Back in Oslo

Our trip has concluded--returning to Oslo was our final destination on this trip! And here we are. We've eaten our last bowl of Norwegian soup, drank our last overpriced drink, and are headed to bed for an early night so that we can be well-rested for tomorrow's trip home. We'll catch an early cab tomorrow morning to the airport, which takes about an hour, and catch an 11:30 a.m. flight which will land in Newark at around 2:00 p.m. EST.

There's no wireless internet service at this hotel (I'm using the community computer in the lobby) so I can't post any more pictures at this point. But trust me, there are hundreds. And many will be posted as soon as possible.

I've loved this trip but I am ready to go home. I'm so excited to be back home in my normal routine! I hope tomorrow's trip is easier and faster than the trip was 12 days ago to get here!

Off the Beaten Path

Bergen has been my favorite Norwegian city, with Stavanger at a close second. The people, the buildings, the cleanliness of the city itself, the nightlife, the food, the daily activities, the shopping, and most of all the scenery have been fabulous this entire vacation. Bergen was the perfect place to bring all those things together for a final four days in my new favorite city in the world.

It is 10:30 a.m. and our train has just departed from the Bergen train station. It is supposed to be one of the top 20 train rides in the world because of its scenic route across the center of the country back to Oslo. (Too bad I am slightly hung-over and will probably be sleeping or in a daze for the majority of the way.) We are headed back to Oslo and are expected to arrive in 6.5 hours, at which time we’ll check into our hotel and probably wander around the city for a while before sitting down to our last dinner in Norway. We’ve already decided that we’re going to eat at the same restaurant where we ate during our first 2 days in Oslo. It’s got the most delicious Norwegian fish soup, which is like a really exquisite version of American New England Clam Chowder. It’s so yummy and I can’t wait to have it again. This is a popular soup in Norway, and only last night did we eat the “real thing”—Bergen Fiskeballer (fish ball soup.) My dad has told us of Fiskeballer many times and we’ve been so eager to try the real thing in its place of origin, but until last night we’d been eating some other rendition of it—a similar cream-based soup with scallops, mussels, shrimp and even salmon—but the real Bergen Fish Soup contains ball-shaped pieces of Cod. Last night, in a tiny quaint restaurant in the row of old, wooden buildings on the brygge in Bergen, my dad ordered a cup of fish soup, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was, in fact, authentic Bergen Fiskeballer. We all ate a “ball” and it was delicious! We also ate about 8 pieces of bread each, dipping and wiping up the very last drops of it!

The shopping in Bergen was fun, too. Cheryl and I had been shopping in Stavanger, which was a bit more convenient because the shops were close to our hotel. In Bergen, the shops were quite a distance from both our hotel and the restaurant where we had to meet our family for dinner at 6:30 last night. At 6:00 we were headed over to the little shopping strip in hopes of finding something to wear to Metro, one of the young nightclubs in town. We picked up a few things, and I left a pair of pants there that I wanted, but Cheryl advised me that it was a financially irresponsible decision. I partly agree with her, and partly hate myself for not getting them when I had the chance! Most likely, they’ll have the same store in Oslo and I can track them down there. Otherwise, I’m going to order them online as soon as I get back to the States. They’re these satiny Princess Jasmine-looking pants with the cuffs at the ankles and everything. A lot of people here wear that style pant, and at first I didn’t like the look of it at all, but now I can’t help to think that maybe it would look cute! So I tried them on in the fitting room last night and they do look cute…with flip flops and a tank top, it’ll be an adorable look. I must have them!

After our dinner last night, Cheryl and I went back to the hotel room and packed our bags for our travels this morning, and then headed out to SjØboden (“Sea Place”) for a little pre-game nightclub experience. It was a little neighborhood-y place with locals dancing and live music. This building was probably 500 or 600 years old: its rafters were not very high above the heads of the musicians on the tiny wooden stage! ( Bergen is over 1000 years old, with some buildings we saw on the trip dating back to the 1100’s and earlier.) Picture a 3-man Irish band, singing and dancing and laughing and drinking beer up on stage in a tiny Irish Pub. Now swap the red hair for blonde hair, change the funny Irish accent into a funnier Norwegian accent, and switch the Guinness in the singer’s hand for a Hansa and that’s what this little band was like. Everyone in the bar was swinging their hips or tapping their feet, singing along to the 90’s American and folksy Norwegian music, and it was, to coin the term, a jolly good time. These men here seem to have no fear of rejection when it comes to dancing (or offering sex to me, for that matter—but that’s another story.) Arm outstretched, they’ll point to you and then curl their finger towards them in a gesture for you to join them where they are standing on the dance floor. As a shy American girl with two left feet in a foreign place, I originally was reluctant to join each man on the tiny dance floor for all to see, but I couldn’t very well turn someone down like that when it really did look like fun, so I got up there. Cheryl and I both had the experience of dancing with quite a wild animal of a man! He was heavy set and a jolly, chubby-faced man who could really work the dance floor! We were swung left and right, dipped down, and taken for quite a rollercoaster ride! After a few dances and beers, we decided to take these shakin’ booties elsewhere. That’s when we headed over to Metro. The music went from Norwegian folk music and old-school American singalongs to Flo Rida and Mary J. Blige. That’s when we got our grind on with the younger locals. We also met a girl, Lene, who sat and talked with us for close to an hour, probably, right there in the club on one of the little orange leather sofas, about Norway and America and the similarities and differences between the two such as the people’s attitudes, exchange rate, weather, and college life; we talked about Hilary versus Obama, boys, fashion, everything. She was adorable! We told her how much we love Norway, and she could hardly understand why. America seems glamorous to her, and Norway seems to be such a natural beauty to us. She visits California often, and we Facebook’d her after we’d gotten back to the hotel to make sure we stay in touch—“maybe our paths will cross again” is what Cheryl wrote to her.

During the day yesterday we rented bikes from a local bike shop and went on a ride around Bergen, to what seemed like the furthest stretches of the city. We rode by the university where Erika stopped to talk to some of the students and Dad went in to talk to some people about his leadership seminar in CEMS. We rode up and down hilly streets where I was about “this close” to flipping out because my crotch hurt form the bike seat and I was sweaty and very tired (also slightly hung-over again), and I kept getting separated from the group because they’re such speed racers and kept changing direction! It was actually quite fun, though. I love bike-riding and sightseeing and this combined the two and allowed us to cover more ground than just walking. We saw beautiful views of Bergen from different angles, and rode up little alleyways and through a beautiful park.

The day before, we took the funicular tram car to the top of the mountain in Bergen where there is a fabulous view of the city and surrounding towns, peninsulas, islands and fjords as far as the eye could see. That day we did more souvenir shopping and window shopping because things are SO expensive here. I found a beautiful black wool coat that I could just die for, but it was like $600 USD and that’s just ridiculous. But I felt like a movie star—no, a princess—in this coat. I bought a few small things for people at home, but not much for myself because just having been here and experiencing this beautiful country is souvenir enough—no trinket or tee shirt or coat could ever represent to me this wonderful vacation. I bought a Bergen magnet for myself, justifying my purchase because this was my favorite city and I just adored the little scenic town. My real souvenir will be the scrapbook that I make out of all the pictures, brochures, stickers and ticket stubs I’ve collected along the way.

The most fabulous part of staying in Bergen was the cruise to the fjords. The fjords are quite a distance from the city of Bergen itself, but it was from there that we departed for the cruise. I have seen the countryside, cities, coast and islands of Italy, the Grand Canyon, the East and West coasts of the United States; I’ve seen the mountains of Canada, the cities and countryside of England, France, the canals of Amsterdam, the Australian Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, and now much of the coast and largest cities in Norway, and I have yet to see something more spectacular than the Norwegian fjords. I have nothing to which to compare the fjords to describe their beauty, and I have pictures that won’t ever do them justice, but I have seen them with my own eyes and can say that I have truly seen a Wonder of the world. I want to come back some day, but next time add a visit to the Arctic Circle on June 21, my birthday and the Summer Solstice, the longest day of sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere, and sit and watch midnight come and go with the sun still up in the sky. I think that would be spectacular. Then I want to come back and see the Northern Lights in the winter.

Stavanger is the last city I need to write about in this post, because I think I wrote about Kristiansand last, and that came just before Stavanger. Kristiansand was not that great. I probably think so because of the events in the days before and after our visit there that it seems so disappointing. We wished after staying in Kristiansand that we’d stayed in Grimstad instead. Stavanger was my second favorite place we visited on this vacation. It was smaller than Bergen, but very similar. In fact, we made references to restauarants we wanted to back to or stores we wanted to revisit in Bergen that were actually back in Stavanger. We’ve been to so many places in these last 12 days that it’s hard to keep track of where we were and when! Stavanger is where the shops were near our hotel and they were awesome! The little wharf is similar to that in Bergen, but about 2/3 the size. I was sick the first day in Stavanger and missed the first day of sightseeing, which was the Geneology Museum (yawn.) I didn’t miss anything, anyway. We didn’t find anything about our relatives there. That afternoon we visited the old part of Stavanger with the tiny little houses and the narrow cobblestone streets. That’s where the picture of Cheryl and I in front of the yellow bush of flowers is from. “Are you f---ing kidding me?” was my response when I realized that basically all there was to see in that part of town were a couple of cute white houses! I was still feeling ill that day with the cold that has been passed around all 6 of us on this trip, and trekking around outside in the heat was the last thing I wanted to be doing. The watchtower was neat, though. The top was closed by the time we got there—that’s OK, we wanted to shop anyway—but we got to see some of the city. That’s when Cheryl and I went to H&M and Vera Moda for some retail therapy…

Fun Extra Pictures

1. This one's for Lindsay...I look like a true traveling nerd! hahaha

2. Me, Cheryl and Adam

3. 11:30 p.m. in Kristiansand, Norway

4. Cheryl in front of a Kawasaki Ninja that she adored!

Along the Southern Coast of Norway

Photos:
1. Cheryl, taking in the scenery! HAHAHA
2. BMW friend (on the right, his back towards me) at the Larvik MC Klubb Show
3. Off the coast in Grimstad, just across from the shipyard
4. Dinner tonight at the boat/restaurant in Christiansand
5. The former shipyard which now is used for sail-making

Pretty interesting day today...We traveled all day today in our little euopean rental cars (little 'engine-that-could' types--the engines are so small we just chug-chug along here) west along the southern coast to Grimstaad where our family is from, and it was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far...maybe my favorite.

Before we got to Grimstad, we decided to stop in a town called Larvik. Right in the center of town was this huge motorcycle show--there were sport bikes and Harleys and all kinds of gear on display, bikers young and old and of all different bike styles walking around, just hangin out! It was really cool, I even learned some stuff from the BMW guy who was talking to me about Pennsylvania and how he went to school in Pittsburgh. I saw a guy wearing a jacket that said LARVIK MC KLUBB and the BMW guy was telling me that a couple of the towns around here have these motorcycle clubs. After the show in Grimstaad they all took a 75 km trip to one of the other towns around here and had a big BBQ.

In the town of Grimstaad, we saw the place where my great great grandfather had his shipyard and where the current business is a ship sail manufacturer. We also went to the church my ancestors attended which had a graveyeard, in hopes of seeing some kind of records of our family. We found a couple headstones that could have been our family members but we don't know their exact names dating past the late 1800's, and the headstones were dating back to the mid-1800s. But there's a very high chance that it was them...one of the names, my grandfather's cousin, actually did match our records! We need to do more looking-into. Grimstad is this little town right on the water (a lot of the towns here are right on the water) and it's so peaceful here. The alleys and streets are adorable, I wish I lived here! (Except in the mornings and at night because it gets so chilly!!!!) The views are incredible but the photos don't do them justice. The landscapes and seascapes are so vast that it can hardly be captured in a photo. It's breathtaking! There are huge mountains and cliffs that just dive right into the water, and today we saw a bunch of little islands off the coast of Grimstad. There are yachts and sailboats everywhere, and occasionally we'll see a huge cruiseboat out there on the water, too, as we drive past a town. Right now we're in Christiansand, where we'll spend the night in a really nice little hotel. This town is OK, but it's a smaller town than Oslo and there is far less action going on. We're not staying long here; tomorrow morning we leave to drive up to Stavaanger and making a few stops along the way in some little towns...one of the towns is where Dave's family is from... He's excited for that, and I hope he finds at least as much about his ancestry as we found today of ours. It's really a neat feeling u get when u realize that people who are your flesh and blood lived and worked and died here, and that you came along over a hundred years later and that so much has happened since then...a whole huge piece of your family history has occured inbetween and yet here you are, right back where it all began. That's why it's cool to be in a place where people everywhere look similar to you, because you really feel like you belong here! Today was a very spiritual experience. And also lots of fun!!!

Day 3 - Last day in Oslo

Picture captions:
1. Munch's The Madonna
2. Cheryl and I standing with The Scream
3. My favorite, The Kiss.
4. Holmenkollen Ski Jump from ground level (not from landing level)
5. This guy was staring at me thorough the window during dinner at the harbor

Today we woke up late because Dad was supposed to call us and he forgot! We ate breakfast, and walked about a million km to the Munch Museum. We walked through the Arabic/Indian district of Oslo to get there. Quite a hike!

I loved the paintings, but even more I like the stories behind them. I loved learning about Munch’s life and experiences, and especially about how his most famous work, The Scream, was stolen, along with The Madonna, another one of his famous works which I actually like even better than The Scream. Munch expressed a lot of depression, despair and anguish in his work. The exhibit was full of his paintings, sketches drawings, stamps and even tools he used in painting and stamping. There was also an entire part of the museum dedicated to the restoration process of the two recovered paintings. They were only stolen about six years ago and returned only 2 years ago! So this was a very up-to-date and interesting part of the exhibit. Standing close to The Scream, you could see the damage that was done to it in the theft process—tears, scratches—it’s like the robbers just ripped it off its hinges and took off! What were they thinking!? I wish I knew more about that story…

Next stop was the Holmenkollen Ski Jump and Skimuseet (Ski Museum.) Not only did we climb all the way to the top of the ski jump, but Erika and I hiked all the way down to the bottom where the skiers land! It’s a pool of water in these summer months, but we got a good workout hiking down and back! In fact, my glutes kind of hurt right now... Anyway, it was awesome to see this! The Winter Olympic Games were held here in 1952 and 2002, and part of the museum had the gold medals and the skis the skiers wore! I love skiing—I wish we could be here in the winter, too!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped for dinner in D.S. Louise’s Restaurant. It was decorated inside like a ship and it was right on the harbor. Before that, Cheryl and I went shopping at H&M because we felt too underdressed to be at the bar where we were hanging out with the rest of the gang! We did get a look at some hot new cars that were there on display at the docks before we came back—some Porsches, Ferraris and others. I personally want the Ferrari! After that was Buckley’s Blues Bar where we went to hear some music and kick back. The band wasn’t going on till super late, though, and being the tired tourists we are, we left before they got there! My intention was to go to bed afterwards, but Cheryl and I chit-chatted for a bit and ended up hanging out with a fellow American in the lobby. We went out and grabbed a drink, and had a pretty good time!

Now I’m absolutely exhausted—tomorrow’s going to be rough, especially because I think I’ve come down with a sore throat!

Tomorrow we’re off to Grimstaad and then Kristiansand (sp?). We’ll be back in Oslo at the end of our trip next weekend, but won’t get to see much of it. I’ve really enjoyed it while I’ve been here. Very ritzy and high-end but friendly and GORGEOUS. I love it here. But I have to say, my favorite parts of the trip are when my family is all together bonding and being goofy. It’s been great so far.

Until I can write again next,
Jackie

Day 2 in Oslo

First and foremost, we have our luggage!

Today we went back to the castle and saw the interior. It’s interesting that the decoration of the Norwegian castle was so much simpler than the decoration of English, French, or Italian castles I’ve seen. Ornately carved wood and tapestries decorates much of the living and dining quarters, but there isn’t painting after painting or hundreds of statues throughout the place. They did have a dungeon, though, which I think is a must-have for every castle! And a beautiful stone-and-brick courtyard in the middle. This castle was also smaller than any other I’ve seen. It was roomy, but basic and functional. I liked that aspect of it because I think it says something about the rulers who once lived there and it also seems to capture the lifestyle of the people here to this day. It also meant that we didn’t spend too long walking around, which can get boring and tiring. After our exploration of the castle, we walked over to the dock and took a ferry across the harbor to the museums. Before we boarded, we walked through a little park with fountains and statues, and Debbie waded into one of the fountains to save a precious pinecone (she is an avid collector!)

When we arrived across the harbor we saw the Fram, which is a small museum containing the strongest wooden ship ever built. It didn’t look like a Viking ship; it was more like a large sailboat…We didn’t go in because we could see the whole thing from standing in the lobby (haha!) We weren’t planning on going in anyway—we went to the Kon-Tiki Museum, Thor Heyerdahl’s research foundation. Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) is one of history’s most famous scientists, adventurers and environmentalists. The museum displays real artifacts from Heyerdahl’s expeditions such as Ra, Tigris, Fatu-Hiva, Kon-Tiki, and Easter Island, and the famous papyrus and wooden vessels from these famous expeditions. Heyerdahl’s original purpose when planning these missions was to prove that travel and migration was possible in the ancient times, i.e. from Egypt to Indonesia, Morocco to Barbados, etc. He created vessels from ancient materials and sailed them across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific to see if they could stand the test of travel. His work was very successful. The tests revealed that this type of travel and migration was quite possible in ancient times! His work didn’t stop there—he excavated ancient cultures in South America and lived for quite some time on an uninhabited island with his wife. His Kon-Tiki expedition was video recorded and later awarded an Oscar Award for Best Documentary in 1951! I never knew of Heyerdahl or his explorations before, and it was so incredible to learn about his adventures and discoveries. Picked up some postcards for friends and family back home, and headed to our next destination…

The Viking ship museum! The one from the Master Card commercial. The Viking ships were huge, made with a very dark wood and long and thin with curly ends! (Hard to describe…see picture.) The ships in the museum were likely used for pleasure in calm water, because they were ornately decorated, shallow in height and only held a crew of 30. I can imagine that the larger, war-waging ships of the Vikings were much larger than that. When they died, prominent men and women were buried in these incredible ships much like the Egyptian pharaohs were buried in the pyramids—save for the embalming and preservation process—they were buried with household items, food and other things that they would “need” in the next life, including their slaves! In the late 1800’s-early 1900’s these ships were found near the Oslo Fjord. Some ships in the museum had been reconstructed, but others were left the way they had been found and moved into the museum. There are real ancient artifacts on display such as sleighs, fabric from clothing, buckets, dishes and tableware, boots, bed frames, chairs, tables, and much more. It’s amazing to see these things from thousands of years ago.

We walked back to the ferry instead of taking the bus and walked through what seemed to be a pretty high-end neighborhood, with big, gorgeous houses and nice cars parked in the street! We detoured when we saw the sign for the Folk Museum—it sounded like something to see. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t at all what any of us expected. Instead of an indoor exhibit, which they also had, there were acres and acres of sights to see—churches, houses dating way back to when people lived in sod-roof houses, an entire small town with houses and stores you could walk into, and an old farm with a pony living there that we fed and goo-and-gaa’d over, and whom we named Gretchen. I came up with the name, which I thought sounded Norwegian and which my dad reminded me was in fact German. Whatever, she looked like a Gretchen and she was blonde-colored and adorable!

By this time we were all pretty tired from walking and weak from hunger, so we finally headed down to the dock to catch the ferry back. We had a drink there at the water’s edge while we waited for the boat to bring us back to town. The evenings (and the mornings) are chilly, and I was getting pretty cold. As soon as we got back, we picked a restaurant to eat at. We all got our first Norwegian dinners (the meals up until this point have been Thai food, gyros from a Greek restaurant near our hotel, or continental breakfast food.) Everything was DELICIOUS!!!! We all ordered some variation of seafood, which is your best shot here, and good thing we’re all big fans. It was excellent! On our way back, Cheryl and I gave into the temptation of gelato from a little stand near the dock. We walked back to the hotel and saw tons of fun stuff we have yet to do along the way. Cheryl and I have yet to be offered a pick-up line on this trip or even a head nod, but tonight we got our first “F--- you!” from two guys! One guy was taking a picture of his friend, and Cheryl said, “nice picture!” as we walked by, and they shouted “F--- you!” at us! We were like OMG! and kept walking! Then they shouted back, “yeah, it is a good picture,” then turned to us and took our picture as we were walking away. Odd, you might say, and I would agree.

We got back to the hotel and, like the faithful MMA trainers we are, we hit the mitts a few times and did our strength training before playing a board game Cheryl picked up today and a few games of Gin. Then Cheryl passed out and has been out cold, laying in the same position for over an hour now! I’m just starting to get drowsy now, and it’s 2:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EST). I guess it’s about time to hit that comfy bed.

Tomorrow is our last day in Oslo until the very end of our trip. We’re going to see the big ski jump! Of course it won’t have snow on it but we’ll get an idea of what it’d be like. We’ll also go to the Munch Museum and see The Scream, which was just recently returned to the proper authorities after it’d been stolen 5 years before. I love art, and if this museum is anything like the museums we’ve visited so far on this trip, it will be the perfect balance of interesting-ness and straight-and-to-the-point-ness. I’ve had a great stay here in Olso, and have yet to experience the nightlife which I’m excited to do tomorrow night, but I’m also very excited to go see the giant cliffs of the fjords in the countryside and explore the town where my ancestors came from!

Pictures

1. Karl Johan’s Gate (aka awesome shopping street) after 10:00 p.m.--look how light it is outside!

2. Akershus (the castle’s courtyard)

3. Cheryl doing a bad ass jumping sidekick in front of the Military Tattoo. (Photography skills by Jackie.)

4. Cheryl and I in one of the castle rooms, overlooking the Oslo Fjord

5, Photo of a Viking ship that doesn’t do it justice!

6. Gretchen!

7. Cheryl, Erika and I bundled up in front of a fountain. The nights are COLD!

Note: We’re taking tons of pictures but it takes forever to upload them onto Blogger. For those of you with Facebook, we are going to try and upload them there. Check out Cheryl’s, Jackie’s, or Erika’s Facebook albums in a few days.

End of 1st day

We ate our delicious breakfast at the hotel this morning and are now sitting in the lobby, playing gin, waiting for our bags to arrive--they should be here any moment! We're so excited. I can't wait to change the clothes I've been wearing for 2 days!

Last night Cheryl and I went for a post-dinner walk after getting our 2nd wind, expecting to do a little window shopping and see some more of the city before we went back to the hotel and hit the sack. It was not quite dusk outside, still pretty light out, and yet all the stores were closed! Instantly I thought back to London where the bars close relatively early. I wondered at first if it was the same here. Then we looked at each other and realized it was 10:00 p.m.! It was so light out that it seemed like 5:00 in the evening. It also, then, justified all the people drinking in the outdoor sections of the bars and restaurants! It was getting chilly anyway, and since Cheryl and I were both wearing our flip flops we decided to just come back to the hotel and go to sleep. Dad told us this morning that it was pretty dark when he woke up in the middle of the night, around 12 or 12:30. Apparently the sun was only down for an hour! So cool! :D

Today we're going to some museums on the other side of the fjord and back to the castle we visited yesterday (one section of it was closed for a function, but today it will be open.)

Our first day in Oslo

When we landed, we walked through the little airport that looked like it had been constructed and furnished by the designers at IKEA. It was so cute! Glass and silver metal and light wood...quite a change from the giant airport that is Newark International!

Since our bags didn't come out at the baggage claim, we took our taxi through the countryside to our hotel in downtown Oslo. The scenery was grassy and hilly. The sky was a bit cloudy but it brightened up this afternoon and we were actually hot! Although I wish I had my clothes and everything else I brought with me, it did bring some relief that I didn't have to carry my bag through the airport!

Our hotel is right in the middle of town, on a street with an outdoor market, and just a few blocks from Karlhans Gate which is full of shops from high-end retail stores and H&M to leather goods and fruitstands! We walked over to Norway's Resistance Museum (aka Norges Hjemmefrontmuseum) and the Akershus fortress which was originally a midieval castle and then later used as a fortress in the resistance against the Nazis in WWII. We checked things out over by the Oslo Fjord, which is more like a bay with sailboats and docks. Lots of cool sights to see! Today we're going to go back down there and check out the inside of the castle and catch a ferry to the other side of the fjord to see some museums.

It's truly gorgeous here. The city streets are clean, the landscape is beautiful, the buildings have an interesting architecture, and the people are very friendly. Our family has traveled quite a bit, and we all agree that the faces just seem warmer here, conversations are more intimate. On top of which, we all agree that we feel a bit at home here--as silly as it may sound, having people around who have similar physical features, like the blonde hair and fair skin, makes you feel like you fit in!

waiting....waiting....waiting...........

Waiting. No more layover in Amsterdam. It felt like an entire day had been spent in the airport...when we arrived we got lunch and Erika and Dave taught me how to play Texas Holdem! We stuffed ourselves full of Mexican food and it was DELICOUS! Then after we boarded the plane and got settled we had to get up and transfer planes. Cheryl, Erika and I sat in the terminal talking to a boy named Thomas who's moving to Norway. He's in 5th grade--I can't imagine moving to another country that young! He speaks a little Norwegian and has taught Cheryl and I learn some basics (which I actually already forget). Cheryl has come prepared with a little elementary-level Norway language book. She and my dad are the only ones who know how to say anything between the 6 of us!

Waiting. For our flight to take off...it's been delayed twice! Both planes had something wrong them and had to be fixed.

Waiting. Now for our luggage. We've spent the day in Olso and it's beautiful. Our bags will be here tomorrow morning...they are spending the night in Amsterdam. Now we can enjoy the rest of our evening, even though we know we'll be dirty and greasy for tonight and tomorrow morning till the bags get here! Dave and I agree that we'd rather have our bags end up on the other side of the world and know where they are than not know where they are at all. I've never wished for my retainer and sneakers so much! Walking the cobblestone streets here with platform flip flops isn't terribly comfortable.

Before I leave...

Wow, I'm so excited to do this blog! I hope my plan works...I always keep a journal on vacations and I love to make scrapbooks and keep records of the amazing places I've gone and things I've done. My plan is that, on this trip to Norway, I will be able to keep my family and friends back home updated on my whereabouts, plans, and adventures via J's Travel Blog. I wish I'd kept a blog last time I was in Europe--there were multiple internet cafes in every city I visited, and I can only hope there will be as many in the cities in Norway. If not, I will be keeping my own journal, anyway.

I am most looking forward to the hikes and all the outdoor adventures we'll embark upon, seeing the breath-taking fjords and landscapes, learning a bit of the Scandanavian language and getting away for a few days from my entire life at home. I am looking forward to SCUBA diving with my dad and swimming with the Norwegian fish--yes, there's actually a place to do that--and dining out with my family. I'm hungry for adventure! I am excited to spend time with my sisters, who I don't see enough when we're here in the States! Most of all, I look forward to the goofy family moments we always experience on these vacations that leave us gasping for air or nearly peeing our pants from laughter. (We really are a hilarious bunch when we're all together.) For the rest of our lives I know we will all treasure these silly but significant moments--they bring us together in a way that I think many families can only dream of.

So the journey begins the day after tomorrow--Tuesday, May 20th, 2008. No doubt I will have my family members contribute to this blog with me.

(image taken from http://www.scantours.com/)