You remember my trouble I had with Norwegian customs regarding my car's presence in this country? No? Have a look by clicking here.
Now it's time to bring my car home, back to Germany. Not only because the custom's permission to drive my car here is about to expire by the end of the year, but also because my car still has its summer tires on from when I brought it up here.
November seemed to be the right time for that: I'd be able to take more than just a couple of days off from work to make it my "big holidays" at home, it is my father's birthday in the end of November and especially it would be the 20th Beneficial Dance-Show of my jazz-dance group where I used to dance before moving to Norway.
So, I contacted the shipping company ColorLine which offers the connection Oslo-Kiel and which I used also for bringing my car up in April 2009. Our company being agent for ColorLine, I managed to get pretty good rates for a simple standard cabin plus car and so I booked my trip from Oslo to Kiel on Thursday 11/11.
For getting back to Oslo I booked a flight on Sunday 21/11 with Norwegian Airlines.
As mentioned in an earlier post, since last winter my car's battery isn't anymore the best; it starts suffering quite a lot with temperatures around and of course below 0°C. Plus, my car isn't moved too much here in Oslo.
In order to avoid my car's battery going totally flat right before leaving - that's the last thing I'd need - I had been driving it several times in the past weeks: the transfers to/from Torp Airport in Sandefjord with Moritz and Audrey, to IKEA and sometimes aimlessly alone around the town of Oslo. Just to make my car start the day of departure with the ferry!
For not wasting the battery I already didn't move the car in front of my door to load it. However, the day of departure I just had it running for a couple of kilometres, just from my apartment to the ColorLine Terminal. There, however, I had to switch off the motor again while waiting to go on board. I so much hoped that this short drive didn't do any harm to the battery and that my car would start for driving onto the ferry.
YES... it DID! Of course, I still had to pray that the car would also start another time upon arrival in Kiel in order to leave the ferry again... Well, we'll see. At least I'm on board now, ready to leave with my car to Germany. I went up to my cabin...
...before then preparing to go out on deck to observe the ferry's departure from Oslo.
Leaving Oslo via the Oslofjord.
Nearly 1,5 hours after leaving the harbour of Oslo, we pass the little village of Drøbak on the one side with Oscarsborg Fortress on the other side. I had untertaken a little excursion to that place for my birthday end of September [click here].
I spent nearly all the way down the Oslofjord until Drøbak out on deck; I just loved observing the landscape while sliding with the big ferry through the fjord. But by the moment we reached Drøbak and Oscarsborg it became freezingly cold... and I finally went in.
I first walked a bit around on board and through the shops.
Afterwards I watched some TV in my cabin and had some of the food I prepared for the long trip. Later on I took my laptop and went up on the 15th floor, the top floor, and sat down on the sofa in the library-style lounge on the "Observation Deck". Here I really felt the wind outside hitting with a lot of power the sides of the ferry.
Somewhat around 11 p.m. I went back to my cabin, read a little in my book and went to sleep.
After a good night sleep on board we eventually arrived the next morning at 09:30 a.m. in Kiel.
And yes, my car made it also off the ferry :-)
So now it meant to fuel, check the pressure of the tires and finally head all the way southwards back home: 550 km.
On my way I passed Hamburg, Bremen, Osnabrück, Münster, Dortmund and then in Düsseldorf I wasn't anymore far away from home (Cologne, Bonn and then Meckenheim).
I really do love driving. It was just nice to have the music all loud in the car and drive through Germany... on German highways!!! ...and not on Norwegian non-existing highways with speed limits of max. 100 km/h... :-)
I would have made the whole distance within something around 5 hours, but unfortunately I met some traffic on the way. By 6 p.m. I was finally home! What a long trip!
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