THURDAY, JULY 8^TH AND FRIDAY, JULY 9^TH – USA TO VINSTRA, NORWAY:

Departed to Norway again this morning.  Wasn’t I just there a couple of weeks ago?  J   Doesn’t look like it’s gotten any warmer either.  Highs still in the upper 50’s.  Nice break from the upper 90’s in Nashville though. 

Have Lee Ann Womack, Aaron Tippin, Mike Stinson and Miss Leslie performing at this year’s Vinstra Country Music Festival.  Vinstra is about 4 hours Northwest of Oslo.  This is one of two festivals that I had worked with Jonny Minge on for more than 10 years.  We lost Jonny to cancer last year and it’s going to be really hard to be there without him.  One thing that will make it easier is the fact that we are staying at a different hotel for the first time this year.  I always met Jonny for breakfast each morning at the other one. 

I made a list of everything I forgot on my last trip so I wouldn’t forget it this trip.  Then we had last minute changes to the itinerary and I left the new hotel rooming sheets in the copier.  Lindsey had to come back to the airport to deliver them to me.  Hope that’s all I forgot.   

I am flying with several of Lee Ann’s group.  She had to change her flight at the last minute because her father-in-law passed away.  She’s now flying out of Houston and meeting us during our 5 hour layover in Newark.  One of her musician’s fathers passed away last night as well.   

Our flight departed Nashville on time.  First time I’ve flown Continental to Europe and not sure I am looking forward to it.  Think it might be one of the old planes where even business class seats suck. We shall see.  The flight from Nashville to Newark was the tiny jet I hate so much.  One seat on one side and 2 on the other.  At least there wasn’t any turbulence.  Hope that’s true on the return as well.

 

Landed on time and I’ve been in the “President’s Club” working for 2 hours.  Have to say it’s much nicer than some of the other airline’s lounges.   

Aaron Tippin was flying out later today on US Air via Philadelphia and planning to land an hour after us in Oslo.  Office called and his flight was delayed out of Nashville which meant he would miss his connection.  He is now on an American Airlines flight through Dallas, then London, and not arriving Oslo until 4 pm tomorrow afternoon.   Just hope all those connections are on time.   Mike Stinson was connecting with him in Philadelphia from Houston and his flights are all okay.   Miss Leslie arrives by train tomorrow night.   

My dear friend Ben is meeting me in Oslo to help me with this event and go sightseeing with me on my days off after Vinstra and before the Breim Festival the following weekend.   Not enough time for me to go home.  I’ve always wanted to do the “Norway in a Nutshell Tour” but didn’t want to do it alone.  Not a good idea with my lack of a sense of direction.  It involves taking a train, boat, and bus from Oslo to Bergen through the fjords.  Might never see me again.  We’ll do that all day Tuesday and then have Wednesday to sightsee in Bergen….where I was 2 weeks ago!  Ben has never been to Norway and I’m looking forward to showing him around.  It’s the most expensive country I visit but also one of the most beautiful. Ben has helped me before with an event in Switzerland and does a great job.  And yes, Scott, it’s “that” Benji!  J

When we were leaving Nashville, we heard they had just captured two Al Qaeda terrorists in Norway who planned an attack on the Norway train system similar to the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.  Sure glad they got them before I start traveling by train! 

Flight to Oslo was on time and all my people made it.  There are still thunderstorms in Dallas and don’t think Aaron will make his connection.  Probably won’t know until we land. 

Continental has at least “refurbished” their Business/First Class section so that it’s a “little” better than their domestic flights.  But, I think coach is even smaller than flights in the U.S.   Coach is a 3-3 configuration and the guys said there was NO leg room whatsoever.  The flight attendants were super nice and the food was really good.  (Yes, I got my pasta J).  They brought me water on a regular basis, too.  Movies sucked and I only watched half of one.  Sat next to a very chatty, very sweet Norwegian lady who married a U.S. Naval officer and now lives in San Diego.  She was flying back to Trondheim to visit her family.  Said she would connect out of Oslo and then go straight to the pub to party when she landed in Trondheim.  I asked her if she wouldn’t be too jet-lagged and she responded that she would be too drunk to care!  Typical Norwegian.  LOL 

No turbulence and the flight was only 7 hours.  Short for me.  Guys in coach didn’t think it was short.  All our luggage and gear made it to Oslo with us. Ben was waiting for us with “Linn”, the promoter’s daughter.  She had the bus waiting and we got it loaded.  I received a text message saying Aaron had missed his connection out of Dallas and the earliest he would arrive would be 8:30 pm that evening.  Since Mike Stinson had just landed, we waited for him and his 3 guys so they could ride with us and leave the other bus for Aaron.  One of Lee Ann’s management team brought her little 9 month old daughter and I spent the first half of the trip holding her – missing my grandchildren already.  Had horrible news before I left Nashville.  A business associate who I met through video production lost her little 22 month old baby this week.  Evidently, the grandmother babysits the child and the news said she was getting into a shallow pool with the baby when she evidently had a medical issue.  Neighbors found the baby and grandmother at the bottom of the pool.   The grandmother is still in critical condition (as far as I know) in the hospital but the baby did not survive.  It just breaks my heart and was all I could think about on the flight.  Couldn’t sleep for thinking about it.  At least with an elderly person, we have the comfort of knowing they hopefully had a good life and death is expected.  But why this has to happen to an infant, I just will never understand.  Makes me even more protective of my babies. 

The “new” hotel is great.  Much better than the one we usually use.  No stuffed grizzly bears or wolves in the lobby (always reminded me of “The Shining”) and it has an ELEVATOR!!!  They were supposed to put wireless in each room but only got it in the lobby.  However, the promoter brought over a wireless card for me to use which is a lifesaver.  Not fun to take my laptop, external hard drive, printer, paper, headset, and all the cables and files into the lobby every time I want to work.   He also brought over the fans I asked for although it is “cool” outside.  Won’t need it tonight but if it is sunny tomorrow, will be happy I have it.   

Miss Leslie came in via train and arrived in time to have dinner.  The food here is MUCH better than at the other hotel.  Everyone was “accounted” for and most had not slept yet.  They will crash tonight.  Me…I have to stay up and wait for Aaron.  They landed and departed the Oslo airport at 9:30 pm which will put them in here at around 12:30 am.  I have to be ready to leave for the venue by 8:30 am tomorrow.  Short night….again.   

My room is on the side of the hotel with a fantastic view of the lake and mountains.  It’s 11 pm now and still very light outside.   Might get dark for about 30 minutes at midnight.  J 

Going to post this road report because I have a feeling I’ll pass out once Aaron gets here.   

Jude
 

SATURDAY, JULY 10^TH – VINSTRA, NORWAY: 

Aaron’s group got in at almost 1 am.  Had “dinner” and wine waiting for them, gave them their room keys and I went to bed at around 2 am.  Could not sleep.  Was still trying to go to sleep at 4 am.  Finally fell asleep at around 4:30 am but alarm went off at 6.  Showered and had a quick breakfast and rode over to the venue with Lee Ann Womack’s guys.  Sound company wasn’t even at the venue.  Our promoter called them and they said they were told to be there at 9:30 am when we were told 9:00 am.  Once they arrived, things moved quickly. 

Aaron and his band came over at 11:00 for their sound check.  Ben and I counted in the merch for everyone while Aaron was doing his sound check. 

I left Ben in charge of Miss Leslie and Mike Stinson and went back to the hotel with Aaron.  Glad that I did.  The lunch was supposed to be scheduled for 2 pm and the hotel had it down for 2:30 pm…much too late to be eating lunch.  Got that sorted out and stayed there and worked for a few hours.  Checked out the exercise facility and it was really pretty nice.  Hope I get to use it tomorrow before we leave for Oslo. 

Came back over to the venue with Aaron for his performance.  He goes on from 10-11:30 pm and Lee Ann is on from 11:45 pm until 1:15 am…late night for us.  L 

Had a quick dinner and ended up holding Miss Leslie’s 3 month old daughter so her nanny could eat.  She is a little doll – Emilee.  But, boy did she have gas!  She was so loud, Ben and the nanny were staring at me and I kept saying, “it’s not me.  It’s the baby” and they are looking at me like, “yeah SURE it is”!  LOL 

The weather has stayed absolutely beautiful – sunny and highs in the 60’s.   

Went over to the venue where Mike and Miss Leslie had already performed several shows and had several more to go.  With three stages, it kept them busy.   The venue wasn’t packed when Aaron took the stage but only took a couple of songs to draw everyone in from the “beer tent” to watch his show.  His truck horn worked this time and he uses it frequently.  He also added the part where he puts together a child’s bike on stage as he sings “Workin Man’s PHD”.  The audience loved his high energy style. 

Lee Ann was, of course, the headliner.  She looked fantastic and had on the highest pair of heels I’ve ever seen – at least 6 inches.  My feet hurt just watching her.  She is one of, if not THE best female vocalists of all time and she upheld that reputation tonight.  The crowd did start thinning out near the end of her show but it was 1:15 am, turning very cold, and they had been drinking for 3 days and were passing out where they stood or sat!   

Got everyone loaded onto the buses and back at the hotel by 2:30 am.  We don’t depart to the Radisson airport until noon tomorrow.   

Jude
 

MONDAY, JULY 12^TH – DAY FIVE – DOWNTOWN OSLO: 

Decided to forego a couple of hours sleep to work out.  They have a good workout facility at the Radisson Airport and I was in there at 6 am this morning.  Then had breakfast at the hotel.  This very large man rushed in front of me to get in the buffet line.  When he came to the container for the bacon, the dish with the bacon had been removed to be refilled.  There were a couple of pieces of bacon floating in murky water in the container and he fished those out to eat.  GROSS!!! 

I had just gotten out of the shower when Aaron’s road manager called and said they were going to the airport at 8:30 am.  Now, their flight didn’t depart until 1 pm!  I suggested one person walk over before they checked out of their rooms and see if the airline would even accept their luggage for check in that early.  He said it was too late as they were already all checking out.  I cannot believe after all the time they spent stuck in airports a couple of days ago on their way over that they would want to sit there for 4 hours waiting on their flight this morning.    

Got everyone else checked out and on their way back to the U.S.  Ben and I caught the Radisson SAS bus from the airport to the Radisson Hotel downtown where I stayed last year.  They had our rooms ready and we are on the 27^th floor.  I have a beautiful view of the city from my room.  We got directions from the front desk and headed over to an area called Bygdoy for sightseeing.  Stopped along the waterfront for lunch and then took the ferry across.  We toured a cool Viking museum (not as cool as the one in Sweden though).  It was a HIKE up a hill to get to it and we hiked back down and took the ferry to the Kon Tiki museum.  From there we wanted to see the Holocaust museum and took the bus to it.  We got off that the right stop but there were no signs indicating where it was.  We finally asked a lady walking down the street and she gave us directions. It was really strange…absolutely NO signs at all.  The parking lot was deserted and we were the only people in the entire museum.  It was really interesting.  I’ve toured the Holocaust museum in DC which is much better than this one though.   

We walked back to the bus stop and figured if we took the same bus going the opposite direction, it would take us back to the ferry stop.  WRONG.  Thirty minutes and about 30 stops later, we were back in downtown Oslo only a few blocks from our hotel.

Walked back to the hotel to get information about our Norway in a Nutshell tour and then I wanted to do “recon” on finding the correct track that we would depart from at 8 am tomorrow.  We got SO lost for some reason.  We got in the bus terminal and could not get to the train station.  Last night, we had no problem getting from one to the other!  We finally gave up and went to eat Indian food at Mr. India – the restaurant where I ate last year.  It was excellent.  Stopped back at the train station on our walk back and got our tickets and “directions” for tomorrow.   

The hotel has a bar with a panoramic view on the 34^th floor so we went up there for one drink.  I had something with lots of different fruit juices and rum in it that was good.   

Came back to my room to “work” for hours.  The weather report said rain and I’m sitting here at 12:30 am watching the most amazing lightning storm ever outside my window.  Thunder and huge bolts of lightning!  Wish I could get a photo of it but it’s just too dark outside. 

We must have our luggage in the lobby by 7 am tomorrow so that a porter can take it to our hotel in Bergen for us.  We’ll be taking trains, boats, and buses for our little escapade tomorrow.  Hopefully, we won’t get lost! 

Jude

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14^TH – BERGEN, NORWAY: 

Decided to skip breakfast and go jogging.  Glad I did.  Weather was beautiful.  We have really been lucky because rain has been in the forecast all week.  I knew where to jog from my visit here a couple of weeks ago.   

When I got back to the hotel, I changed rooms to a room right down the hall.  Evidently the hotel knew the internet signal was too weak in the room they gave me but they don’t share that information with their guests!  Got everything moved and showered.  Ben called and said he had just moved into my old room.  Forgot to mention that every time I moved last night, so did he because there was something wrong with his room each time, too.  When he told me where he was, I had just noticed that I did not have my diamond rings or other jewelry with me.  I called the front desk because he said he couldn’t find them anywhere in the room.  Housekeeping brought them up a few minutes later and had found them in the THIRD room I was in last night.  Glad they are honest people working here.  I tipped her generously.  Even though the rings were valuable, I was more concerned about the bracelet that I wear for the Vigianos who were lost in the Twin Towers.  That cannot be replaced.  I’ve worn it every day since June 2003 when their Dad gave it to me. 

Ben and I walked down to the water front and went into EVERY souvenir shop in this city, I think.  He got everything he needed.  I have teased him this entire trip because he carries a calculator with him and figures out what everything costs.  I had forgotten the memory stick for my camera which was still in my computer from last night.  So, I purchased a fan for my room and walked it back down to the hotel and picked up my camera.  Ben even figured out what I was paying for the fan.  One of the sales clerks in the store was teasing him about it and said, yes it’s about 6 NOK to the dollar and he immediately rattled off 6.1435 or whatever it is today. LOL 

We had lunch down at the fish market.  Can’t find fresher fish anywhere. Then came back to the hotel to do some work. Ben walked down to where they are holding a huge outdoor concert right by our hotel tonight.  A clerk in the 7/11 where I purchased water this morning said it’s top artists performing 50 of the top hits songs – all in Norwegian.  My friends explained that it was a free concert hosted by the second largest newspaper in Norway.  It’s a very short concert.  The entertainers only sing 1-2 songs each to entice the public to purchase their cds.  

The promoter on the Bellamys date a couple of weeks ago and his wife met us at 6 pm and took us up to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Bergen via a tram.  There are 7 mountains total that surround Bergen.  One of the nearer ones is accessible via a cable car which is what I did NOT want to do.  It was breathtaking when we reached the top.  There was a restaurant at the top but didn’t look very good, so we came back down to the waterfront.  My friends suggested a “Tex Mex” restaurant and it was good….but as you can imagine not exactly like we have in the U.S.  I had the chicken fajitas.  The service was very, very slow which is typical in Europe.  We’re supposed to be enjoying the company of our friends and taking our time eating a meal --  a very foreign idea to us.   

Was back in the hotel around 9:30 pm and have been working ever since.  Ben is packing for his 7 hour train journey back to Oslo tomorrow.  He leaves for the U.S. on Friday morning very early out of Oslo. Tomorrow I will finish my shopping and work, work, work.   Have to leave for Breim when Patty Loveless arrives on Friday afternoon. 

Jude