Today was primarily a travelling day. The actual travel was not without it's annoying quirks but went smoothly enough, especially as it is Friday, the 13th!
The quirks started with Tim's newly created Uber account unable to actually request a ride. He kept receiving the infinitely-helpful message "An error occurred in processing..." so still doesn't know what actually went wrong. Unfortunately, that meant that we had to burden Birgit with the three-hour return trip to CDG airport in morning traffic. Birgit, being the superstar that she is, bore the weight effortlessly and dropped us at Terminal 1 in good time.
Then we had the next bit of awkwardness, though we didn't know it at the time. Perhaps better said, the main awkwardness was hidden from us by the minor awkwardness. Over this part of the journey, Cate is travelling light with only a backpack for her 'stuff'. Tim, who is travelling away from the base in Paris for longer is taking his bag (travelling heavy). That meant that Tim had to check his bag, while Cate only needed a boarding pass. The boarding pass and baggage labels are dispensed by a kiosk, as is not unusual these days. Tim got his boarding pass after selecting a seat on one leg of the flight and a baggage label for the bag straight through to the final destination. Cate got a boarding pass after selecting a seat for the same leg as Tim.
Cate went to wait near the boarding gates while Tim got in the "self serve baggage drop-off" line, which moved with glacial pace towards the four baggage drop-off points. Tim had way too long to observe the process, which appeared to confound 70% of travellers and inevitably involved some airline staff re-processing the travellers and their bags! Eventually, Tim got the chance to actually self-serve his baggage drop-off and it took under 30 seconds. The 60 minute wait was just a bonus, you might say!
Cate and Tim strolled out to the departure gate, which was crowded and only as the flight was being prepared for boarding did Cate raise that she hadn't got a seat on this plane. "You have a boarding pass, it's on that," said Tim. "No it isn't," said Cate. And it wasn't. In spite of the process executing (apparently) flawlessly and exactly the same as for Tim, Cate's boarding pass had both flights shown and departure times, but no seats! We consulted with the boarding staff and (eventually, if felt like as the plane was boarding by this time), Cate was given seats on both legs.
The first leg (Paris - Olso) was about two hours of flying. Cate's late-assigned seat was in the "premium economy" section (Row 1), so she was served lunch and beverages. Tim was in his purchased seat (Row 3), and he got a free cup of tea!
However, more calamity! While Cate was eating swan in the first row, she happened to bite onto something hard and cracked off the crown on her front tooth! Poor dear now had a gap-tooth old crone smile for her troubles. Not the most fetching look on a woman celebrating 9 decades on the planet.
We transferred seamlessly at Oslo, waited for the connection, then waited to be 'pushed-back' as there was so much lugggage from all the holiday-makers we were flying with and travelled safely on the second leg (Olso - Kristiaansand), arriving 15 minutes late.
We were met at the arrival gate by the inestimable Wiebecke and have been properly chaperoned and hosted each minute since.
The drive down to Eigebrekk, outside Mandal, on the southern edge of Norway, was about an hour, with a brief stop for grocery shopping. The countryside, seen for the first time by both of us - though Cate has visited Norway (Oslo) before - is spectacular. Verdant, geologically dramatic, picturesque. Some photos snapped from the car will not do it justice.
We arrived at the gorgeous summer house of Wibecke and Berndt to be greeted by Berndt, who turned 80 the day after Cate turned 90. Our arrival was celebrated with Prosecco over-looking the North Sea.
Berndt showed us around the boathouse and their little boat (green; called Kermit!) while Wibecke prepared fish soup for dinner, using fish caught by their granddaughter, Christina, who is also staying with them this week.
We have had a wonderful time in this beautiful home with the catching-up getting up to speed. Wibecke has prepared itineraries for us for the next couple of days and we will definitely get to understand the wonder of this part of Norway and the world.
The quirks started with Tim's newly created Uber account unable to actually request a ride. He kept receiving the infinitely-helpful message "An error occurred in processing..." so still doesn't know what actually went wrong. Unfortunately, that meant that we had to burden Birgit with the three-hour return trip to CDG airport in morning traffic. Birgit, being the superstar that she is, bore the weight effortlessly and dropped us at Terminal 1 in good time.
Then we had the next bit of awkwardness, though we didn't know it at the time. Perhaps better said, the main awkwardness was hidden from us by the minor awkwardness. Over this part of the journey, Cate is travelling light with only a backpack for her 'stuff'. Tim, who is travelling away from the base in Paris for longer is taking his bag (travelling heavy). That meant that Tim had to check his bag, while Cate only needed a boarding pass. The boarding pass and baggage labels are dispensed by a kiosk, as is not unusual these days. Tim got his boarding pass after selecting a seat on one leg of the flight and a baggage label for the bag straight through to the final destination. Cate got a boarding pass after selecting a seat for the same leg as Tim.
Cate went to wait near the boarding gates while Tim got in the "self serve baggage drop-off" line, which moved with glacial pace towards the four baggage drop-off points. Tim had way too long to observe the process, which appeared to confound 70% of travellers and inevitably involved some airline staff re-processing the travellers and their bags! Eventually, Tim got the chance to actually self-serve his baggage drop-off and it took under 30 seconds. The 60 minute wait was just a bonus, you might say!
Cate and Tim strolled out to the departure gate, which was crowded and only as the flight was being prepared for boarding did Cate raise that she hadn't got a seat on this plane. "You have a boarding pass, it's on that," said Tim. "No it isn't," said Cate. And it wasn't. In spite of the process executing (apparently) flawlessly and exactly the same as for Tim, Cate's boarding pass had both flights shown and departure times, but no seats! We consulted with the boarding staff and (eventually, if felt like as the plane was boarding by this time), Cate was given seats on both legs.
The first leg (Paris - Olso) was about two hours of flying. Cate's late-assigned seat was in the "premium economy" section (Row 1), so she was served lunch and beverages. Tim was in his purchased seat (Row 3), and he got a free cup of tea!
However, more calamity! While Cate was eating swan in the first row, she happened to bite onto something hard and cracked off the crown on her front tooth! Poor dear now had a gap-tooth old crone smile for her troubles. Not the most fetching look on a woman celebrating 9 decades on the planet.
We transferred seamlessly at Oslo, waited for the connection, then waited to be 'pushed-back' as there was so much lugggage from all the holiday-makers we were flying with and travelled safely on the second leg (Olso - Kristiaansand), arriving 15 minutes late.
We were met at the arrival gate by the inestimable Wiebecke and have been properly chaperoned and hosted each minute since.
The drive down to Eigebrekk, outside Mandal, on the southern edge of Norway, was about an hour, with a brief stop for grocery shopping. The countryside, seen for the first time by both of us - though Cate has visited Norway (Oslo) before - is spectacular. Verdant, geologically dramatic, picturesque. Some photos snapped from the car will not do it justice.
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| Scenery on the drive to Eigebrekk | One of the local fjords |
We arrived at the gorgeous summer house of Wibecke and Berndt to be greeted by Berndt, who turned 80 the day after Cate turned 90. Our arrival was celebrated with Prosecco over-looking the North Sea.
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| Berndt and Wibecke's summer house where we are staying | The view of the sea from the driveway |
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| A panoramic pastiche of the sea in front of the house | ||
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| The quai where Berndt and his neighbours keep their boats | The flourscent green boat is Berndt's. Note the clear water. |
We have had a wonderful time in this beautiful home with the catching-up getting up to speed. Wibecke has prepared itineraries for us for the next couple of days and we will definitely get to understand the wonder of this part of Norway and the world.
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