Day 17 (July 8): Lofoten -> Oslo

We had a wonderful time in Lofoten & the weather was spectacular for our stay. It was clear skies last night as we sat down after 8pm for dinner. By the time we walked back to our room after midnight the clouds had come in. Today was cloudy as we packed for the airport for the return to Oslo.

The airport on the western half of Lofoten is small with just Widerøe flights. There are 5/day in the summer & less in the winter. The one person staffing the baggage/flight check-in ALSO was the gate agent checking tickets when a flight boarded. We walked in to check in with 6 people in line. The employee said she'd be back & went through security, worked the gate boarding the plane before us, and then came back to check the growing line out the door for our flight. I feel bad for her that they aren't staffing two people for this job.

The timing of sunshine has been amazing in Norway as our time here comes to an end. Oslo was mostly sunny and quite warm when we landed and should be sunny until we depart.

After we got to the hotel, Jill went fashion raincoat shopping among other things. I opted to look for a bakery. The highest rated one within 7 blocks was close so I headed that way. I ended up in the train station mall with several levels and was clearly on the wrong level. I decided to walk further to get out of the mall but my choice was a vacant storefront. I turned back but figured I'd see something without looking at a map. What I found was the bakery equivalent of Starbucks in Seattle. Backstube. On almost every block at least once if not more. I looked back at the map. I saw a gluten free one past the church I was passing. When I got there at 3:30 I discovered that it's open until 4 on weekdays but closes at 3 on Saturday. Bummer.

I walked back to the mall where I started but just found a coffee shop with an original name: Espresso House. This is the Starbucks equivalent of coffee in Scandinavia. I gave up looking. I got an Americano plus a Choco Caramel Cheesecake slice. I was asked if I wanted whipped cream on the side which I declined. Then I was asked if I wanted chocolate sauce drizzled over it. Uh, YES!

We went to Einer for dinner where they only do a tasting menu for hours. They only had a couple of cocktails and few wines. But they do pair with courses and they heard my desire for red wine with more body. They started me with a Sicilian red that was wonderful. We moved to a Greek red wine from Samos that I didn't like as much so I went back to the light Nero d'Avola given its fruitiness. Jill got a white (Livia) from Samos before my red. 21 years ago this week Jill & I met in Greece on a small boat in the Dodecanese Islands that includes Samos!