FUN-travel: Amsterdam to Oslo, Norway
August 23, 2014 by Susan Clarke
Day 37 – Wednesday, August 6 – Amsterdam to Oslo, Norway – sunny & breezy w/periodic clouds – mid70’sOslo
What I LIKE
- 6:50 – really hot Americano – swinging out today
- 7:45 – ready & checkout
- Used all Hilton points for 5 free nights
- – paid AAA rate of 139 Euro for 1 night – treated Cinzia to hers
- 8:00 – taxi ordered not big enough for bags
- – double checked flat rate 42.50 Euro
- – hotel says no extra bag charges
- 8:30 – arrive airport – no traffic
- Pay 45 Euro after telling him flat rate
- SAS to Oslo – star alliance partner – get two 23 kilo bags per person @ not charge
- 9:00 – see gold check in desk – ask agent & she moves us to front of line
- – get lounge access too!
- *Very efficient & fast security – lots of lanes open
- – typical liquids, laptops & now Ipads have to be out
- Duty free – 2011 Boschendal Cab/Syrah blend = 25 Euro & 2012 Nederburg Reserve Cab = 15 Euro
- 9:20 – Lounge 26 – decent cappuccino – crackers w/cheese spread & fruit cake like bread – full open bar
- 10:20 – board – have exit row seat
- 10:55 – push back & take off
Oslo
- 1:00 – breeze thru customs
Akershus Fortress & Castle
- A&K at airport for transfer to Grand Hotel waiting
- 1:15 – board bus for 30 mile ride
- 2:00 – arrive
- Free internet & email working
- 4:30 – beer break – sidewalk seating – too hot for inside
- TGI Friday’s – 1 chicken quesadilla + 2 beers = 343 Kroner = $56
- 7:45 – dinner @ Mehfel – TA highly rated Indian – short walk on Kirkegata
FUN-food – Lentil soup w/lime on house – Daal Makhni spiced black lentils – Chicken Tikka Murgh sauce of yogurt, curry, ginger, garlic – rice – garlic naan bread (not good) – 2009 Imperiale Duca di Barbanera Sicily – Chili Rose – German cordial on house too! 950 Kroner = $160 (have leftovers for lunch)
- Got all of my spicy food fixes today
- 10:30 – ready for bed – no nap today
What I DON’T LIKE
- 5:00 – wake up
- 6:00 – wake up
- Starbuck’s doesn’t open until 6:30
- taxi driver tries to charge meter rate of 58 Euro!
- When confronted w/fixed rate tries to say its baggage charge – NOT!
- SAS only has 4 agents – line snakes thru airport
- – star alliance gold check in has no separate line
- – makes no sense – very poor setup
- *get pulled into secondary – hand search thru bags
- SAS charges for everything on plane except tea & coffee
- Hard to find outside table @ any restaurant except TGIF
- Oslo just flat out expensive!
The City of Bicycles
FUN-fact – Amsterdam is “the city of bicycles.” You don’t watch for cars when crossing the street, its fear of getting hit by all the bicycles!
More FF from Wikipedia –The city had 490,000 fietsers (cyclists) take to the road to cycle 2 million kilometers every day according to statistics of the city council. This has caused some problems as, despite 35,000 kilometers of bicycle paths, the country’s 18 million bicycles (1.3 per citizen old enough to ride) were clogging Amsterdam’s streets at peak times and parked bicycles were overcrowding train stations and other areas