Lindsey called a little after 1:30 am and said she couldn’t do the video hookup because she was going to her Dad’s for dinner with the twins.  I had just gone to bed but wasn’t asleep.  Then my boyfriend gave me my 5:30 am wakeup call.   Much rather talk to him than sleep any way.  Actually, I think he believes he'll get my voice mail and can just leave a message and get by without actually having to talk to me.  :)   Went back to bed until 8 am, then had breakfast and packed for the bus ride back to the airport hotel (where there is air conditioning).  Taking a chance that their gym is open again by now.
As I was leaving the hotel and walking towards the bus terminal, someone grabbed my arm.  Like most cities, the bus terminal isn’t the greatest of neighborhoods.  I was startled for a second but when I turned around, it was the little concierge who had been so helpful.  He was off today and just wanted to say good-bye to me.  So sweet.  Told him I’ll probably see him again next year.   

Finding the right bus and heading towards the airport was so easy.  As we drove away, I looked at downtown Oslo and felt like I had “conquered” it.  My problem is, I am “spoiled” when it comes to visiting foreign countries. There is always someone picking me up the minute I land and taking care of me the entire time I’m there.  Having to venture out on my own with my “lack of a sense of direction” is a challenge.  I really feel like I know Oslo now and will be happy to come back again next year. 

My room was ready at the airport hotel.  It has rained off and on all week and was raining a lot more at the airport.  The weather is much cooler here, too.  Cold, in fact!  I only have two pair of long pants with me and no long sleeve shirts but I do have a fleece and a couple of light jackets.  If I can just survive the weather in the North for the next 3 days, I’ll be fine once I hit Switzerland again next week.   

I went to the gym in the hotel which wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered.  Had it not been raining and cold, I would have just jogged outside.  Instead I got in a fairly good workout on my legs and then ran on the elliptical trainer for an hour.   Walked over to the airport and got a salad rather than eating the terrible food in the hotel restaurant.   

It’s been really hard to keep up with days of the week and even hard to remember what “date” it is.  I can tell I’ve been gone a while by the number of vitamin pill packs I have left.   

I am so sick of watching CNN which is the ONLY English speaking channel over here.  For two days solid, they had nothing but the Michael Jackson memorial – over and over and over again.  Did not even show any news although the news they do show is never accurate.  From the news coverage of Michael Jackson, he obviously single-handedly united the entire world.  I feel sure that the next statement is going to be that he is actually Jesus Christ who came back to earth as promised in the Bible.  I finally have BBC news at this hotel but it isn’t much better. 

Need to get in bed earlier tonight so I can check out and meet Mark Chesnutt’s group at the airport.  They were flying from several different cities to Philadelphia and then a direct flight to Oslo.  Everyone’s flight left on time except for the big group flying out of Nashville.  Their flight was delayed but all but one of them was there in time to get on an earlier flight to Philadelphia – that was also delayed.  Now I only have to worry about one person not making it to Oslo tomorrow.   

Jude

FRIDAY, JULY 10TH – OSLO TO BREIM, NORWAY:

See what I mean about getting the days/dates mixed up.  I thought yesterday was Wednesday and it was actually Thursday.  J
I forgot to mention the really good street performers all over Oslo.  There were two guys blowing into glass bottles and making very pretty music.  Their sign said, “Performing so we can raise money to buy instruments”.  Pretty funny.  Then there was a group of Indians and they had cds for sale.  I mean like Native American Indians in full headdress, beads, loincloths, etc.  Their music was good, too.   

A couple of times I got nervous walking by myself late at night when I would be returning from eating dinner.  The streets were pretty deserted except for lots of winos and homeless people.  The mall that was connected to the hotel had a lot of teenagers every night.  They were not well-behaved teenagers.  Very loud and pushing each other.  I almost got hit by one riding his skate board INSIDE the mall.  At least it wasn’t dark, even at around 10 pm. 

After a very stressful time in Nashville because of a delayed flight, Mark’s group arrived on time and all their equipment and gear made it.  Was surprised to see everyone get on the plane in a great mood.  Evidently the flight was not full so they all had space to sleep and the flight attendants were unusually nice.  They flew U.S. Air out of Philadelphia.  Said the plane was “old” but the service was great.  I’ve never flown them but it sure sounds a lot different than the flight attendants I regularly get on my flights. 

Got all the luggage re-checked and told them we’re flying a small prop plane to Sandane.  It’s windy and raining here today, so I am NOT looking forward to that flight.  They landed at 10:40 am and our flight doesn’t leave until 4:10 pm.  LOOONNGGG layover after their international flight.  I’m sitting in the airport working, as usual.   

When the plane pulled up to the gate, my heart sank.  I had forgotten how TINY it is.  If the weather had been better, I would not have been so nervous.  Kenny – one of Mark’s guys – was in even worse shape than I was.  There are no “seat assignments”.  We all tried to get on first to get good seats and I sat in the second row on the aisle.  The props were right outside my window.   The flight attendant seated a little boy who looked to be about 7 years old next to me.  He was having a hard time with his little backpack and I kept helping him out. Don’t think he spoke a word of English though.   

I was braced for severe turbulence because it was windy, very overcast, and raining off and on.  Actually it was smooth as could be.  I just don’t get it!  It was about an hour flight.  The landing was one that I had also forgotten.  We banked between huge mountains and followed the water for quite a while.  Then when we landed, we landed HARD.  Like we had been shot down.  I was never so glad to get on the ground.  If we could, Kenny and I would blow off sightseeing on Sunday and drive to Bergen (4 hours away) so we could fly from there to Oslo on a large plane.  J 

Hotel is a big, beautiful historic house.  There’s some information available on it that I need to read because I’ve forgotten all the details.   I’ve been here many times but it’s always fun to see it from the guy’s eyes for the first time.  Their first response is how beautiful it is and second reaction is they want to live here.  Again, until they hear the cost of living.   

Got everyone settled in their rooms and by then it was around 6 pm.  The hotel had brought in a chef from Argentina and he was “bar-b-queing” outside.  He had reindeer, sausage and salmon.  It was warm enough and had cleared up enough to sit outside and eat.  I had the salmon and of course, it was excellent.   

Came up to my room to work and it’s after midnight now.  Some of Mark’s guys may have gone over to the festival to watch tonight’s entertainers.  Dawn Sears and her husband and band are here from Nashville but they perform tomorrow night as well.  One of her musicians – Pete Finney – is a friend from years and years ago.  I figured all of Mark’s people would just pass out after dinner.  They were all sleeping on the short flight over.   

Sound check tomorrow and performance tomorrow evening.  They have changed Mark’s show time from 1:45 am to 12:30 pm – 90 minute show.  From years past, it will just be getting dark when he goes on but the sun will be coming back up about 20 minutes later.   

There’s a big group of Americans right outside my window talking and laughing really loud.  I think they are going to get their instruments now and start jamming.  Oh joy!  Wish I had my earplugs from the plane.  On wait, I think I do.   This hotel also does not have an elevator.  Our promoter carried my bags up for me and I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack even though it was only one flight up. 

Jude