This was my immediate reaction to the bombing in Oslo, penned just a few hours after the attack. I’ve always loved the fact that Oslo was such a safe city. You can walk right up to the royal palace. You can drive past the building with the prime minister’s office. It’s happy. It’s neutral. Things [...]
An African safari is one of those experiences that’s on most traveler’s wish list, and I fully expected that someday Lucas and I would plan this adventure. However, it hasn’t been especially high on my list of destination priorities, because I feel like this is the time in our lives for budget travel. When I [...]
I am not an accordion hater. To me there is nothing inherently wrong with accordion music in itself, but like so many things, an accordion can be used improperly and for nefarious purposes. I’ve been a sappy sentimental tourist in Europe before, and I vaguely (but fondly) remember the first time I heard someone playing [...]
As proud as we were of Alexander Rybak when Norway shattered the Eurovision record last year, the thing I was most excited about was that it meant Norway would be hosting the contest this year! Since Henrik and Cassie first introduced me to Eurovision our first year here, I’ve loved the whole phenomenon. I even [...]
I’ve been playing with my new iPad in the US for two weeks now, and I find that I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been drawn to tablet PCs for a while, and I’ve been on the fence about getting a netbook and an e-reader, so when it was announced, the iPad made sense to me. [...]
Last weekend Lucas and I went to the annual Elektrofil electronics fair, and I made a major new purchase: A hair dryer. I’m not sure if it says more about my frugal nature or my disinterest in fashion and beauty, but since moving overseas nearly five years ago, I’ve been using a little dual-voltage travel [...]
Saturday was a very exciting day for Lucas, as he finally made the electronics purchase he’s been considering for years. He has a big television, and he has an iPhone, and he has all kinds of other gadgets, so what has he been longing for all this time? A record player! My hearing isn’t fine-tuned [...]
Well, technically he’s just certified! Lucas has spent the last two weekends getting his PADI scuba certification in preparation for our trip to Mozambique. Back in Austin, this would be no big deal, but we’re in Norway. And this is “open-water” diving! Yes, that means that his certification dives were in the Oslofjord. Swimming in [...]
This week I finished uploading my photos from our Valentine’s Day weekend in Paris. The full album can be found here. We booked our trip to Paris back in December when RyanAir was having one of their crazy airfare sales, and the roundtrip tickets cost only 200 NOK (around $35) per person. Since we could [...]
This weekend, we went with Tara and Tor to Tor’s family cabin in the mountains. Even though we’ve been in Norway for three years, we’ve never experienced a traditional cabin trip. Even more embarrassingly, we’ve never been cross country skiing. We drove up on Friday night, and our first cross-country experience was quite an adventure [...]