Holy Cow! We`re in Norway!

It`s about 9:20 pm here, and we`re dragging. We just finished dinner on the harbor. Nope, no fish. We came all the way to Norway and had pizza at none other than Pepe`s Pizza! In our defense, it was really good pizza, and there are four of them here in Bergen, so there have to be some Noregians there eating too. Actually we saw a bunch of Norwegians there (and, I must admit....some were tourists. Did I mention it was really good pizza? Oh my! Chris`half was actually better than mine, but either way, it was good. They served it with "Pepe`s Special Sour Cream Sauce" and it was fab. And we had this delicious layered Oreo cookie dessert. Mmmmm....yum!

After dinner, Chris needed to use the facilities. After 2 beers and a coffee....well, it was a must. At least they don`t cost here like they do elswhere in Europe! So, he comes back and sits down and has the wierdest look on his face. He says, "I think that was the most interesting bathroom I`ve ever seen. Now, we`d seen bathrooms where the entire thing was a mural of the Dutch Seascape replete with piped in bird noises (mine had a toothbrush dispenser - his condoms) and another one where one wall was the actual facilities and the other wall was all glass looking out on the planes. Know all this, I inquired. Yep, it was true. Turns out, there was just a grate on the floor that the guys stood on, and a wall right in front of them with water running down it. He really wanted to take a picture of it, but as there were other guys in there, decided it wasn`t the best idea on earth. Cracks me up!

I left off in the A`dam airport. We had skads of time on our hands after going through passport control (you had to go through to get to the other concourse, but didn`t have to actually do customs...weird), so we window shopped. Chris was amazed at how much stuff there was to buy and how many people were buying it. But, the taxes (and prices) are greatly reduced on everything, so it actually makes sense. We decided we were hungry and hit the food court. We went with Sbarro. Yes, pizza twice in one day. We were just too tired to even think about making a decision. We were past the point of exhaustion. Before we paid for the pizza, though I noticed the chicken joint had french fries. And not the regular òle french fries, but the Belgian style fries. Pommes Frites with frites sauce and everything. So we got some and washed it all down with a yummy European Fanta (why can`t they make it the same at home? it`s so much more syrupy there. Oh my, were those fries good. Fresh, hot, and yummy!!

I forgot to mention...on our first flight, there was a screaming brat in the row in front of us. No, seriously, I mean BRAT!! He was horrible. Finally, he fell asleep. Thank God. I thought the guy ahead of him was going to blow a gasket. Then, on our flight to Bergen, there was a screaming little baby right in front of us. And by screaming, I mean top of the lungs bloody murder screaming. It`s totally Murphy`s Law for me. But, what can you do? This one was really, really little. And finally, it too fell asleep. Other than the baby, that flight was uneventful too. Except for the views. The tulip fields are in bloom, and you could spot them from the plane. Totally cool. Green, green, green, pink, red, green, green, yellow, pink. I was so glad I woke up before we took off! Then, as we landed, we got the most spectacular views of Bergen, the water, and the surrounding areas. I was giddy as I was seeing it. This was exactly what I`d been dreaming of. Sleepy little towns spilling into pristine waters. Wow! I tried to take a couple of pictures, but our plane was older and the window crappy, so I`m not sure how they`ll turn out.

We had a total Amazing Race moment on the way to our hotel. Well, it`s not a hotel so much as a house with rooms for rent, and the streets are narrow and short and you see where this is going, don`t you? Just bear in mind that whenever your cabbie asks you 3 times to look again at the address, it`s not a good thing. He ended up at one of the Hotels that had rejected us. She was actually expecting someone, but it was not us. The cabbie was clueless, so I said let`s walk from here. It was a good thing too. He never would have found it! The cab ride was also an immersion into Norwegian money. It was 326 kroners. What? 326? When you do the math (divide by 6) it`s only 50-something dollars! We found the house with just a minimum of looking (after realizing we couldn`t find the map I`d printed out to bring with).

Our place is lovely...but small. And by small, I mean a teeny tiny nook in the attic of an old house. Very Scandinavian looking. And while we are paying like $80 per night for this nook, we`re glad to do it. We have a cool room in a real house, and we`re supporting a local. Cool. We do share a common area and bathroom with a couple of other "roms." The funniest part is, it`s outfitted with Ikea, several pieces of which we have at home.

Bergen is a lovely little city. We were able to walk around a bit and get acquainted this evening. Some awesome medieval stuff. I think it`s fine, though that we`ll only be here one full day. There`s not THAT much to do!

Did I mention I dropped my camera? Yeah. when we were in Schipol, I had to take a pic of the fries, and I hit it on the bottom of the table as I was bringing it up, and the force knocked it out of my hand and on to the floor. It seemed OK, but it has been acting up a bit this evening. I`m not sure if it`s the fall or the cold (it is 37 degrees here right now). I almost forgot to mention, it was snowing when we got here. Just a little, but still, snow nonetheless. Welcome to Norway!

I already heard rumblings about there being no pictures yet. There probably won`t be until we get home. It`s just too hard to do here. So, my words will have to paint a mental picture for you!

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