Back in Oslo

I put Sara on the train to the airport this morning around 9:30. We arrived back to Oslo after our 12 day trip in Italy on Tuesday June 11th. We spent the last two days not doing much. I think both of us were pretty tired from the trip, and were just enjoy the comforts of a more homey environment after staying in hostels for most of the trip, and sleeping in the airport the last night of the trip.

Sara arrived in Oslo on May 28 and I spent some time showing her the city I now think of as my second home. We went to the Norwegian Folk Museum, walked down to the docks, checked out the Opera house lit up at night, ate tacos with the family, and went to trivia night. Sara even got to see how dark it does not get here late at night.

Want to know the best part of Sara's time in Oslo (in my opinion)? Sara discovered a love for brunost-Brown Cheese!!!

I am so glad that Sara could come visit me here in Oslo and that we were able to go on a trip together. It was great to spend time with one of my oldest friends :) I'm glad that I get to come home in a couple weeks so I don't have to miss her too much.

My initial thoughts about Italy: Like most places, Italy is both beautiful and ugly. I wish that we could have seen more of the countryside, and eventually I would like spend some time in Southern Italy. I do not think Italy would be on my top list of places to live (but of course I'm not counting it out). My favorite places we visited were Lucca and San Gimignano. Both were smaller towns surrounded by walls. San Gimignano was a tiny city on top of a hill. We got to take in some awesome views there. Lucca was bigger, but still a small city no doubt. There we stayed at a cozy bed and breakfast (more about that later). We got to see some nice views there too from the clock tower and another tower in the town. Though we did encounter a number of angry (or seemingly angry) Italians, the people we asked for help from were very friendly and a number of times went out of their way to make sure we got off at the right train stop, for example.

I am thinking about breaking up the Italy trip into a number of separate blog posts (Milan&Venice, Florence&Lucca, Rome). They should be up within the next couple of days, along with pictures from the trip. But for now, I'm going to make some lunch and catch up on some Game of Thrones!