Where is Rune?

The Gang of Four left rainy and cold Oslo this Saturday morning at 07:30, bound for Paris, aboard a Norwegian plane. It can be noted that it is exactly two years ago since I also left Oslo.

Arrived at Orly airport at 10:00. Taxi from Orly to CDG airport.

Checked-in on our Luftwaffe flights from Paris to Jakarta via Frankfurt.

Enjoyed an excellent meal at one of the CDG restaurants.

We still had a couple of hours to kill before our flight departed at 19:00, so we decided to catch a RER train (€18.50 daypass ticket) to Notre Dame, downtown Paris, in the mean time. We spent around an hour walking and sitting around watching people passing by before returning to CDG again and catching our flight to Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt, there was not much time until our next flight departed at 22:00, bound for Jakarta. The Gang of Four was leaving Europe.

Gypsies, Notre Dame, Paris.

After saying goodbye to Siri, Atle, Theodor, and Ellen, the Gang of Four left Bogen around noon (again in Uno’s borrowed car), in rain. We had planned to stay the last night in Norway at Ellen’s residence in Oslo. The original plan was to leave for Paris the day before, but we decided to extend our stay in Norway for two days and skip Paris altogether (except for a few hours).

The trip back to Oslo took around 1.5 hours. Ellen followed a couple of hours later.

In the late afternoon, the Gang split. The 3 female members of the Gang decided to take the subway to Oslo downtown to meet two friends. Or so I thought. Whatever the reason; a comment made by Saras, around the moment when Astrid’s Norwegian friend(?) turned up, was later brought to my attention:

Lastri, you are so fucking dead ya!!
– Saras

I, on the other hand, went to prepare the car (wash it and fill up the tank) before handover to Uno, who was in town. He would be driving the car back to Trondheim.

After handing over the car to Uno, I was picked up by – let’s just call him CME – and went to his residence just northeast of Oslo, in a gloomy area called Solberg. I stayed for a couple of hours having some beers, before being transported back to Ellen’s residence, meeting the 3 female members of the Gang, who had just arrived with the subway. Again, the Gang was united.

Day 17 was over.

GPS track log.

The Gang of Four was now comfortably installed at Gallery Bogenloftet, the building next to Siri & Atle’s residence, which is a 250-year-old wooden building. The Gallery itself was not quite as old, however.

Day 16 was a foggy and rainy day, so the Gang decided to just hang around the immediate vicinity of the residence, picking various fruits/berries from the trees in the garden while playing with Theodor, Siri & Atle’s 2 1/2 year old boy (he happens to be my nephew too).

Gallery Bogenloftet.

Plums in the garden.

It was time for the Gang of Four to relocate again, and again we found ourselves comfortable in Uno’s borrowed car, before venturing eastwards. That is, after I finally was able to locate Boya’s office and deliver the keys to his residence. So we weren’t able to leave Bergen until 11:20.

We made a stop at Vøringsfossen waterfall, where Saras found it extremely interesting to get closer to the edge of the steep cliff than anybody else of us dared. I’m not sure, but it looked like it was 100m straight down from the edge to the bottom.

It was sunny and nice weather and almost no traffic.

And after covering a distance of 480 km, including a ferry crossover, and with some short stops here and there, we finally arrived at Siri & Atle’s beach-front residence in Bogen, near Sandefjord, at 21:00. Theodor and Ellen was also present.

Rainbow, Vøringsfossen waterfall.

Crossing Hardangervidda mountain plateau.

GPS track log.

On Day 14, the Gang of Four was in no need of any motor powered vehicle, and we covered all distances by using our own feet (except the funicular trip). We just roamed around Bergen downtown anyway.

We visited some of the usual tourist places, such as Bryggen wharf, the fish market, a trip on Fløibanen Funicular, and the Aquarium (where we saw a 3D animation and crocodile feeding among other things).

In the afternoon it started to rain, and this was the first day with rain during our trip so far.

The day was rounded off with a parking ticket to the tune of 300 NOK (I “caught” the female officer on the spot). We were obviously not permitted to park in front of Boya’s residence, but were permitted to leave the car parked there until the next morning without getting another fine. Well, that’s something!

Manhole cover in Bergen.

Seen on wall in Bergen.