Day 39 - Oslo, Norway
Oslo is not on the regular agenda but was substituted for Flam on this christening voyage. For us that was great because otherwise we would not have intersected with our original Norwegian friends - Carl and Aud. So here's more of that story.
Once Carl and Janet hooked up on the internet in 1995, they continued to correspond. Carl was fascinated by tracing the roots of a emigrant family and did huge amounts of "foot soldiering" for Janet tracing down her ancestors. He also continuously suggested that we should pay them a visit. During the interim, we'd relocated from San Diego to New York and I happened to have an IBM meeting in Paris. We rolled the dice and went to stay with folks we'd never actually met - Janet arriving from JFK and me a couple of hours later from CDG.
Not only did they have us as guests, they'd also postponed Carl's 50th birthday party from January to May so we could attend. We spent a great six days with them and then moved over to Brian and Ellen's for a couple more. From there we went on to Bergen bt train and then Vik by hydrofoil - and then Carl and Aud drove the six hours northwest to pick us up and to finish our visit.
Since that time we've been together a double digit number of times and with Brian and Ellen nearly as many - and in both cases, on both sides of the ocean. The six of us have even vacatiuoned together in 2006 at Brian and Ellen's getaway on the coast of Spain. Tey're all "friends for life".
Once Carl and Janet hooked up on the internet in 1995, they continued to correspond. Carl was fascinated by tracing the roots of a emigrant family and did huge amounts of "foot soldiering" for Janet tracing down her ancestors. He also continuously suggested that we should pay them a visit. During the interim, we'd relocated from San Diego to New York and I happened to have an IBM meeting in Paris. We rolled the dice and went to stay with folks we'd never actually met - Janet arriving from JFK and me a couple of hours later from CDG.
Not only did they have us as guests, they'd also postponed Carl's 50th birthday party from January to May so we could attend. We spent a great six days with them and then moved over to Brian and Ellen's for a couple more. From there we went on to Bergen bt train and then Vik by hydrofoil - and then Carl and Aud drove the six hours northwest to pick us up and to finish our visit.
Since that time we've been together a double digit number of times and with Brian and Ellen nearly as many - and in both cases, on both sides of the ocean. The six of us have even vacatiuoned together in 2006 at Brian and Ellen's getaway on the coast of Spain. Tey're all "friends for life".
Above - just your normal "come out to greet you" ship; Carl, Aud, and their daughter Ragnild; Aud, Ellen, and Janet in our suite; and finally me, Aud, Ellen, and Carl.