Thursday May 7th 2015. Oslo (first day in Norway)

   Breakfast in youth hostal             On my way to the bakery’s I passed the Nobel institute. The one left is me!

 Typical Norwegian all wooden church  

The Pilgrim’s office. The present official and me

Wooden stabborn on legs against mice etc. containing hay.   Some stabborns are turned into tourists shelters

  Snow far away         

                                                               Snow closer

After this frozen lake everything became white. Snow 2 m. high along the road.          Going down in a nice countryside

Breakfast in the hostel, like in all youth hostels so far, was big in terms of choice of food and drinks. Actually those are simple hotels. All of them also have bedrooms for couples, with a private bath. I mostly sleep in a “dormitory” with multiple bunk beds, because those are of course the cheapest. Showers and toilets always in the hallway and everywhere men and women dormitories and bathrooms are seperated, even on campsites. Dogs banned, but Tosca was allowed to sleep in the conference room in the basement.
Now first going to the DNT Oslo, the Organisation of Norwegian mountain sports, in order to get a runner that fits all their cabins, plus a map where the cabins are. I could buy the key, but for maps, I was referred to a special store in outdoor gear. Upon arriving there I got my maps, but for documentation on the 630 km. long Olavsway they advised me to go to a certain pilgrim’s office. Which would open at 12. So coaching again through the traffic of central Oslo (1.5000.000 inhabitants). To fill up the time I was looking for a bakery in order to buy a cake for today’s birthday of Marieke’s friend Alf Rune (that’s his first name). In Denmark and Norway, they are not very “caky”. Always little choice, and often marzipan cakes. Then I’ll have just coockies, which  I put in the trunk of the parked VW Polo car and I walked to the pilgrim’s office. A big hat with folded flat front, topped with a scallop, tghe symbol of the jacobs route, and some documentation about the Santiago trail filled the shop window. A very friendly lady, a little older than me, I guess, offered me a guide about my walk Olavsroute. She also regretted the absence of her boss. Who had ever walked from Oslo to Jerusalem. Probably before the Syrian civil war. Yeah, would have been nice to meet him. On the other hand, I did not stay long, because the time to visit Marieke was already short enough. Back at the car I missed at first glance Tosca. Yes, she sat on the front seat. The top cake in the cooky box she had finished already. Leave this front seat immediately, hey, piece of …! She understood very well.

I typed Marieke’s address in the GPS and on the road again.  During 7 long hours the route kept climbing gradually. I saw a beautiful stave church, typical Norwegian, completely wooden churches, built according to a certain pattern. Stopped for a few pictures. Ever more and more snow, so the scenery got ever more white. Lakes were completely frozen. Again a photo. Until everything was white, I was driving in the snow, snow walls 2 m. high along the road, and around the wooden houses. My heart started pounding at the thought that I would had to cross such country for the next few months. And after 1500 km my new shoes start wearing out. To make matters worse my belly felt swollen and painful. And that didn’t go away. I repeated my medical considerations : appendix, renal colic, biliary colic, colitis, intestinal perforation or, even worse, perforated aortic aneurysm? The last is not probable, because then you’ll be dead within a few minutes. I guess it’s because of the kebab meal yesterday, with 3 big portions of fatty dressing, one spicy, lots of fries. A horse with colics should be walked, otherwise it will die. Walking was no option for me now. Impossible, because I was all day in the car. Exhausted and bent over stumbling of colics I finally arrived in Skjold. After first greeting Marieke, Alf Rune and their dog with eight puppies the three of us, including 3 dogs, went out for a walk. After the walk I decided to stroll a little more by myself, with Tosca, I really felt like a little old man, hunched abdominal cramps, hoping that my body would react like that of a horse. But no. To make matters still worse, I neither found  the way back anymore. After 1.5 h. I got “home” and I just immediately went down on my matrass.