grandparent visit!

The afternoon after I returned from my adventure in Stavanger my Grandma Ann and Grandpa Matt came to visit us!  I’ve been looking forward to this visit before we even moved to Norway.  This summer my grandparents knew they would be living in Cambridge for a couple months in the autumn, so they planned to visit us.  They came on Saturday afternoon and left on Tuesday afternoon, so we had a short, but sweet 3 days together. Our extended weekend went something like this:

Josh and I picked the grandparents up at the airport, which was exciting.  I was giddy with the anticipation!  We finally started playing a game or something to calm me down.  And then they came through the gate and we all hugged and were merry. After riding the tbane home and resting a bit, we got back on the tbane and rode up to the Holmenkollen stop, where we had a great view of the city below.  From our look out point at Holmenkollen, Josh and I pointed out some of the museums and places we’d be going to in the next couple days.  Then we headed downtown to eat at a Mediterranean restaurant, which was delicious!  

(at holmenkollen)

Grandma Ann had researched Oslo and decided upon all the touristy things she would like to do and Grandpa Matt seemed up for anything.  We made a schedule for when we would go where and we ended up doing just about everything on Grandma Ann’s “must see” list.  Sunday we attended church at St. Edmond’s, ate lunch at Akershus castle, perused the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, took a peak into the City Hall building just to see the murals and visited the Munch Museum.  Whew.  We went to a lot of places!  For dinner we had pancakes (a new Zahniser-Cranston Sunday night tradition).  We eat our pancakes Norwegian style- with jam and sour cream and/or brunøst. Maple syrup is pretty expensive here and we’ve come to enjoy the typical Norwegian toppings. My grandparents are also fans of brown cheese now!  Josh brought out his book of folk songs, “Rise Up Singing” and my grandparents sang a bunch of songs from the book that we didn’t know before.  Josh played guitar and we sat around the table singing; it was both a relaxing and joyful way to end the evening.  

(the view from our lunch spot at Akershus)

Monday we awoke to another full day of sightseeing.  First, we had breakfast at a kafé that Josh and I like, called Åpent Bakeri.  Okay, we actually had never eaten at this place before, but we’ve had many of their baked goods. Our friend has a deal with the bakery, so she often brought left over baked goods to the community garden night we attend.  We thought it would be fun to actually eat there and we were able to give suggestions for the yummiest goodies.  Grandpa Matt got apple cake and coffee, Grandma got a scone with strawberry jam, Josh and I each got a chocolate boller (fluffy Norwegian buns) and I also got coffee.  The bakery is close to the garden we volunteer in, as well as University of Oslo’s main campus (Blindern), so we gave my grandparents a little tour.  Grandpa Matt seemed really delighted to see the University library.  

(at the folk museum)

We then headed out to some museums. On Monday’s schedule was the Folk Museum Kon Tiki Museum and the Viking Ship Museum.  On our way, we stopped to grab lunch at a the same Mediterranean restaurant we ate earlier.  The food is great and pretty cheap for Oslo, plus the four of us all have a fondness for this cuisine.  The Folk Museum turned out to be my favorite of all the places we went during the grandparent visit.  It was a beautiful day and we walked around outside looking at a Stave Church and traditional style houses, which have grass on the roofs.  We also learned a lot about the Sami people and got to see their traditional clothing, which is usually brilliant blue and red, with lots of other colors.  By the time we got to the other museums I was feeling pretty tired.  I think everyone else was feeling a little tired too because we didn’t spend too long at either the Viking Ship or Kon Tiki Museums.  We had another relaxing evening at home with a dinner made by Grandma Ann and me. The four of us took some time to look over our wedding pictures together.  It was really fun to remember the day and to see all the pictures again.  There is so much joy captured in those photos!

(stave church at the folk museum)

Tuesday morning we relaxed, my grandparents packed up and then I accompanied them to the airport (Josh was in class).  It was truly a great few days and we were so blessed that my grandparents came!  It was especially fun to have them staying with us at our apartment because we got to wake up and eat breakfast together and hang out until right before bed.  It was great.

Did you notice all the blue skies in our photos?  We had beautiful weather the entire weekend! The only time it rained was on Tuesday morning, except for the ten minutes we took to walk to the tbane.  It was truly incredible.

We LOVED having my grandparents visit and we look forward to future visitors!  Both Josh’s family and mine plan to visit towards the summer.  Is anyone else up for a trip to Oslo?