Last day in Norway – Day 264 – May 24, 2026

It’s Sunday morning. I’m up early, blogging, when the others get up. I aim to get at least a couple of blog posts done today, so that when we leave tomorrow and stay overnight on Iceland, I don’t have to excuse myself and go blog in the middle of dinner. So I sit there typing when Téa gets up, and then we both sit there in the quiet, doing our own things. Our own little Norway ritual.

The others emerge from the respective rooms, and we make some breakfast. I like buying a ham spreadable cheese in a tube (yup, it looks like a toothpaste tube) and filling an omelette with it, and everyone loves it. The cheese doesn’t sound all that appetizing, but the flavour is amazing, and it truly lends itself to melt into an omelette. Do we even have tube cheese in Canada?

We have one last load of laundry we wanted to wash before we travel tomorrow, so Joe gets that load on, and I bake one last batch of brownies. The whole point of baking the brownies was so that my mom could have some treats in the freezer when we’re back across the world from her, but every time I bake it, it keeps disappearing!

I’m also packing. There are still things to be packed, and we manage to get it all into our suitcases, carry-ons, the duffel and the tote bag. Phew! It’s a lot! Some sacrifices have to be made. Those fun extra super wide black pants that I bought in Japan that are no longer black (they’re now charcoal, and if you ever saw the heavy metal ad for laundry detergent for black clothes, you know exactly how to drawl that word out), and I don’t like wearing them. They get donated. I also almost donate my XXL fleece jacket, but I turn my back and Joe has packed it. It matches his, so I think he just didn’t want to not match any more? The girls both have several pairs of pants and t-shirts that are now too small, but Téa’s will eventually become Maylin’s, so anything that’s in good repair gets to come with us still.

It’s with a heavy heart I leave my tube (yes, another tube) of Kaviar (like caviar, but not fancy, it’s a spread for your everyday slice of bread) at home. I decide to dedicate the almost 300g of weight to something else instead, but also because a punctured tube of fish eggs in my luggage does not sound like something I want to deal with. Ever. But the chocolate gets packed, you’d better believe it, large bars of chocolate. Most of them will be gifted, if I can keep them safe from Joe, but we’ll definitely keep at least one of the Walter’s Almonds ones, and we have one precious Smash bar. I can’t wait!

Joe is busy looking for apartments and setting up viewings. Our first viewing is now Tuesday at 7pm, he says we land at 4pm. I call him crazy, but go along with his wild ideas, I don’t know how he thinks we’ll still be alive at 7pm after such a long flight. But something doesn’t sound quite right, and when I check the flights, sure enough, we land at 11am. Then the new panic arises, and now we have to request an early check in at the AirBnb…

No matter how much the sun is shining and we have this entire day in Oslo, Joe and I are in no way “available”. We are too preoccupied. I’m job hunting, Joe’s apartment hunting. It takes it all out of us. At one point, Joe suggests we take the girls to the mall, before catching himself and realizing what day it is. The girls are happily playing, sometimes on the playground, sometimes inside. I promise them I will take them down to the playground where Mormor’s been taking them, because I’ve not yet even been there.

The walk down is 1/3 of the way to the subway, and we suddenly take a left instead of following the road as usual. There, in between the trees, there’s a path that leads who knows where, but along this path lies The Other Playground. It’s hectic here today though, with it being a holiday Sunday, so all the play structures are currently taken, with happy families and kids playing in all directions. There’s also a tiny dirt soccer field, and right next to it, six picnic tables with benches. I hang out at one of these while Maylin runs circles around the families, and Téa makes a fairy home in a hole in the middle of a grassy field.

Joe has started dinner, so it’s time for us to walk back up the hill, one last time. On our way, we stop to smell the flowers, especially the lilacs. These are one of my favourites, I love how their scent fills the air. It’s everywhere in Oslo in late spring/early summer, and every time I smell it, it makes me think of summer at home. I even show Maylin how to taste their nectar, and explain that’s what the bees are looking for, and how she doesn’t taste or smell like that at all. Téa is sceptical. I can’t imagine why!

Dinner is one of Téa’s favourites, tortellini with carbonara sauce. We have two different flavours of pasta, one is spinach and feta, the other ham and cheese. Because these are pre-portioned packs from the grocery store, there are no leftovers tonight, and we even have space in our bellies for ice cream.

My mom and I take our ice creams outside to the benches in the common area in the middle of the nearest buildings. I’m hoping some of the neighbours are around, some of them have lived here longer than my mom has (31 years!), and others I’ve gotten to know through my many visits. Unfortunately, our nearest neighbours are not home, and so we sit there for a while, until a tiny puppy comes by. When the puppy’s owners start talking to my mom about their office, I soon catch on and understand that they now work where my mom used to work, and they know the same people. I’m too busy petting their 4 month old puppy, I’m not really paying attention at all.

The sun sets late in Oslo this time of year, after 10pm, but because the houses block the sun, it soon gets cold. We head back inside, and finish up the last little details before tomorrow’s departure. I set my alarm for 6.30am, and Maylin heads to sleep next to Mormor one more time before we leave. I wonder if I’ll be able to sleep until my alarm goes off?