest is getting ready for the seasonal change.

The walk down is steep and beautiful

with many switch-backs.

At the bottom of the hill is for us the oldest building I have ever seen housing a McDonald's hamburger joint. This one is from the early 1900's. No golden arches here. No, we haven't tried fast food in Norway except the kabob. It was one year ago, on March 3, that we found out we were coming to this wonderful city. We are quite at home here now and look forward to each day.