A Two Person High School Reunion – Day 260 – May 20, 2026

This morning we have to pick up the passport that we ordered for Téa on Saturday. I know! SATURDAY! But what’s even more amazing, is that they texted me on Monday to say it was ready. We could have had it in our hands on Monday, after ordering it on Saturday morning, with NORWAY DAY in between! My mind is thoroughly blown!

Maylin chooses to stay home with her Mormor, she thinks the passport office sounds incredibly boring, so she wants to stay home. Even though we tell her we’ll be going downtown and having lunch after. This girl does not hear a word beyond “passport office”, so she stays home.

We take the subway downtown, and walk to the Police Station. This is the passport office I usually visit, when I’m organized enough to book my appointment months in advance. This time, my brain is in full on chaos, and thus we ended up driving to another fylke (province??) to order Téa’s passport on the weekend.

It didn’t take long. We had an appointment at 9.55am, and we were out of there by 10.10am. There’s a beautiful church next door, but it’s almost like we’re back in Old Town Nice, there’s another building directly in front of the facade, so I can only give you the church’s back end.

The walk from Grønland and the police station is long, taking us through areas we do not usually walk. This area has a high percentage of immigrants, and the restaurants smell so delicious as we walk by. I remember coming here for my first tastes of Indian food as a teenager, and the restaurant is still there today!

When we get closer to Karl Johan (I’m telling you, this is the center of the center), we walk through Arkaden, a small mall with independent shops. Upstairs, there’s even a Japanese shop that sells treats, toys and tableware.

There’s a café chain here called Joe & The Juice, and Joe first discovered them on a walk through this city back in 2014. Since then, every visit, he’s made sure to go back, have a juice or a coffee, and take a picture with “his” café. And to think he hasn’t done that yet! So that’s our first stop, Joe & The Juice.

Not far from the café is the Freia store. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting their chocolates, you may recognize it. It is my number one favourite chocolate in the world, because I get it so seldom. I can’t buy it in Canada, so I stock up and gift them when I’m here.

I thought we found the deal of the century with the store having the bars at 53,- NOK per bar, but on sale as 3 for 2 – I paid “only” 106,- for three bars (CA$15.80), until Torunn tells me she used to get 5 bars for 100,-, and if she has her laser focus on, she can now only find 4 bars for 100,-. I’m obviously no longer good at chocolate hunting, and got caught in a tourist trap (although grocery stores are worse, they are 49,90 at the store, and there is no 3 for 2)!

We hum and haw for a minute, trying to decide whether to go home and eat bread with Maylin and my mom, or to have lunch out. Nobody in their right mind eats out in Norway, it’s way too expensive, but we are not in our right mind. After 9 months of delicous food around the world, I can sense Joe may not eat a slice of bread again after leaving Norway – ever! So we decide to head across from Freia to a pizza place I grew up visiting, and to get there, we have to pass…

Peppe’s Pizza is older than I am, it started as a standalone Peppe’s Pizza Pub back in 1970. It was the only option for pizza delivery when I was a kid (or at least we never ordered from anywhere else), and only when I was a teenager, other pizza places came into play. They usually have a pizza buffet that’s a great option, but there’s only one other table in the restaurant, and the lone server isn’t too worried about setting up the buffet, so Joe and Téa don’t get an impression of how good of a deal it could be.

Rio Grande is a taco inspired pizza, with spicy meat and salsa and tortilla chips under the cheese. Heavy Heaven is pepperoni, garlic meatballs and steak. Yum! This one pizza filled us all up, with an extra couple of slices to bring home. It ended up being less than the buffet, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

After lunch, we head home. Maylin and my mom had oatmeal for lunch (what, no bread??), and Maylin loved it! The girls run out to the playground for a while, while Joe and I get back to job and apartment hunting.

Tonight, we are walking to dinner. What? What’s there to walk to up on a hill like this? The mall and all the things are downhill, no? So here’s a crazy story… Last time we were in Oslo, in August of 2023, Joe and I were on one of our evening walks up and down these hills (probably to buy the last bars of chocolates to pack in our suitcase), when I get a message from a name I haven’t seen since the 90’s. “Elisabeth, are you by chance in Oslo? Are you anywhere near Rundtjernveien?” Colour me shocked, a high school friend from an entire lifetime ago had recognized me in passing, as she and her family live a short walk from my mom’s now! So I said I would be in touch next time we were in town, and tonight we’ve been invited to their house for dinner!

Anna and her husband Thomas greet us warmly, while their sons Magnus (10) and Sebastian (6) are just about as hesitant as our girls. While us adults chat and hang out on their large veranda, there’s a trampoline in their backyard that soon has all four kids laughing, jumping and hanging out. The boys speak a little English, our girls speak a little Norwegian, and together, kids can figure it all out.

The BBQ is on, and soon we are seated at a feast of chicken, pork, hot dogs, corn, salads and potatoes. We drink wine, and while Anna and I remember the past, Joe and Thomas are chatting about all things work, travel, life and future. Thomas is half French, so we all gush over France and all things French. It is such a beautiful evening, even if the scary looking clouds chase us in when they start spitting on us.

Inside, we have ice creams (like – the BEST pistachio ice cream I have ever tasted!!) and strawberries, and the kids soon divide. Maylin spies a chess board, and soon is playing against both brothers.

We sit and chat and laugh and enjoy each others company until it nears the kids’ bedtime. Tomorrow is a school day, after all, and we start walking home. When I get home, I realize in HORROR that not a single picture was taken during our visit… But the memories will have to be enough, for now, we don’t know where or when we will see each other next. I just hope it’s not another 28 years until then!