“It’s good to go away,” my mother used to say, “and it’s good to come home.” Or, as they say in Norway, “Hjemme er best.” Yep. Didn’t miss the heat here in the Pacific Northwest, but I missed lots of other things such as my friends, the Farmers Market, and my little old cat.

I traveled for a couple of weeks, visiting relatives south of Oslo for about 10 days. On the way back, I stopped over in London for several more days before facing the long flight home. (No complaints, Delta. You did a good job.) In London, I was lucky to have the company of a friend currently living in Frankfurt and I think we proved just how much two determined ladies of a certain age can accomplish in three days. (Disclaimer: my friend is younger than me and could probably have tackled more but we stuck together and made some wonderful discoveries.)

It’s hard for me to blog while traveling, so I put up a little placeholder post and kept on taking iPhone photos and writing in my notebook. In the next few posts, I’ll tell you about some of my travel experiences in Oslo, Drøbak, Fredrikstad, London, and Oxford and share a few photos, too.  If things go according to plan, I’ll get all these nifty entries ready to go and put them up over the coming weeks while I buckle down and do some editing.

As a preview, here are two views of Oslo, one of the city and one of the spectacular Oslofjord. Stay tuned!