Journal: Pages 45-46
Edwardian and Art Deco days intact, it has become a part of the Comfort hotel chain, which makes it eminently affordable to budget-minded travelers. Garage parking, dinner and breakfast buffet are all included in the Kr 600 price.
30 May 2003, Friday: Bodø - Oslo
Strong winds are carrying the rain clouds further north, yielding balmy sunshine over Nordland and points south once more. In short, the weather pattern here for the entire past week is repeating itself.
A slight delay on the part of SAS (they've been unpunctual for this whole trip) would not have made a difference in Oslo; all the museums and shops closed early for the benefit of their caretakers, anyway. Still, this is a warm, sunny Friday evening with the scheduled appearance of an annular solar eclipse. Students, families, people just getting off work and fellow tourists fill the streets as I did my 2km walk from the National Theatre train station back to the same hotel in the Frogner district.
Japanese treat -- ramen soup and sushi -- at the modern quayside Bryggetorget (Aker Brygge) costs exorbitantly relative to what I'm used to back home, and it isn't all that good, either. Just as it is rare to find decent and affordable Continental cuisine in North America besides Italian, good, practically-priced Asian fare is a pleasure apparently denied to most Europeans.
Curses -- I dropped my Nikon D100 on the cobbled path
of the Akershus Festning fortress complex. The polycarbonate casing near the
battery compartment was cracked, but still held intact by the screws to the
steel body frame. Aside from the somewhat sharp edge now created to meet my
right palm, the camera still works flawlessly as before. Why do these expensive
optics keep slipping from my hands?