This glorious Celtic lassie step-danced her way into our hearts last night and provided a fitting farewell to the Emerald Island. Sadly, even though we returned to the hotel early, our hopes for an decent night’s sleep were chased away by the Temple Bar crowd, who had zero respect for the Sabbath and screamed and laughed their way through the night until dawn. Yes, even through earplugs.
However. Morning appeared, as it usually does, with calm benevolence and we negotiated the airport run rather well, even if we did have to sprint for 4 minutes to catch the bus. Fast forward to airport security line ups, another bus ride to a different gate, and finally boarding Aer Lingus for a 2 hour flight to Norway. I drifted off to the humming of the engines and managed to reclaim a few of my lost hours until we landed in Oslo.
We decided to walk to our lodging from the train station, as it was only 2 km. Two iPhones using both Google Maps and Apple Maps were employed - along with one-and-a-half brains attempting to decipher the route (in Norwegian). This made for a mostly successful trip and only cost me one big toe giant blister, to be remedied by toe tape tomorrow morning. We have much to see, beginning with the splendid art and sculptures at Frogner Park, especially taking some reflective time with the Vigeland sculptures. They have been described as a giant meditation on human life - birth, childhood, sexuality, love, conflict, aging and death. Having been up close and personal with 6/7 of those, I am really looking forward to it.
Slán, Ireland, and Hei, Norway!
