Frances Vin Bar, Oslo, Norway

This is a happening place. I was glad we had a reservation, because otherwise we would not have gotten a table, and this is a place where people linger. There is a very long bar and it was possible to get a seat there, so never fear if you are in the neighborhood and want to drop in. There is also a lot of outdoor seating, but the time of year was not optimal to exercise that option.

This is one of three eateries housed in the previous visa section of the former US Embassy in Oslo, right by Henrik Ibsens gate and the Palace Garden. It’s now been transformed into a café in the morning, wine bar and restaurant in the afternoon, serving a selection of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired sharing plates. The generous dishes catch the eye with their vibrant appearance, then satisfy the palate with their fabulous flavours; confit cauliflower with the colourful trio of tomato coulis, cashew cream and coriander oil is a prime example. Our favorite was a hamachi with avocado over it--so flavorful and unique at the same time. It is a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which is characterized by good food at a good value--we still had sticker shock here, as food and wine are pricy in Norway.

The End of Everything by M. John Harrison

This is yet another dystopian total societal breakdown novel, this one also has the distinction of being short listed for the 2026 Booker Prize. I am not a huge fan of the Everything Is Falling Apart novel, not now, when it seems all too real at the moment, or ever, because why borrow trouble, but I unexpectedly enjoyed this. The location is unnamed but on the Kent coast, and it is familiar yet estranged. There has been a catastrophe, but it’s already old news and, in any case, the news media seem to have collapsed. iGhetti – AI or Alien, it is unclear – invaded Britain some while back, provoking an ongoing war whose progress or purpose no one really understands. The main characters are beachcomber Phillip Tennent and his elderly aunt Marnie. Phillip sells his lucrative finds on what we presume to be the hidden market, though how much of the legal economy still works is unclear. Marnie paints, and defends her terraced townhouse against predators and vandals. Police are never mentioned. Order, such as it is, is maintained through vestigial community cohesion and survival of the toughest. Their story is at the center of the book, but all the other implications are the shadow over their relationship.

Nærøyfjord Fjord. Flåm, Norway

When planning a trip to a country which is famous for fjords, is one cruise on a fjord enough? The answer for us was definitely yes, but we had booked a second one here and so we did a second, and this one is just as beautiful, half the time and half the price. Nærøyfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site. National Geographic magazine voted the fjord "The best unspoiled travel destination in the world" already in 2004. When choosing 50 most awe-inspiring natural wonders in 2017, CNN said: “If you only have time to visit two fjords in your lifetime, make it the Geirangerfjord and Naeroyfjord in southwest Norway” The two fjords shared tenth place in competition with other famous natural wonders worldwide. Other amazing places on the list included Preikestolen at Lysefjord, Stromboli volcano, the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Having been to the later 2, I would say this is not actually in their league, but it is pretty spectacular, none-the-less. The beautiful, narrow Nærøyfjord is 17 kilometers long. The fjord is a branch of the Aurlandsfjord. Nærøyfjord ends at the little village of Gudvangen, located at the very tip of the fjord. On the tour, you will experience both cascading waterfalls, idyllic villages and many more sights that will linger long in your memory. Fjord cruises depart twice daily in winter and has five daily departures in summer from Flåm and Gudvangen and you can take a bus back to where you left your car--or there are tours that will pick you up, but we were on a DIY trip and left to our own devices.

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

This is my favorite light gay romance fiction writer--the ones I have read prior to this had a bit of time travel and fantasy associated with them, where as this one features the lead characters in a long running space travel television show. Simon Devereaux plays one of the leads in the reasonably successful TV show Out There, featuring a group of fractious outcasts and weirdos learning to function as a group in outer space. He’s xhronically anxious, always second guessing himself, and has a hard time connecting with people. He has one good friend whom he relies on constantly but is not romantically invovled with. They tried that, it didn't work out, but they have remained friends. He has been on the show for seven seasons, and has decided that it’s time for him to move on; when the season, he’s heading to New York to take up a theatre role and embark on the next stage of his career. Throughout all of those seasons, Simon has shared most of his screen time with Charlie Blake, former star of a reality TV show about restoring old cars and who has, in Simon’s opinion, brought down the tone of the show, which is maybe jealousy because Charlie is everything he is not – likeable, charming, cheerful, sociable – and while their on-screen chemistry is potent, off-screen they don’t get along and Simon actively avoids Charlie whenever he can. That is until Simon reveals his plan, and time is short, and well, you can see where this is going. I read it in the midst of reading seven of the Booker long listed books on vacation, and let's just say this provided some much needed levity.

The Art of Racing In The Rain (2019)

This is my Day of the Dead selection. The family member that we lost this year is our beloved dog Zeke, and so remembering him I watched this movie, which could be called The Power of the Dog (which is another movie entirely and only relevant in name and not substance). It is a story about what a difference a dog can make, and also on point, the destruction that cancer can wield. We are a nuclear family that has felt the power of both, and in the end it is a feel good movie, against all odds. The story is told from the perspective of Enzo, a philosophical golden retriever who believes he will be reincarnated as a human and uses racetrack techniques as a metaphor for navigating life's hardships. He finds Denny, who is an actual race car driver, and the two share a special bond, which expands to include Denny's wife and then his daughter. Enzo is about as smart as you would expect a dog to be--meaning good at reading the room and stepping up when necessary. When Denny's wife gets sick and her overbearing--and wealthy--parents take over to squeeze him out, Enzo sticks by him in the best way a dog can. Yes, this is sugar coated sadness, but sometimes that is what hits the spot and this one did just that for me. Save it for when you are in danger of losing man's best friend and you will see what I mean.

The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis

This is a fabulist novel with a touch of magical realism that was long listed for the Booker Prize in 2026. It opens with a bang. Flora, a fortysomething woman, is visiting her mother and stepfather in Mexico City for the first time in many years when one evening, as she is bidding them goodnight, Diego – the household’s beloved guard dog – springs up and sinks his teeth into her hand. This unexpected incident is an assault not only on Flora’s body, but also upon those delicate fictions that have, until now, shaped her life and swathed that body in an illusory sense of safety. She is then condemned to spend the rest of her vacation confined to the winding corridors of a private hospital in Mexico City, Flora is ambivalent. On the one hand, the environment is hardly stimulating – but on the other, the hospital is life’s waiting room, and it is during a languid midnight stroll of its corridors that she meets Wilhelmina Blau, an elderly yet redoubtable German admitted with a bad case of pneumonia. Flora and Wilhelmina strike up a friendship, and during their nightly meetings in the hospital’s dully lit hallways, Wilhelmina shares the ample wisdoms gleaned from her highly unconventional life, which is not what either Flora or the reader expects. It is a darkly magical tale.

Mostraumen Fjord Cruise, Bergen, Norway

Bergen is Norway's second largest city, and it is the acknowledged gateway to exploring the western fjords of Norway, of which there are literally hundreds, more than a thousand. The town is quite charming. We stayed in a historic hotel in a charming residential neighborhood that was a 15 minute walk to the harbor, where you can catch any one of a number of cruise boats to experience the fjords from the water. We chose a popular 1/2 cruise. It featured narrow fjords, steep mountainsides and waterfalls. We sailed up the 27-kilometer long Osterfjord towards Modalen, the country’s second smallest municipality with only around 380 inhabitants. Along the way, we navigated through strong currents in the shallow and narrow Mostraumen straits. It is quite lovely to see, but in truth, after spending three days driving a southerly route to get from Oslo to Bergen, we had seen dozens of spectacular views along the way and since we were on a leisurely drive, we were able to pull over and experience it at our own pace. That is what I would recommend--do not necessarily skip the cruise out of the Bergen harbor, but don't stop there. The train hits the same gorgeous spots but it doesn't pause. This is a beautiful country--don't race through it.

May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry

This is a debut novel that was short listed for the 2026 Booker Prize, which is a feat in itself, but it is also my second choice for the award (which means it absolutely will not win, nor is it favored for that, and of course the favorite is my absolute least favorite of the 13 long listed books, so take all of this with the back story that I am absolutely never right about this prize). In a medieval palace of an unnamed king an unnamed curator of unspecified gender is employed by the palace to dress some of its rooms for public viewing in the wake of an undescribed personal tragedy. This is the back story of someone who does hisotrically accurate renditions with a lot of fake food and manufactured replicas so we the viewer can get a sense of what it was like back in the day. Soon after being hired for this task, the Curator meets the Archivist, keeper of the medieval palace’s historical records, and in those records finds mention of the brief reign of a king whose life the Curator will draw on to create their historical scenes. Although the King began as third in line, and temperamentally unsuited to rule, it seems that this king assumed the throne reluctantly after the death of both his brothers, then refused to govern. At this point, the narrative slips into the world of the King, his Queen, his hated Chief Adviser, a loyal young Attendant and the wider world of the court, swallowing up the Curator and holding them there, dazzled by the richness of its details and, like the King, quite unable to find our way out. It is inventive, creative, imaginative and tells a sweeping story in a relatively short narrative.

Enhjørningen Fiskerestaurant, Bergen, Norway

This restaurant is upstairs in an old waterfront part of Bergen that is absolutely charming, and more importantly for us the afternoon we went that it opened for dinner at 4PM. We prioritized hotels with breakfast included (same price as those without and food is expensive in Norway), so we ate with abandon one meal a day. Admittedly, breakfast wouldn't be my first choice--or even my second choice--for that meal to be, but it is what it is and I do like a Scandanavian breakfast (or frokost). The downstream issue is that we were hungry early in the evening, maybe even by late afternoon and embraced a place that opened early. I loved the atmosphere in this restaurant--dark, heavy wooden floors and furniture, paintings of people and places from a century ago and a wonderful view of the water, and the comings and goings there.

We opted for two fish main courses, which were both delicious and perfectly cooked, but the memorable item that we ordered was a Skagen toast--which is a traditional Swedish dish that I fell in love with and had several more times throughout the trip, but never as good as it was right here. It is buttered brioche toast that is toasted, and then a tiny shrimp salad with dill is piled on top of it (I love the tiny succulant flavorful shrimp in Norway), then a scoop or roe, a few boiled shrimp scattered atop as well, and a wedge of lemon. I could eat that every day if it was on offer. And did for the rest of the trip.

Stitched by Eli McCann

I read this as part of a reading group within my modern quilt guild. The story is that a long standing quilt guild is at the point where they have lost so many members that they are in danger of becoming non-viable. One of their members owns a quilt oriented fabric store and her long time assistant is a young gay man who is involved with an artistic boyfriend, and she invites the two of them to join. Neither of them can sew, but it turns out that the level of interpersonal drama on the one hand and the camaraderie on the other keep them coming back. My review is mixed. The good part is that the depiction of the quilting world is pretty dead on. The range of skills between various guild members is realistic, as is the friendship between unlikely people that form solely based on textile arts. That has been my experience, that a deep seated love of fibers can actually create ties that bind. The down side is that the characters are a bit underdeveloped individually, and while there are points of enjoyment, overall this was just ok.

Norway, Land of Waterfalls

We planned this trip kind of late in the game, about a month before we went, and decided on a simple trip--drive to Bergen, gateway to the famous Norwegian fjords, and back to Oslo, going on a southerly arc to Bergen and on a northerly arc to return to Oslo. It is a spectacularly beautiful route to drive (and speaking with people, the train is also quite beautiful, although holds the disadvantage that you cannot stop and enjoy a particular view or take a picture at your leisure, both of which options we exercised frequently on the drive.

There is quite a lot of water to be found everywhere--rivers, lakes, fjords, and best of all, waterfalls. They are everywhere, they are plentiful, they are gorgeous to the point of looking preternatural. I posted a reel on my social media page and someone thought it looked like AI. So if this holds appeal for you, Norway has it in exceptional measure.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

I loved this book. It is one of the short list for the Booker Prize, and having read the other 5 on that list, this is my choice for the winner. That said, while I have not read absolutely all of this author's books, I have read many of them and she is a really good fit for me. The books are emotionally on target, describing things that I relate to, both personally and as a mental health professional. She doesn't shy away from the hard stuff, and she does so in a very relatable way. The man whose head we get inside of is Artie--he is long married, has a son Rob, and is a beloved high school English teacher and seems to have a way with teens. So on the outside all looks good, but Artie is struggling with suicidal ideation and is at the point where he is thinking his way through to a plan. The story explores loneliness and existential trauma, love and meaningful connections with those around us. The book does not flinch away from some of the political challenges facing America right now, the threat to democracy and the loss of empathy that is on display for the world to see and how distressing that is for many people. This is one of the best--do not miss it.

Lisverket, Bergen, Norway

I loved this restaurant. First of all, it is in a museum, and the space is absolutely beautiful. We had a reservation that started the minute the restaurant opened, so it started off quiet, but over the course of our meal it filled up, and the sound scape was just as nice as the visual scape. On top of that they used Norwegian made glassware that was paper thin--it was so beautiful but I know we would break each and every one of them before we would get much if any use out of them. So sad and so gorgeous. But it is good to know your audience, especially when it is you. This is a Michelin one star restaurant, which is my personal sweet spot for a fancy meal, but I also read about it in one of the guide books I read while figuring what the heck to do on this trip, because the chef is a bit of a trend setter in Norwegian modern cuisine. It is run by chef/owner Christopher Haatuft and featured in New York Times 2017 as "redefining Nordic Cuisine", Lysverket presents a modern Norwegian cuisine with focus on local seafood, such as handpicked shells and dry-aged fish – but you will also find meat and seasonable vegetable dishes on the menu. The restaurant offers a 10-course tasting menu that can be combined with wine pairings, alcohol free pairings, or a bottle of wine from an extensive wine list--we opted for a more modestly priced (for Norway) cremant that the sommelier recommended, and we were very happy with it. The price of the wine pairings is double the cost of the meal. Christopher Haatuft also runs a company called MatTak together with a local gardener. Their goal is to spread knowledge about growing food and finding solutions for issues caused by climate change. The idea is to grow food on roofs throughout the city to manage the impacts of heavy rain, while at the same time provide locally sourced produce for restaurants and residents of Bergen. Lysverket uses vegetables grown locally by MatTak, which helps reduce the restaurant’s environmental impact. There were several memorable course, all featuring local proteins and seasonal vegetables, and all delicious, but the nasturtium salad was exceptionally delicious and the seafood spectacular--the oyseter underneath a pea granite was another standout. To top things off the beautiful Kode Bergen Art Museum was offering a weaving work shop that I would have loved to check out.

Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodwin

This book was long listed for the Booker Prize, and very nicely fits into the sort of book to glean that honor. It reads pretty tongue in cheek to me, and the characters are not named. Man is pretty typical of men who think they get what their privledge is but essentially are clueless. Despite his inducements to kindness, insight, fun and joy, Man is let go from his work as a university professor: his views are no longer compatible with the university’s. Later still, Wife, his spouse and also a professor at the university, leaves him. This might be because they met when he was her teacher and have since outgrown a dynamic where she is subordinate. Or because he speaks casually of hitting her during sex and of hitting her dog. Or simply because she is no longer as beautiful as she was when she was young (not that Man believes telling women they’re beautiful--not because it objectifies them but because it might go to their head). It’s difficult for him to say – all the same, he is depleted of self and purpose, and it’s clear a return to Nature is needed. This leads him to Helen and a house in the woods. While I can totally relate to this phenomena, having worked for 40 years in the workforce in general and as a university professor specifically, and this is dead on in so many ways, I just did not love it.

Roadside Public Bathrooms in Norway

I was a bit hesitant about renting an electric car in a sparsely populated country, but it was half the price of a car with gas, and lots of information on line intimated that it would not be a problem, so we went for it, and I would urge you to do the same. It was also a quarter the price of taking the train for the two of us, and we could stop whenever and whereever we wanted as an added bonus. The thing I did not think about and probably should of is the availability of public bathrooms in such a place. I have survived metastatic ovarian cancer, which entailed an extensive and lengthy abdominal surgery followed by 6 months of intrabdominal chemotherapy. Suffice it to say that I am very grateful to be a survivor over the last decade, but it did not leave me with what I would call predictable bathroom habits. At all. I do largely try to ignore it but it can be unexpectedly inconvenient and that was unfortunately the case on this trip. The truly amazing news is that public bathrooms on tiny Norwegian back roads are both surprisingly plentiful and quite modern, clean, and well equipped. It was a pleasure to use them, and every time I needed one, it was not far away to get to. As a health care worker, I know that while my reason for this is unusual, the problem is not at all, and so if you see a bit of yourself in this situation, rest assured that you can travel comfortably in Norway. Best public bathrooms in Europe. Maybe anywhere I have been.

This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage

The author was reflecting on 2026 being both America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence coinciding with the president of the United States and the GOP being openly disinterested in maintaining the republic and leaning hard into authoritarian leadership. She was guided by her perspective as a historian and fueled by her love of a good road trip, Gage sets out on a journey of epic proportions, visiting thirteen different destinations in pursuit of answering a question once posed by Benjamin Franklin, namely: Is the sun rising or setting over the republic? To that end, Gage — mostly alone, but occasionally with a travel companion in tow — traverses some of this country’s most storied places. Her objective is perhaps less to answer Franklin’s question, and more to explore why it remains one. Be aware--this is not attempting to represent a comprehensive history of the United States, nor does she deliver a one-to-one ratio of America’s best and worst. Instead, the author provides a thoughtfully curated exploration of some of America’s most poignant historic sites and a means of learning more of our past and, perhaps in the process, gaining a deeper understanding of our present and how we got here. It is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good news is that overall she emerged from this experience more hopeful than when she started. It is also a good read, more conversational than dry and academic. It is also a trip that would be a nice blueprint for a trip of your own once you are for whatever reason not tied to a job that requires you to show up on a regular basis.

Vågslidtun Hotel, Vågsli, Norway

When your vacation plan is to drive on a big circle route from Oslo to Bergen, and you want to do it in a leisurely fashion, you need to find a stopping point along the way. Norway has about 5.5 million people, and 1.1 million of them live in Oslo (so about 2 out of every 10 people)--the think is that Bergen, with a population of under 300,000 people, is the next largest town. So the other 80% of the Norwegian population is scattered across a country of 150,000 square miles. Meaning it is sparsely populated and the choices for accomodations and eating establishments are equally sparse. THe one thing you can find is a place to charge your electric car, which is a very good thing. So that is how we ended up here, at this rustic country hotel where we had the most basic room of the entire stay and balancing that out, the most spectacular view--and as my spouse pointed out, we were in the cheap seats--there were more luxurious chalets on the property with equal or better views. It is near to Hardangervidda National Park, so lots of natural beauty to be had. There is a restaurant on site, which had a good and attentive breakfast, but didn't serve dinner until 7PM, which was too late for us--but a nearby lodge served foor continuously and we got a little electricity for the car while we ate yet another simple meal for $50. They had some excellent cheese and crackers to go (another $25) that we enjoyed as well.

Switzy by Emma Cline

This was a difficult read, and that is at least partly due to the subject at hand. The main character, David, is a former business executive who was good at what he did, successful and it seems also trsuted, who has made a monumental business error, and one that he cannot quite remember the exact details of. He has what seems to be a rapidly progressing dementia, more like Lewy Body dementia that Alzheimers, and he has a care taker whose job is to keep him more or less out of trouble. It is not a 24/7/365 kind of situation, but when left to his own devices, David gets into trouble, and he cannot see his way out of it once he is there. David has elected to go to Switzerland to have euthanasia, which I know from reading Amy Bloom's memoir In Love that you have to be cognizant enough to be able to consent to the procedure. It is expensive but allows for death before all dignity is lost. David is on a farewell tour before his final act, where he first meets with his estranged daughter--she is unaware of his illness, and is encouraging to continue in work. They lack a connection, and it seems that the feelings are mutually distant. Then he meets briefly with a childhood friend who he wronged, or at least who he did not stand up for, and he wants to apologize to him, which he does. The friend has long ago forgiven him and is quite puzzled by his visit--as was I. Perhaps in the throes of forgetting the present we are haunted by past wrongs, but in any case this meet up ends with a wimper rather than a roar. The book is all told through David, so there is a fair amount of forgetting and confusion, a failure to read the social cues, and also a feeling that while he grasps what he is about to do, he is not altogether with it. The people around him back away from his confusion rather than correcting him. and it is also quite clear that this is a rich man's exit, one that is not available to most of us. It was long listed for the Booker prize, and is very much in keeping with what you might routinely find in books with that recognition. It is well written, off beat, and unusual.

Litt Kaos, Drammen, Norway

We arrived in Oslo in the early evening after a long travel day with a stop over in Franfurt. We wanted to stay outside the city, but not drive too too far that first night, and Drammen was perfect. This restaurant was a nice first meal--we had the fixed proce menu, which included a charcuterie board and five small dishes to share, and the food was well prepared and swiftly served, which suited us well. The restaurant was hopping on a Saturday night, with a couple of tables occupied when we arrived and while we ate the restaurant filled up. We each had a beer, which was pricy and also wise because the legal limit for alcohol in Norway is .02, one of the lowest in the world, and basically even one beer might be pushing it--we looked this up after we had made this choice, and decided that for the rest of the trip we would either drink or drive but not both. We stayed at a new Thon hotel, which was very nice if hard to find, with excellent parking, but it wasn't especially near the downtown area, and we were fortunate that for the rest of the trip we were mostly in a place where we did not have to drive after dinner. I would recommend this as both affordable (for Norway, where it is very challenging to eat out for less than $50 a person) and good.

Wide Sargasso Sea bu Jean Rhys

This is a Parnassus Book recommendation, and I felt slightly handicapped reading it, having not read the book which it spins off from. It is a retelling of Jane Eyre from the point of view of Mr Rochester’s first wife – the mad woman in the attic. This is an imagining of what happened to her, how she ended up with Mr. Rochester, and what went terribly wrong. The settung is Jamaica in the 1830’s, and it starts with the disturbing childhood of Antoinette (Bertha) Cosway. White descendants of slave owners, Antoinette’s family is initially impoverished after emancipation until her mother remarries. Her stepfather sets Antoinette up with a decent fortune to attract a young Englishman and the majority of the novel focusses on the deterioration of her marriage during their honeymoon--and then he puts it all in his son-in-law's hands "because I trust him". Her mother questioned the wisdom of that, leaving her daughter at her husband's command rather than retaining some control of her personal fortune, and that is the moral of the story as far as I am concerned. Never give up control of your purse strings, especially if it is not required. This is the book that revived Rhys' career, and it is an idea I would like to see pursued more often--it is common with Austen novels in every possible way, which I happen to love--and would like to see something similar with other classics.