Rick`s got three strikes, but he`s not out yet

It seemed as thought the travel Gods were against us in Oslo. We got up early, dropped our bags at the train station (in the meantime, I delted the awesome pics I`d taken of our hell-hole hostel this morning. guess it wasn`t meant to be...we think I got one yesterday, though) and headed to the sculpture park, and it was cold again. Did I mention it was WARM yesterday? I contemplated wearing my Chacos for shoes today. Good think I didn`t. It started misting as we entered the park and got worse from there. Wouldn`t you know it? The park was nice. There weren`t as many sculptures as I expected. Rating-wise, I`d give it a just OK. I am glad we saw it, but I`m not sure why people rave on and on about it. It would probably be more enjoyable if we had more leisurely time, but we had a lot to see today! And see we did.

We went out to the Ski Jump, and it was literally socked in and getting worse by the minute. We could only see a few feet in front of our faces. But, we`d bought the Oslo Pass and the entrance was included, so we forged ahead up the jump tower. Look up effort in futility in the dictionary, and you`ll find a picture of us today. It was ridiculous! It jost got worse the further up we got. We could see the start of the jump and that`s it. Oh well, at least we saw something. We did get something of an idea of how high and how big it is. I`m not sure how ski jumpers do it!

So, we headed back into town. I was thinking today, you know you`re a backpacker when you carry a day-pack so you can have food with you and not have to pay $15 for hot dogs. That was us. On the subway ride back, we broke out the lunch. Big crackers with cheese and some cookies for dessert. Doesn`t sound like much, but man that cheese is good. And don`t worry, we supplemented.

We saw several elementarry age classes on the trains today. I was thinking how much easier it much be for them to take class trips when they don`t have to hire a bus and driver to get everywhere. They just all hop on the trains. And they were so well behaved! As it was lunch time, several of them cracked out the food. Now, I know open-faced sandwiches are all the rage over here, but it never occured to me that that`s what kids would carry in their lunch. Once little girl pulled out two open faced sandwiches. Made me giggle! Just stick those together and make a sandwich out of them! They`d be much easier to eat!

We went down to the docks and had a few mintues to spare before getting on the ferry to the museums, so we wandered. We`d read that you can buy fresh shrimp by the bag. They weren`t kidding (both Rick and frommer`s)! For about $10, we got .5 kilo (have no idea what that is in English!). Oh my gosh! They were amazing! We ate them on the ferry ride over. Holy yum! Some had a bunch of stuff in them. We weren`t sure if it was eggs or dirt, but they came off with the shell, so we decided it was shrimp caviar and went with it!

The Folk Museum was super interesting. Only a couple of houses were open, but still it was cool. My main gaol in going there was seeing the stave chruch. I knew it was my only chance to see one. They`re wooden churches built hundreds of years ago in a special style and pay homage to the Viking history of the area. WOW!! Totally worth the price of admission. Except for the French tourists who wouldn`t go away. They were everywhere! We were running behind, so we just walked around a bit and headed over to the ships.

We had to skip the Con-Tiki and the Fram, but we went to the Viking Ship Museum, and are we glad we were! Holy awesome. There were several ships, two of them large, and it was just amazing. Their we were plagued by Japanese tourists again, but no matter, we were lost in the beauty and awesomeness of it all!

We actually had to run to get the ferry. There we are in all of our tourist glory, camera in hand, running down the streets of this old, lovely section of town. The workmen doing renovations on all of the houses had to be guffawing at us. I would have! Good thing we ran too. The ferry stopped only long enough for us to hop on. Meanwhile, I decided to take one last picture, and dropped my lens cap. I could only watch as it rolled into the bay. Lovely.

We rushed to the train station, got some groceries for another picnic onboard, grabbed our gear and rushed off to the train. And here we are in Stockholm. And thank goodness. We`re excited to be here. We can`t wait to see what this city has to offer tomorrow. It can only get better!

I wouldn`t say Olso`s my favorite city on earth

You know, when you`re traveling like we are, basically backpacking across Scandinavia, there are bound to be bad moments. We`ve had so many good ones, so many things have gone right, even better than right....better than we could have expected, that something would have to go wrong. That thing would be Oslo. First of all....first of all, I`ve been to a lot of cities in my short life, and I have very rarely felt unsettled walking through their streets. Today I felt that...a lot. Even with my big, scary husband walking beside me, I felt a little nervous. Even he felt a little nervous.

Never in my life have I seen so many drugged out junkies and miscreants in one small place (and remember, I lived in the Netherlands!). We should have known. Rick says this is where the, "troubled youth" go to try to fit in...or to find others like them. That should have been a tip-off. Troubled youth is commie liberal speak for a whole city full of drunks and drug-heads. (and by the way, this is from a man who said on his blog last week that he`s always suprised to meet a nice Republican. humph! and he`s the one who talks about keeping an open mind)

Apparently the area around the station is a hotbed of activity. The city powers-that-be knows there are skads of drug deals going on (and the remnants of said deals) and decided rather than round up the offenders, they`d look the other way on soft(ish) drugs. But, they do have cameras up to keep an eye on things. Yeah, that makes me feel better. I`m probably painting a worse picture than reality, but I do have to say that never in my life have I felt like I`m receiving so many unsettling looks. I constantly feel like I`m going to be mugged. So does Chris. It`s weird. Maybe it`ll be better tomorrow. Oh wait, I know it`ll be better tomorrow...we are going to Stockholm.

That`s another sore subject. Anyone who knows me at all knows how throughly I research these trips. It`s fun for me. I missed a small little detail. The overnight train to Stockholm doesn`t run every night. Specifically not on Tuesday nights. So, we have to leave here at 3:48 tomorrow. We arrive in Stockholm at 11:00 pm. Great. At least we`ll be in Stockholm. I already emailed the Hostel and asked if they had room. It sounds like they do. That`s a plus. At least we`ll be able to sleep on the train.

We`re staying at a Hostel here in Oslo. The Anker Hostel. As I mentioned earlier, I`ve been to a number of cities, and I`ve stayed in quite a few hostels. I`d have to say, hands down, the Anker Hostel is the worst I`ve stayed in yet. Blech. Rick calls it something akin to a bomb shelter. That`s putting it nicely. Doesn`t it look nice in the picture on their home page? Looks can be deceiving. The entrance isn`t that bad, but once you go around the corner to the staircase? Egads! Dirty, dingy, and downright nasty. But, it`s only one night.

After getting to the hostel, getting checked in (and changed, it`s way warmer here...I saw a bunch of people in shorts today), visiting the Tourist Information Office (ti), talking to the ticket people about the lack of a train, getting online to check for flights to Stockholm (about $287 for both of us), and visiting the TI again, we finally got out into the city. We did Rick`s walking tour. I`m gonna have to say, Rick`s stock has gone down slightly on this trip. The tour? Not so easy to follow. We were starving, so in the middle of it, we stopped at a McDonald`s.

It was quite literally the worst Mickey D`s on earth. The food was horrible. Wretched, even. I had a cheeseburger. Seriously, their cheeseburgers rock! Mine sucked. Blech. Chris had chicken nuggets. He said they were like rubber pellets. And, they were doing some remodeling upstairs. What a mess! But, you had to go through it to get to the WC (bathroom - when I asked for a rest room, the worker girl tried to sell me ice cream!). I visited it twice, lucky me - my tummy wasn`t happy. I think all of the carbs & coke (but more often Fanta) coupled with the earlier stress sent it reeling. As we were thankfully leaving, I noticed a sign. It said that this was the first MickeyD`s opened in Oslo (or Norway for that matter) back in 1983. Yeah, the food tasted like it had been there that long.

We recommenced the walking tour and saw a bunch of stuff as the sun set. Got some great pictures of said stuff and finally abandoned the tour. We just didn`t care anymore. After the hostel, the train situation, and the junkies on quite literally every corner, we wanted something easy for dinner. And what to our wondering eyes should appear? Yep......Hard Rock Cafe. So we went in. And we had nachos. And we paid $6 for my  not-even-full glass of Coke and $10 for Chris`awesome milkshake. And we listened to Aerosmith and Red Hot Chili Peppers. And it was good.

When the bill came, it was 254 kroners. I looked at the bottom of the bill and got excited. I tought they`d converted it to American dollars (it is the Hard Rock after all, and while it was started in London, they were Americans). But, I was wrong. It was in Euros. In Euros, the price wasn`t so bad. Too bad that had to be converted. (btw, to convert divide the kroners by 6, that`s a rough estimation) Chris just looked up the official conversion. Dinner was $42, and we SHARED the nachos! And he didn`t want to go to Australia because it was too expensive!

Tomorrow will be a better day. There are actually some things I want to see here. The ski jump, the Folk Museum, the Viking Ship museum, and the sculpture park. I hope we can get it all in! I haven`t talked about Aurland and how totally awesome it was and our trip from Flåm to Oslo today and how spectacular it was. Yes! There actually was some good stuff today. It was just all before we got to Oslo. It`s off to bed for now, though. We`ve got an early start tomorrow (good thing Chris slept for 2+ hours on the train today!)

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

This is Bobbi... and here are pics of the kids  at Tulsa International Airport... the beginning of this journey. And yes, I got a parking ticket at the airport! Don't you all think Jamie should pay for it??!! I'm not as mad about the ticket as I am about not being able to talk the guy out of it!

                                        

Dear Mom, thanks for the boots

It`s cold. Seriously cold. Last night, as we were walking home from the internet cafe, I felt one little plop of rain on my head. It didn`t start in earnest until after we got back (that would be after getting a tad confused on the umpteen billion switchbacks up to our place and declining the invitation to "party" with some college students - I know, what an old fogey thing to do, but we were sooooooo tired, and we still had to pack and get up early (pre-seven for me!) Anyway, the rain hasn`t stopped since. It`s kind of a Seattle rain, only it`s cold. And by cold, I mean C-O-L-D. Numb your fingertips cold.

Today, we did the first half of Norway in a Nutshell. That`s a train, bus, boat, train trip from Bergen to Oslo. You only get to see two little fjords out of the kabajillions in Norway, but they`re renowned as the best. Our train left at 8:40 and we had to get our Eurail Passes validated, thus the early start. On the way, it rained. Brrrrrrr. And, Chris broke his water bottle. It was one of my Life is Good, Nalgene water bottles. If anyone could break something so indestructible, it`s my bull-in-a-china closet huband. We could only laugh. The girl at the train office (yes, they were open) was unsure of what to do with us. I don`t  think many people use Bergen as a starting point. But, she was totally helpful and got us going.

We took the train to a small town called Voss. Unfortunately, it rained the whole time and we couldn`t get very many good pictures out the window. Had it been summer and warm, I would have rolled down the window and shot out of it. As I`ve mentioned, though it`s most certainly not summer and in no way warm, so we just sat back and enjoyed. Upon arrival in Voss, we were immediately ushered onto a bus. I only had time for one (or two) pictures!

The bus ride to Gudvangen was unbelievable! Seriously gorgeous scenery. I now know why nothing is open until May 1. There were feet of snow everywhere! In fact, we saw a bunch of people on their way to go skiing. I can`t really put into words how awesome it was. We stopped at a mountaintop resort (that`s closed still) for pictures. I think it was called Stalheim. Holy wow! It was even better than the bus ride! The views of the beginning of the fjord and the mountain were just unbelieveable.

The bus dropped us off at Gudvangen, which seemed like more of a boat stop with a few places to stay than a town. We walked around taking a few pictures. Now, we were actually on a fjord. I`ve been dreaming of this for I don`t know how long.

We snapped a few and boarded the boat, afraid we might miss it. All of a sudden, we were innundated by a large tour group (I`ll let you guess at the nationality). We tried to ignore them, but it quickly became painfully obvious that it would be a difficult task. No matter, we were about to tour around not one, but two fjords! Take the train ride and the bus ride, put them together and mulitply by like 50 kabajillion, and you don`t even begin to get to the awesomeness of the boat ride. It was truly surreal for me. I`d been dreaming and planning and thinking about doing this for so long, the fact that we were actually there doing it, seeing it was overwhelming.

Even though it was quite literally freezing and raining, and yes, snowing, Chris and I stayed outside for the whole ride (expect to grab hot dogs, beer, & Fanta and wolf them down...we were starving! nothing is open in this country on Sunday morning!). We were among a very few. The tour group started out inside (many with their backs to the windows - we didnt`t get it), came outside to feed the seagulls and take pictures of them, took a few pics of the fjord and proceed back inside. I can`t be happier that we stayed out. We saw some absolutely amazing scenery, and hopefully got some fabulous pictures. I could go on and on about how wonderful it was!

Now, we are in Flåm. We are going to take a walk here in the countryside and then take either the bus or the boat to Åurland where we are staying tonight. This is seriously cool. Seriously.l

Oh, and did I mention it`s cold?

Which cheese goes best with reindeer?

As uttered by my husband today in the 7-eleven. We were trying to find a cheese to go with the reindeer meat we bought at the market this morning. Turns out it was a salami-ish reindeer meat. We had an over processed cheese with red pepper and tomato bits in it with the salami-ish reindeer and we ate it on fresh bread from a bread store. Excellent picinic we had, topped off with a cinnamon roll that had sugar over the top instead of frosting. And, all of the breads were more sweet than we`re used to. Very, very yummy. But, I`m getting ahead of myself.

We started the day off lazily. We`d intended to get up around 7:45, and I actually woke up long before then, but Chris was sleeping so soundly and was having a hard time waking up, so I let him sleep for an extra hour or so. I finished reading my book (The 5th Horesman by James Patterson - very good), and by the time he got up, I was ready to go. We hit the fish market. Apparently, it used to be a huge fish market, but these days it`s more stuff for the tourists and less fish. Don`t get me wrong, there were still awesome fish stands, but only 3 of them.

The tourist stands were interesting. We actuall bought a couple of things. A Christmas ornament that looks like the front of a Viking ship, and a bauble for Bob (see, I didn`t forget!). We passed by a fur stand. And by fur, I mean pelts straight of the back of local animals. The one they had the most of was seal. Wow! What a wonderful feeling fur. I found myself feeling bad that it was no longer on the back of a super cute little seal, but they are in abundance here, and probably think of them like we would.....well, I`m not sure what we`d think of, but there`s got to be something. The craziest thing was the full wolf skin, replete with face (minus the eyes, of course...it was only the pelt, after all) and feet. Yes, the feet were still on it, and it was hanging by them. And, to tell the truth, it was creepy. Now, we all know I have no problem with the hunting, but these are things I`m not used to seeing, and it was creepy!

At one of the fish stands, we had a sample of salmon caviar. Yum! I think I liked it more than chris. I felt badnot buying anything after the guy gave us the taste. He had a sign announcing the 7 languages spoken at his booth, so I know it was quite touristy, but still. Never fear, on the other end of the stand, we found salmon sandwiches. Yum!! It was fresh (swimming around yesterday, in my mouth today) and tasty. Smoked salmon (raw, but that`s cool) on bread with some sort of spread. As Rachael Ray would say, Yum-o! We`d also gotten grapes at one of the booth and drank a Norwegian beer with it all. So, at not quite 11:00 in the morning, there we sat, salmon, beer, and grapes. It was perfect!

We were originally on our way to the local TI (the tourist information office, the saving grace of tourists in Europe), so we headed that way after our "breakfast," but not without a detour back to the room to get our Eurail passes. oops! No worries, though. When we came back, the girl who helped us get set up for Norway in a Nutshell tomorrow also told us about an event going on today that would have a parade of drummers at 2:00. I doubt our original helper would have told us about it, and it ended up being very cool. But again, I digress.

We deemed it necessary to see some sort of museum. There are tons here, and the local regular arts museum is HUGE!! So, we went to the Hanseatic Museum. Very interesting. The Hanseatic section of Bergen Dates from the 1300s and is called Brygge (or something close to that). It was where a group of German traders ran business (some small, some large) trading the local catch of fish (mainly cod) here and in other areas of Europe. They were based in Lubeck (yep, been there!), and were here until the mid-1700s when the locals took over the trade. It was fascinating. There were several beds in cabinets (literally) in the upper floors where they also did the business end of things, and the bottom floor was where they took care of the fish. Dried Cod, mostly. Not an attractive fish, if you ask me!

We finished at the museum just in time to head over to the "parade." There is a large open area in the middle of the downtown shopping district. It`s long and wide and has a fountain with reliefs depicting local life. I commented yesterday that it would be the perfect place for a bunch of good Socialists to march. Whaddaya know? That`s where they were marching. We weren`t sure exactly what was going on, but there was a lot of drumming and marching and wee little boys carrying crosses. After they passed us, we moved on ahead a little, and caught up to them. There, I was trying to take a picture and oops! I bumped into a lady (just a little, I promise!). She turned aournd and said something to me in Norwegian after I said sorry. Most people here get that we`re American after just one word and immediately start speaking English (a little unnerving at times, if you ask me!). This lady, not so much, so I said, "Oh, I`m sorry, I`m American, I don`t understand." She just looked at me for a moment and then turned away. Another moment later, she turned back and started talking to me. What a boon! She told me all about what was going on and even pushed me closer to the action to get better pictures (yes, literally pushed me. I have a tendancy to want to stay back in not get in people`s way to get pictures. I am only a hobbyist, after all). I`m glad she did push me, I got some fabulous shots. It turns out that this was the 150th anniversary of a local drum corps. Many of the areas of town have these corps that the boys join when they are quite small ( I swear some were 5). When they are old enough, they start drumming, and when they are 20, they have to quit drumming. They`re still members, but they don`t drum any more. On Saturdays (and somtimes Sundays - they had to make special groups for the families that worked on Sat.), you will see (and more imporatantly hear) them marching all over town. The crosses the little boys were carrying were not crosses at all, but pretend bows, and on their hips they wore a quivver painted in the corps`colors. It was all very cool.

The thing that cracked me up the most was that if they march in the streets, the cars are required to stop for them. I guess they don`t use the sidewalks because they`re too narrow? Whatever the reason, each of the three corps we saw today were in the street (we assume the 3 we heard but didn`t see were the same way). The gal I spoke to was from Bergen originally and now lives in Oslo. She was here for the weekend to help tie up ends from her brother moving into a nursing home. That stuff was finished, so now she was just enjoying. She was so kind...explained the whole thing to me!

After spending waaaay to much time at the parade, we headed back to Brygge and wound our way through the old buildings. They are painted fun colors and crooked and leaning and house lots of interesting shops. We didn`t stop in many because, what do we need? But we did stop in one and bought a poster of the harbor. Very cool. Can`t wait to hang it on the wall.

We intended to go up the funicular, but I remember there was a church I wanted to get a picture of after the parade, and got so into things I plum forgot. Even thought it was on the completely opposite side of town, we headed over. On the way, we wandered into a paper store. Anyone surprised? Anyway, how knew that out the back door was a 5 story mall? I can tell you who, the teenagers. No matter what country you`re in, you can find the teenagers at the mall! We looked around a bit, but didnt`t want to buy anything, so we headed on.

The gal told me that was the University section, and we could really tell the difference. We stopped for a hot dog (more like a sausage, really) at 7-eleven. We have seen no less than 6 of them, including the one in the airport. Guess just `cuz you don`t see them in OK anymore, that doesn`t mean a thing! Let me tell you, it was a great hot dog! We also stopped at a local bread chain, Godt Bread. We both got a pastry (guess you dont`t call them a Danish in Norway) that the girl told us was almond flavored. I guess raisin in Norwegian translates into almond in English. There was no kind of almond in them, and tons of raisns. Blech. I hated it. Should have gone with the carrot cake I originally wanted. But, the church (outside only) was interesting, and we saw a little more of the city (including yet another 7-eleven).

We headed over to the train station to get our Rail Passes validated. Didn`t really need to, just thought it would be one less thing to do tomorrow. Our train leaves at 8:40, and we`re already going to have to get up earlier than Chris would like on vacation (or not on vacation, really!). The stinking station was closed! It was 6:00, and the ticket office was closed. The stinkers! The trains still ran, but you could only buy the tickets from an electronic stand. Oh well, at least we got to see even more of the city!

We finally made it to the funicular up the "mountain." Wow! It was definitely worth the money! What a view over the whole city and harbor. My lens cap slipped out of the bag and off the viewing platform. Thankfully, my knight in shining armor when down through a blocked off area and retrieved it for me (not that I wouldn`t have done it myself, but I was glad I didn`t have to). We walked around a bit, enjoying the gift shop and the super-sized troll before venturing into the forsest a bit. We didn`t go far, but it was gorgeous. We found some trolls carved out of trees and strolled around them. Totally relaxing and fun. We took a ton of pictures of and with them!

We tried to eat at the restaurant at the top of the hill. Ricky recommended it; but it was closed and some well-helled party was making it`s way there. So, down we went. But, not before some rude teenagers decided to not respect the que (that`s Chris`s latest catch phrase) and got the front seat. Grrrrrrr.  We were hungry by this point. Seriously hungry. So, we went to one of the restaurants Ricky recommended. We wanted to try whale. When we finally found it, it was closed. And by closed I mean never openeing again. Darn it! I was really, really hungry, and tired, and my back hurt. So we headed for another restaurant. On the way, we tried to stop at a couple of others, but we couldn`t figure them out (and they had things in English), so we forged ahead....all the way back to the base of the funicular. Which wasn`t where the restaurant was! AAAARRRGGHHHH!!! We were only a couple of streets off, though and we found it without too much effort (a little, but not too much....the addresses are crazy here. they stop on one side of the street, but continue on the other. so, it may be number 20 on one side and number 5 on the other. it`s acutally logical, but not when you`re used to things the way  we do the).

Dinner was fabulous. We totally blew the budget on it, but didn`t care one iota. It was awesome. We shared a smoked salmon appetizer, Chris had reindeer for dinner, I had pan-fried halibut, and we shared apple cake for dessert. Again, yum-o! We even drank wine! Me, I actually drank more than one glass of wine. It was Italian from Puglia, and it even got better as the meal wore on. Wow! Oh, and the waiter was outstanding. We`ve met some wonderful people here. They don`t appear outwardly friendly, but all you have to do is talk to them, and their awesome!

So here we are in another internet cafe. Chris is waiting for me (some might call it impatiently). We`re headed back to the room for him to shower, some packing, and sleepy-time. The alarm rings way too early tomorrow (he has to get up earlier than he does for work).

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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You are delaying your flight

We had quite an auspicious beginning to our adventure. First, Bob came in with us to take pictures in the airport. Apparently she was away from her car for longer than 3 minutes because when she looked up from the snapping, she was getting a ticket. She never came back in, but was out there talking to the guy for a few minutes. I can't wait to hear what happened and if her connection to the head of the airport police got her out of it.

We got all checked in (Chris' bag weighed 36 pounds, whereas my bag weighed only 23. The counter guy was quite amused that mine weighed less!) and proceeded to security, whereupon we were hereded back out of security. We still don't know what was going on, but men with guns told everyone to exit the area, and they shut all of the doors. The TSA agents said they didn't even know what was going on, but that they'd let us in as soon as possible. Some people had to leave all of their stuff on the conveyor belts - including their shoes! Holy cow! Let me just say, I can't believe the nerve of some people. They were so extremely rude to the TSA guys (who were surprisingly pleasant). On woman was virtually yelling at them to find out what was going on and inform us, and some guy was going off on rants about how the airports are publicly funded. I never figured out his point, but let's just say he was a pain in the you-know-what!

We really didn't have to wait that long and finally headed to the gate. Which, I promise is the worst gate in the history of gate-dom. I pronounced it the redheaded step-child of gates. Cracked myself up! I'm pretty sure it used to be the smoking lounge. Needless to say, I couldn't wait there. Our flight to Memphis was uneventful. Always a good thing. Had a little layover, and ate some barbeque. We decided, "When in Memphis....." Chris got a 1/2 rack of ribs. I thought they were awesome. He said they weren't the best ribs he'd ever had. (counting these, he's had ribs 4 times, all within the last month). I can't remember the name of the place, but I'd seen it on one of those travel channel shows. Jim sombody's Interstate barbecue. Yum!

So right now, we are in Amsterdam. Over the loudspeakers we keep hearing, "So-and-so, you are delaying your flight." Cracks us up. Our flight from Memphis was OK. It was definitely better than the Air France flight! Not too hard to do, though. We sat next to a nice gent, Bruce. Chatted with him a bit. The seats seemed to have more room than most, but it still wasn't enough. Chris and both squirmed our way through the night. I'd say we each got about 3 hours sleep. We're both suprisingly pleasant for so little sleep (and no coffee for Chris). We watched The Incredibles on the way over. NWA (that's Northwest Airlines, not the rap group that I first thought of) has the handy personal selection system. So, we tried to watch the movie together. Somehow I kept stopping mine and having to restart the entire movie from the beginning and then fast forward it. Grrrrrr!!!! Finally, mercifully, I just fell asleep.

I'd forgotten what a nice airport Schipol is. Tons and tons and tons of shopping. There's a "deli" that is really a true deli! They had samples of salmon and cheese out. Yum!! We kind of wanted to buy some cheese, but really, what's the point? Being here reminds me just how much I loved the Netherlands. I wanted to tack on a couple of days here at the end of the trip, but there just wasn't a good way to do it. Guess we'll have to come back. I think we should do one of those apartment rental things. Very cool.

Another funny over the loudspeaker, "Attention. Smoking is prohibited in Schipol Airport....except in bars and restaurants." Cracks us up...the bars and restaurants are all open air, right out in the middle of everything. Chris really wants to try one of the sushi bars or check out the Casino. We shall see.