Some bigger photos
I've posted some larger photos of my trip in the gallery.
And for those of you keeping score, the trip home wasn't all that much
better than the trip there. We left Oslo delayed after waiting for
unspecified "mechanical problems" to be fixed. After a fairly calm
crossing (highlights of which include the random large guy next to me
falling asleep on my shoulder) we got to fly circles over norther New
Jersey while waiting to be able to land at Newark due to high winds.
Because my seat was in the middle section on the isle next to the
bathroom I wasn't able to look out the window during the landing
which gave me plenty of opportunity to notice just how much the top
of the plane doesn't seem to be connected to the bottom of the
plane. After what seemed like an eternity of bouncing up and down
the plane landed safely about an hour behind schedule. This of
course meant that we'd missed our connection back to Boston. After
scurrying around we were re-ticketed on a 5:30 flight. But Boston
was experiencing high winds as well so our flight was delayed.
Around 7pm or so they decide we're going to give it a shot and
announce that they'll start boarding shortly. Then they announce
that the flight crew just became "illegal" and they'd have to find a
new crew. But they were still going to board the plane anyway
(saying that the new crew would be arriving within a half hour).
Well homey don't play the getting on a plane with out a crew game, so
I waited until the new crew arrived... After that everything got
much better. The plane flew just north over Manhattan giving
those of us on the right side of the plane a spectacular view of the
city. (unfortunately the wing light was in the way preventing me
from taking a picture) The landing in Boston was smooth as butter
and it was definitely good to be home!
(14:32) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Goodbye Oslo!
I'm heading home tomorrow and have more pictures... but for now I'll just leave you with the Akershus castle at night...
(14:03) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Thursday Evening
Went for dinner with some work guys...
Castle at night
Moon over city hall
Matt, Rich and Steven after eating at the Ma' Raja
(15:17) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Afternoon walk.
Took a walk around 3p local time... just as the sun was setting...
Looking back across the water to the Aker Brygge
Sunset
Some restaurant with permanent patrons
(08:57) [/Travel/Oslo]
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The Office
Haven't seen much of Oslo yet... have been stuck in two days of
meetings. Our office is pretty cool tho... very Scandinavian... I'll
try to get some pictures of the naked people sculptures that are
randomly situated around the streets by our office... for now,
here's a picture of the interior courtyard of the office...
(10:28) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Made it
Despite mother nature's best we finally made it to Oslo. Today
started out much like yesterday... first the runways were closed,
then they were open but our path to the runway wasn't plowed. Then
we were on the taxi way and the plow that was in front of us broke
down...
More later... now it's time for dinner...
(09:24) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Off again
OK. I'm heading off to the airport... going to walk into Harvard Sq
and then take the T to logan. Hopefully my next post will we from
Oslo (or at least somewhere in Europe)...
[see bottom of previous post for update with pictures]
(10:43) [/Travel/Oslo]
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0.025 MPH
That's the average speed of my attempted trip to Oslo yesterday.
Unfortunately my trip coincided with the first major snow storm of the
year. My original flight had been on Continental through Newark.
Nope. Continental canceled all their flights early in the
morning. After spending a couple hours sitting on hold with our
company's emergency $25/call hot line, one of my traveling partners
managed to get us re-booked with Lufthansa direct out of Boston.
So we made the snowy drive to Logan around 12:30 for a 16:45
flight. Waited in line to find out that we were only on standby and
would have to wait until 15:30 to see if we would get seats.
(Un)luckily for us there were some empty seats (no doubt the seats of
people stuck somewhere else) and boarded around 16:15.
After everyone was on and settled, the ground crew attempted to pull
us back from the terminal. 3 or 4 rocking attempts and the plane
still hadn't moved. Turns out that the first tow truck wasn't big
enough to do the job given that the ground was covered with snow.
Much waiting ensued. They finally found a bigger truck/tractor to
pull us. Then more de-icing. Then we finally moved forward on jet
power only to have to hold up due to the runways being closed. Then
more de-icing. Followed by another runway closure. You get the idea.
The pilot finally comes on, and in his thick German accent, told us,
"I'm sorry, but today the weather has won."
This was about 20:30 or so. We were maybe 1000ft from our original
terminal. We could clearly see the terminal off to our right. But
apparently someone had taken our terminal spot and now there weren't
any spots left for us.
More sitting around. Followed by the announcement that the flight
attendants would begin passing out US customs declarations.
Apparently pulling back from the terminal means we left the US? (in
the end we weren't forced to go through customs)
Around 23:30 we learned from a attendant that a spot opened up, but
the pilot didn't know where it was and we were waiting for a
"follow-me" to lead us in. After another 15 minutes or so we started
to move and pulled up to the jet-way. Everyone started to get up, put
jackets on, and get their luggage down from the overhead bins. Only
no one was going anywhere. At just about midnight, they announced
that the jet-way we got wasn't compatible with the 747 doors and there
was a gap that would need to be spanned before we could de-plane.
More waiting.
At 00:15 we finally walked off the plane. They told us they couldn't
get the luggage off and that we would all try again the next day at
15:45...
Update: Here are some pictures...
Bjorn and Steven making the best
of it (23:28)...
Bjorn making his way down the
gang plank (00:23)
waiting for cabs home (00:42)
my neighborhood in
Cambridge (01:38)
(10:37) [/Travel/Oslo]
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Our art gallery / dining room
The whole gang
View from my hotel room (construction crew with 7a jackhammers not shown)
Mr. King, standing in front of the king's house
Crossing the street on Karl Johans Gate
Home of the Nobel Peace Prize (which they happened to be 
our plane was still there waiting for us, with the same flight crew
shortly before de-icing
finally pulling away from the terminal (but before the snow plow
broke down in front of us, causing another hour delay)
up up and away!!!
after changing planes in Germany, we finally made it to Oslo...
