i Norge - 7. dag

This was our last full day exploring Oslo. Cara enjoyed sleeping in and we left the house around ten. Here in Norway they don't really use AM & PM, but instead just list everything in 24 hour time. A typical listing of stre hours, for example, might look like 9 - 20 (10 - 18), which means on weekdays they open at nine AM and close at eight PM while on Saturdays they open at ten AM and close at six PM. Most stores are closed on Sunday, so they do not bother to list that fact on the sign.

We headed downtown to get some coffee and do a pokéwalk. Since the train we go on at Mortensrud only went to Stortinget, we got off there and started walking to Vigelandsparken. On the way we went through Slottsparken - Brittan and Cara for the first time. It's amazing how little you notice of the real world when you're busy hunting pokémon.

On the northwest corner of Slottsparken next to Literaturhuset is an Espresso House. This is like the Starbucks of Oslo: one can be found every few blocks. Cara hadn't had coffee out on the town yet, so we stopped in. After some snacks with our coffee, the three of us headed to Vigeland Park where there is a sculpture garden - statuary including the famed angry baby. There amongst the flowers, fountains and art we caught pokémon until our phones were dead.

The afternoon's plan was shopping with Kanutte and we met up with her at the Majorstuen Stasjon. Cara was in her happy place with Kanutte and shopping together. Definitely sick, I made sure to get something with garlic for lunsj: blåskjell! Afterward the girls when kitchen shopping and I ditched them to go to Oslo Mikrobryggeri on the Valkyriegata. Yummers. The white session was probably my favorite.

My kids all pronounce "tour" with two syllables like there mother, which is weird. I've always thought of it as a one syllable word. "Tur" it is in Norsk. One syllable. Clearly. Brittan has been amazed by the number of cognates. She really gets Norsk at a level. She has come to experience Europe a blank slate. Tabula rasa. I have come a canvas painted over many times, with many levels of understanding and meaning. I am not sure which is better. I feel like I understand things I encounter at a greater depth than she, but she will have experiences upon which to build her knowledge base that I did not have. I am certain this will prevent her misunderstandings I fell prey to.

Apparently it is Kavli Prize week here. Had I know I could have seen Kip Thorne! Would that I was still a physicist and not just a writer of software.

The tennis courts I've seen here are real clay. If we had more time, Britt and I would play a game. Another trip perhaps...

I rejoined the girls atop the Opera House back down in the harbor. There is a nice view from there, but nothing compared to the Hopptårn. Then it was back to the Huse's for a dinner of tacos. Tomorrow morning Cara & I are flying to Deutschland and Brittan is flying back to Madrid.