A homevisit to Norway

This is a blog post in English in honor of my English friends who are reading my blog.

To Norway:
My plan was to take the train from York to Liverpool St. Parkway, then the bus to John Lennon Airport, and then fly to Oslo with Ryan Air. This should be a challenging trip....

It all started at York train station. I should have taken the train to Liverpool St. Parkway at 2.30 pm. Luckily, I was at the train station earlier than necessary. My train was cancelled, and all the trains to Liverpool was cancelled for a period ahead. The train tables looked like this:

But, I told the customer service that I had to get my plane at 6 pm, so they told me I could get on a train to Manchester. Then I was at least on my way to Liverpool. Waiting at Manchester Picadelly, I couldn't get on the first train to Liverpool because it was too many people in the queue before me who filled it up. Then I waited 30 min., and the time went by, to get on a train to Liverpool... but to the station Lime Street, and not St. Parkway. I was in a hurry now, and ran through the ticket control to reach the train back to St. Parkway. I got on a bus to the airport and had 30 min. to flight departure. Ryan Air measured the size of the hand luggage with a stand instead of the weight. Of course was my sack to big, so I was supposed to pay £5. All the people in the queue behind me could pass while I was waiting for the lady to pay the fee to. When everyone else had boarded, I were told that I wouldn't have to pay for a extra fee for my hand luggage for this time only. So I was the last one into the plane, and no seat reservation makes it very difficult to find the last free seat. The stewardess asked in the speaker: "Can all passengers find their seat?" I was thinking: "Yes, if someone can please tell me where the last seat is!!!" Well, finally, I arrive Norway that night.

In Norway:
Snow, snow, snow, windy and cold. That's the bullet points for this weekend's weather.

My mum had ordered tickets for her, her husband, me, my brother and my brother's doughter (my niece). The Ski World Cup in Holmenkollen (Oslo) is big for every Norwegian. So when many thousands of people want to come to Holmenkollen by Metro from the same station, it's a long long queue:

Look at all the people!

Walking cramped from the Metro!

Me and my niece made the Norwegian flags on our cheeks, and my niece is a big fan of Marit Bjørgen, a Norwegian skier who is one of the best skiers in the world.

Because of all the queue, we arrived Holmenkollen two ours late, so didn't reached the ski jump. But we watched the women's 10 km. distance... and Norway won!:

Through the weekend I met my grandmothers, my father, his cohabitant, my mother, her husband, my brother, my niece and friends. Very nice to see them all again! But I had to go back to York on Sunday, leaving Norway in the sunshine:

My mum bought a lot of "Melkesjokolade", a  popular Norwegian chocolate which is quite polular in England too. I'm gonna be popular!

To York:
I was the first one to check in my luggage in Oslo. I was supposed to have three hours from arriving London to train departure to York - more than time enough. The downside of checking in first in Oslo was that my bag was the last one when arrived London-Gatwick. The train to York departs from King's Cross in London, and it goes normally a train from Gatwick to King's Cross... but not at this time. I had to take a train to London Bridge and then change to the underground. Again, I had to hurry, and I went on a train to.... Victoria... wrong train. But met two guys on the train who guided me to the Metro at Victoria station. When I arrived King's Cross, I had 10 min. before departure. And I reached the train... and arrived York!

It was great to be in Norway, but what a stressful journey both ways. I'm never going to Norway for a weekend anymore!