Beautiful Norway - Post 7

 

      We left out the next day, in spite of the fantastic scenery from our front window. We could see a lot more of it ahead.

      Toward the end of the day, we looked for lodging. We saw a motel, the first one in Europe, But it was even higher, because, they said, “We are a motel.” Nothing like those cheap hotels, I guess. We looked at their small buffet, also very rare, but it was $40 each, so look was all we did. We found a pizza for $20, split it, and, garnished by a little peanut butter and bread we had, it was not bad.

      Barbara commented, “When we get home, we'll just have to go to Caddo Valley, (five miles away from home) on occasion, and stay in a hotel. They're so cheap, we just can't afford not to.”

We found an old, old hotel, with a long walk to the toilet, for $100.

      We were not far from the border, so we decided we would leave Norway tomorrow, before we have to start looking for a poor house.

We drove and drove the next day. We stopped for lunch, got a single hamburger, split it, washing it down with water. A snicker bar at a gas stop was $4.

We got off the road at Lillehammer, home of the Olympics long ago that I well remember. Some of you don't. But it soon helped us forget our money worries.

      We stumbled upon a distant view of the Olympic ski jump. As we looked, we could see tiny bodies flying through the air. Although it was summer, they were jumping! We kept working our way toward it until we were right there. We could even touch it. Nobody stopped us, so we just got right up in there amongst' um'! Dang! Wish I had skis. 20 or so guys seemed to be using it for summer training, even though they were landing on hard plastic, and skiing out over green grass. But I guess packed snow is a hard landing too, if you fall. But they never did. They were all perfection personified. We watched a long time, and they never fell. I even went out on the landing surface and inspected it, between jumpers. Just made of plastic strips laid on like shingles.

      We bypassed Oslo this time. We reached the border that afternoon, changed out our money and got more Sweden maps.

      After hitting a grocery store, getting low on peanut butter, a helpful couple (aren't they all) pointed us to a reasonable hotel. Walking the town, we found a cheap Kebab place. They seem to all be ran by middle eastern guys, and they are always good. We decided to stay two nights, Barbara had got wind of a linens factory that made the linens for all the Royalty in this part of Europe. Sounded like a good day trip. Maybe she could talk them out of some “seconds” she could afford. Well, they were not cheap. But they just kept getting cheaper with each new room we went into, and we were soon in a room of “second seconds.” Barbara bought a couple of table runners, and some linens for friends. She always spends 75% of her shopping budget, and time, shopping for family and friends. I guess I'm just more greedy by nature than her.

      Back in town, we found the info place near the train station. We booked two B&B's on down the road, and by then she was hooked up with the people she planned to buddy up with and find our the life history of, this time. This time it was two German boys, giant backpacks, on the road for a year, and about to get on a train. Their train pulled in, and she said she wanted a picture of them. They loaded on their packs, and one rolled up his sleeve and flexed his biceps. Tattooed across it, in big letters, was “Don't panic.” We all had a good laugh over that. Barbara is just so fun to watch, operating in a foreign country. I know, I know, like the spy told us, “She travels far too lightly about the world.”

Someday it may well come back to bite us. But until then, I guess we'll just enjoy it. I think if she had to just leave all the people alone, she would just be ready to go home.