Norway Day #1

We arrived in Oslo on Friday, January 21st after connecting through Newark on Continental.

Oslo or bust!

We landed in Oslo and promptly looked for food before our next flight to Tromso.  Although we weren't in the mood for hot dogs at 9am - Oslo had both a "New Orleans" and "San Francisco" hot dog at their airport.

huh?

breakfast of champions
loved the super seeded bread

We landed in Tromso and took the easy Flybussen to the waterfront Rica Ishvahotel.  At both the Oslo and Tromso airports, they had the Flybussen shuttle that would take you to the popular tourist hotels for a very reasonable price (around $10/person, much cheaper than a cab).  I thought it was a great idea.  It ran every 20 minutes and dropped us off in front of our hotel.

View from the our room at the Rica Ishvahotel

The weekend we were in Tromso happened to also be the weekend of their International Film Festival.  Therefore the city was busy and the restaurants full.  Since we were still getting our bearings that night, we walked all around town to find a place to eat and settled on Amundsen's Restaurant.  It was a warm and cozy spot with good people watching. 

My meal was a fish in wine sauce with potatoes

The hubby got the Scandinavian sampler platter

While we were eating dinner, it started to snow!

Fresh snow

Tromso is a city with a rich polar exploration history - apparently it was often the launching point for expeditions to the north pole.  Famed explorer Roald Amundsen is a much loved figure by the town and there were several statues in his honor sprinkled around.

Roald Amundsen statue in the snow. 

Tromso was a very charming little town and would be a good launching off place for our arctic adventures.