Tag: veal

Skol! Our Trip to Scandinavia Day #8 “Oslo, I Will Miss You”

by reissmd, posted in Oslo

We were up early this morning and after an amazing breakfast at the Grand Cafe (part of the Grand Hotel) we headed for the bus.  Excuse me, we headed for the coach (Tauck doesn’t call it a bus).  It was not raining when we left but it was, soon after, when we arrived at our first destination.  This would have been a great time to explore a museum but unfortunately, no such luck this morning.  Our first stop was the beautiful Vigeland Sculpture Garden (aka Frogner Park).  Yes, outdoors of course.  Tauck can’t control the weather?

Visiting the Vigeland Sculpture Garden was a beautiful and wonderful experience in spite of the rain.  The park is full of works of art created by the Norwegian sculptor, Gustav Vigeland (1869-1941).  The park claims to have 1 million visitors per year.  There were a number of visitors today in spite of the inclement weather.

The first piece we saw was “Lischjulet” (The Wheel of Life). It is a wreath of men, women, and children.

Livshjulet (Wheel of Life)

I love seeing statues in parks. One of my favorite things is seeing birds perched on the head of someone or something famous.

Doesn’t the bird really add to this piece?

After the sculpture park we went to another boat museum (remember the Vasa boat museum honoring a boat that sunk 23 minutes into its maiden voyage). This was the Fram Museum which is dedicated to Norwegian Polar explorers and it documents how crazy these guys were. Patrice and I have considered going to Antartica on a trip but it seems a bit too challenging. That is with tour guides and all the luxury conveniences typical of a travel vacation. Can you imagine the same trip going to an uncharted location with the technology available at the turn of the century (and I am talking 1900 not 2000). These guys were crazy and many of them paid the ultimate price.

We then had another wonderful lunch (I think Tauck means food in some foreign language). Following lunch we left the group to do our own thing. Patrice and I opted to go to the National Museum and see Edvard Munch’s famous painting, “The Scream”. I am sure you all know it, but see below to jog your memory.

Wait! That’s not it, that is a magnet we saw in a store.
The Scream by Edvard Munch painted in 1893.

The museum was a real treat and I would recommend it to all. We then set out to find a “kokospollen”. This is a pastry that our friend, Linda, said we had to try. We went to a nearby coffee shop and they didn’t have it but a customer overheard our request and sent us to a nearby bakery. The bakery didn’t have it either but while waiting for Patrice I started to chat with another customer. When the bakery couldn’t help us my new Norwegian friend sent us to another location which also didn’t have the heralded treat. At this location we met a woman who spoke perfect English. She knew exactly what we were looking for and not only told us where to find it but helped us find the store. On our way, we found out why her English was so good, she is from Arizona. She is here because of her Norwegian husband. I bet we would have found out that there are some sad Arizona parents if we had talked to her further. Unfortunately her recommendation did not have the pastry. But we were sent to a local market but they too did not have what we were looking for. We then saw it was getting late and we wanted to visit the Nobel Center. We gave up our quest and headed over to the Center and found out it was closed for the day! Tauck failed us here. The handout we received from Tauck said the the Center was open until 6 pm but when we arrived at 5 pm they were closed for the day. Oh well, a reason to return to Oslo.

We went back to the hotel to rest and then had what I think was the best meal of the trip. The Grand Hotel Concierge recommended that we eat dinner at Brasserie Hansken (Christiania Torv 4, 0158 Oslo). In an attempt to experience the local culture we had herring for an appetizer followed by Veal (Patrice) and Cod (Robert) for our main courses. Our apologies to Eric, no dessert.

Crispy bread covering the herring.
Herring, potatoes, and a poached egg. Just looking at the herring is making my mouth water.
Patrice’s veal. I didn’t ask to try it because…………………
I didn’t want her to ask for any of my cod. I did offer her some and unfortunately she said yes.

We leave Oslo tomorrow. I have really enjoyed this city and would like to stay longer but I am really looking forward to seeing the fjords which is next on our itinerary.

Europe 2022 Day #1 What did I forget? 10/6/2022 Milan, Italy

by reissmd, posted in Italy, Milan

Today we headed to LAX to begin one of our Covid makeup trips.  Yes, Covid has canceled the travel plans for many people including us.  I’m just glad we are still above ground and able to travel.  

This morning we each got a great workout trying to close our overstuffed suitcases.  Of course, as soon as we did that we each started asking, “What did I forget?”   Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to buy into the recommendation, “Don’t worry, if you forgot something you can buy it at your destination”.  Very good advice but as people who know and love me will attest, I much prefer to obsess. 

The flight from LA to London was great.  I got to watch a few movies.  I saw “Elvis” (Good, not great), “The Last Bus” (A real tear-jerker), and “The Duke” (Blah tale, based on a true story of the theft of a museum art treasure in London).  Much more impressive than the movies, was the bathroom on board the plane.  It was huge unlike what I’m used to seeing on airplanes.  Typically it’s difficult to take a deep breath in most airline bathrooms. This one was roomy enough to accommodate two people which gave me an idea.  I went back to our seats and asked Patrice if she wanted to join the “Mile High Club”.  She immediately took a quick look behind as if she thought I might be talking to someone else.  She then replied “First of all, we are about 5 miles up, and if you wanted to join the Mile High club you should have thought about that in Denver where you seemed more interested in baseball and visiting breweries!”    Hmmm. 

Our first stop on our current journey was Milan,  Just prior to arrival we got a view of the Alps from the plane. 

Nice but seeing Mt. Denali (the former Mt. Whitney) was much more impressive.

After arriving at the hotel we were greeted by our wonderful guide, Valentina for a 3-hour WALKING tour.  We had hardly slept at all so why did I plan on a walking tour shortly after arrival?  It was fun and informative and we are looking forward to some sleep tonight and more fun tomorrow. 

I am exhausted and need to go to bed but I can’t disappoint my followers who are always asking about food.  We had a wonderful meal at Bice Milano which is very close to our hotel (Via Borgospesso, 12, 20121 Milano MI).  Patrice had the branzino (aka European bass) and I had the veal (aka baby cows).  Both were excellent.  Even better than the meal was the delightful conversation we had with the two women sitting next to us.  Francisca and Michele are from Switzerland and I convinced them to subscribe to my blog. That means that I just need 999,698 more followers to make this a money-making enterprise

The Branzino was excellent.
My baby cows tasted much better than this picture looked.
From left to right, Patrice, Michele, Me, Fransisca.

Ciao