We Came for Norway but Stayed for the Party

 May 17, 2026

We got a good night's sleep, minus the wifi (that was like a strobe light blinking green all night long. i got up to unplug it but clearly i wasn't the first person to have this thought because plastered to it was a handwritten sign that said DO NOT UNPLUG), plus the earplugs. We took a 20 minute walk to the train (we were staying in the equivalent of a red light district so there was lots to see along our walk!) and had a much easier time navigating the station then we had the day before. We boarded and it was a quick 15 minute trip to the airport. We got through security relatively easily but our gate information wasn't yet available so we sat at Marche for breakfast. Once our gate info for Oslo, Norway was available we headed there, and were pleasantly surprised that there was no passport control.

Once we arrived in the Land of Trolls we had to embrace it by posing for a few pics at the airport!

 After our flight we took a train to the neighborhood we were staying in (we had a much easier time navigating this train system than the one in Zurich) and once we got off we had a 15 minute walk to our hotel. 

As we walked we saw SO MANY PEOPLE dressed up- women in traditional clothing and men in suits. At first we wondered if this was how people dressed on Sundays for church but then there were just too many people out and about for that to be the case. After some googling we realized it was Constitution Day in Norway and EVERYONE was celebrating. 

There were parades, choirs, and most importantly hot dogs and ice cream (so we were told). People were walking the streets drinking and after checking into our hotel we headed back out to enjoy it all. We were starving and after looking up multiple places that were closed for the holiday, we found one with a traditional menu to eat at. We had asparagus prepared 3 ways- because it's in season right now- in addition to veal, fish and berries. The meal was lovely and the cocktails were really impressive. I had one with dill and another with peach. Evan had a one with blackberry and a spicy margarita with raspberry salt. 

After eating and drinking we headed out to the square to join the crowds. We went to the main square where there were food vendors and beer tents and we just watched the groups of people go by. We wandered by the water and saw multiple DJs mixing under bridges where people were gathering to dance. 

The bars were packed with people and after walking the city for a few miles we stopped in a pub with great music and a lot of locals. Our goal was to make friends and eventually I did. I got many of our questions answered. 1) the girls are given the traditional dresses at age 15 for their confirmation. They are from the town their family is from and the beautiful pins along the neckline represent what the town is known for. One of the girls, from Bergen, had an ornate pin that she explained was an umbrella with raindrops because Bergen is the city of rain. One of the girls had a blue blouse under her dress and she explained hers was unique because she's from the very northern tip of Norway and grew up with reindeer in her backyard. 

They taught us to say thank you- takk, and cheersed us- skal- and even gave us a Norwegian flag to take with us.

The people we encountered said the party would last all night and they weren't wrong- long after we went to bed we heard people stumbling into the hotel. When we left at 6 the next morning we even saw someone arriving home after a long night. 

From Swiss Air to Swiss Cheese

 May 15-16, 2026

We left Chicago on Friday night and flew Swiss Air (which we would both highly recommend) to Zurich, Switzerland. It was an 8 hour flight. We got through pre- check fairly quickly so we killed an hour at Hub 51 in Terminal 5. I tried a new beer which was really delicious. After boarding we were delayed about an hour on the tarmac because the machine that puts the luggage in the belly of the plain broke down. Once we got in the air they served us chicken and polenta for dinner and then Evan and I slept. 

After landing at 1130am Saturday morning in Zurich, Evan and I waited in the customs line. The line took forever, but eventually we made it through and purchased Zurich Cards before attempting to navigate the Swiss public transportation system to our accommodation.

Attempting is the important word here.

We wandered here, there, and everywhere through the airport and train station. At one point we found a huge food court and, naturally, had to investigate the Swiss McDonald's menu. We weren't hungry enough to actually eat there, but we needed to know how it compared to America.

The verdict?

Way better.

They even had an entire line of gluten-free burgers. We moved on, but I was impressed.

Then we wandered through a grocery store and discovered something else that delighted us: ketchup and mayonnaise sold in what looked exactly like toothpaste tubes. 😂 I'm not sure who decided condiments needed to be stored like oral hygiene products, but I'm intrigued.

The train, tram and bus route we were going to take to our accommodation changed multiple times but finally we found (by pure chance) the right track and we got on a train. Then navigated a bus then navigated a walk to our accommodation. It is an apartment style room with a lock box and hidden keys galore. I dropped my phone in the garbage can- ewww- but other than that, we managed to get in. Our room consists of a pull out couch and comes with earplugs- we'll see how that bodes for us later tonight. There are tons of bars around us so if we can't bear the noise maybe we'll join it. 

After settling in (it didn't take very long because there wasn't much space), we walked to a local coffee shop. Evan had a coffee with multiple espresso shots and I had a hot chocolate. I was surprised at how un-sweet the hot chocolate was.

At this point Evan introduced me to his game for the trip- a colorful photo challenge. I agreed to play and we each selected a color (green for Evan and yellow for me). Our goal was to get as many photos of things that were that color in Zurich. Evan would then create collages of our colors.

We continued walking (while snapping photos!) and finally landed at a brewery- Bier Lab- and sampled a flight of their house pours. They had this super cool map that linked every beer I've ever seen together in some sort of way. Evan and I spent a lot of time studying it. Eventually I went to the bathroom but was unprepared for the labels "dammen" and "herren". I took a chance on dammen and I think I was right because the toilet seat lid was pink. 

After we took a walk along the water where I was surprised to see a rainbow row vibe, much like Amsterdam. We watched as the sun lowered over the water. There were tons of cafes along the waterline and they were packed with people enjoying a drink. 

There were also chocolate shops. We had to stop for Swiss chocolate and where better than Laderach, one of the most famous shops?

We continued on down a cobblestone alleyway until we found Chuchi, a famous fondue restaurant. We ate cheese fondue, drank wine from the Swiss countryside and tried a traditional Swiss dinner dish made with veal, mushroom sauce and chips. It was delicious. 

After dinner we wandered through Zurich's Old Town and stumbled upon a street violinist so we listened for awhile. After a few songs, we continued our walk and eventually, we found a cocktail bar with a piano player and settled in for one more drink. The music was wonderful, but the combination of an overnight flight, a full day of navigating Zurich, and a very full dinner was catching up with us.

So we called it an early night.

We left the bar a little before 9 and walked the 30 minutes back to our apartment. We climbed into our pull-out couch, looked at the earplugs sitting nearby, and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't actually need them.