Oslo

Jason was invited to his company Christmas party in Oslo so we decided to make a weekend of it since I have not been before. Our friends Matt and Kathryn watched our dogs and we headed down early on Friday morning. It was snowing quite hard but we did some sightseeing. We tried to see the City Hall which is were they hold the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony but it was closed- but the building might be the ugliest thing in town! We did attend the worst changing of the guard ever but the highlight of that was we got to see the King of Norway leave the Palace in his limo. Though the locals say it is not uncommon to see the Royal Family – I still felt lucky! Then we warmed up and rested up for the party. It was at the world’s only Mini Alcohol Bottle Museum. It was really neat and we had a nice time. Dinner was excellent- we had reindeer –which was really good. Though we had to laugh that reindeer was the Christmas meal – pretty sure children in the US would cry at eating Rudolf.

The Christmas Party

We defiantly decided that Oslo would be a great city to live in but only as long as it was the company dime – it is the most expensive city to live in the world! Saturday we went to the Viking Ship Museum (Visa Commercial), which was interesting, but I have to say the Norwegians are not the best curators in the world. Many of the displays are confusing and give you little information. Then we went to the FRAM museum, which is a ship that went to both the north and south pole and was designed to get into the ice packs – it was stuck in the north pole ice for three years! Then we went to the Oslo Cultural Museum, which was having a huge Julemarket (Christmas market) so we got to see traditional gifts and foods. After warming up we headed to dinner at TGI Fridays. Dinner was great – American food is so good sometimes- but our dinner, which consisted of a potato skin appetizer, quesadilla for me and chicken sandwich for Jason and 2 sodas, was 450NOK, which works out to roughly $64 USD! And we thought it was pretty funny that all Norwegians were wearing fancy clothes like suits and ties…it is Fridays…but I guess that doesn’t translate for them.

The Viking Ship Museum

Our very cool room at the Grand Hotel- where the Nobel Peace Prize winner stays!

Cross Country Skiing

We bought cross-country skis a few weeks back – we finally had enough snow to try them out Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our Norwegian friend Lena and her husband Carlos offered to show us. Jason was a natural since he is already a skier, I on the other hand have a lot to learn! My mom can tell a great story of me taking ski lessons at the age of 5 – I was great at making snowballs but didn’t learn a thing about skiing. Thankfully Lena was very patient and I made some good progress. I learned the general motion of track skiing and how to climb hills. I learned how to go down hills and stop but that still needs LOTS of work. Most importantly I learned how to fall down! It is really great to see everything from 2 year olds to 85 year olds trucking along on their skis! Overall it was a good time though I could barely move my arm the next day. Hopefully we can get another day in before we head home. It is a great workout! Though we have decided that Norwegians don’t ski for fitness- it is more like hiking – they just want to be outside and enjoy nature and family. Some would say it is like their church.

Thanksgiving

It was strange to not have Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving but we got by. We had 3 couples over on Friday night for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had all the traditional food, which was really nice. Not everything tasted quite the same but it was close enough for us.  Jason was thankful for passing his driving test on Thanksgiving day in the snow and rain!  So we are both now official holders of a foreign license –we are pretty excited considering they last for 75 years!

The best story from Thanksgiving dinner came from Lena – our Norwegian friend.  We were talking about Bob Barker (random) and his famous line about spaying and neutering animals.  Then we got on the subject of how most animals in Norway are not fixed etc- she ends up telling us that most people give their cats birth control.  Everyone at the table died laughing – we thought she was kidding but she wasn’t. Another hilarious Norwegian idea- birth control pills for your animals!

Walking Dogs in the Snow

It snowed on Sunday but melted on Monday.  Today it snowed and sleeted (sludd in Norwegian) most of the day but this evening it snowed again. We decided to get the dogs dressed in their “get up” and take them out for a walk.  It was -1 C with a fierce wind and blowing snow/ice.  After putting on our warm clothes and getting them dressed in boots, coats, reflector vests, and snoods (like a hat) which took 15 minutes- we were ready to go! Dopler was not amused and refused to leave the house.  Finally we got him outside – then he realized he was even less amused.  But we pushed on – the dogs high stepped in their boots for the first 5 minutes then settled in to a normal walk.  The high stepping is honestly one of the funniest things ever!  Neither dog was too pleased with the walk but they need to learn.  As soon as Dopler saw the house – he took off for the door- which is really unlike him so we know he was ready to be home.  As soon as we undressed them they both took off inside like bandits!  They ran straight for their warm beds.  But the boots and jackets kept them warm and dry.  

Tacos and Margaritas

We had a nice weekend. Friday was the Science Fair at school and Jason came to be an “expert scientist” and help “judge” the projects. And by judge I mean look at and ask questions- there are no winners or losers – though there should have been! I had the joy of being in charge of all 30 middle school kids for 8 hours of no planned activity – talk about fun!

After that taxing day we had Matt and Kathryn over for drinks and card games- they taught me how to play Peanuckle. Then Saturday we had our Norwegian friend Lena take us cross-country ski shopping. Three hours later we are proud owners of hybrid, steel edged, non-waxed skis- who knew there were so many options?! It was nice to have her with us since we know nothing about cross country skis – we look forward to learning how to use them – I think it will be pretty comical. Then we had Lena over for dinner as a thank you. Sunday night we had Matt and Kathryn over for Tacos and Margaritas – which was really nice - tasted just like home! We had dinner and then it snowed which was really pretty. Our first snow! It was about ½ inch of huge fluffy flakes. The dogs seemed un-phased by it so far.

Driving

We have had an eventful week with driving. First last Tuesday I took my Norwegian driving test. I passed with flying colors! So I now have a license good for 75 years! The test was harder then I expected – they tell you to follow street signs to a location. That is not the easiest thing when you don’t know the part of town and are taking a test! And I had to drive downtown which has some crazy traffic patterns- even though my instructor told me the test “never goes downtown” - guess he was wrong.

Then on Wednesday we took a slick-driving course to help us (really me) prepare for winter driving. I was pretty nervous since I have never driven on snow or ice and to be honest driving in heavy rain makes me want to pull over. But after 4 hours of driving on an oil slick course I feel a lot more comfortable with it. I learned to drive slow, brake slow and turn the wheel slow so the moral is drive slowJ We did think it was pretty funny that the oil slick course lets the oil drain into the environment – they have no method to control or collect it. Jason has his driving test on Thanksgiving morning…unfortunately for him it looks like the snow is here to stay so he might have bad weather.

My new license!

Elections

We voted by absentee ballot before we left for Paris.  Though it was weird to know our vote really didn’t count since Texas only counts our votes if needed a week after the election.  But voting gives me the right to complain right?  I am not complaining about the results but I could I wanted to.  It was weird to not be forced to watch election results all night – I could have watched the BBC from midnight to 6 am if I wanted to but that was a lot of effort.  So we woke up to the news of Obama’s win.  Which I was happy with but I know not everyone is but it is really weird to live overseas at this time.  I really think if McCain had won the world would have turned their back on us.  I can’t tell you how many times people have “congratulated” me – literally - on our new president and making the “right choice”.   Kinda like winning the lottery or getting promotion etc.  Very strange feeling but at the same time it is nice to see that people are supportive and again pleased with the choices Americans made because there is a lot of resentment and even hatred about our current government.  I just hope he can pull of the change our country needs and he promised.  It will be interesting to view the beginning of the Obama presidency through the eyes of the world.  

European Vacation

We were lucky enough to jet off for another week vacation. This time we headed to Paris to meet our friends Cheung, Devina, and Brooks. We spent 2 days in Paris seeing some local sights with Brooks who is working in the city. We had some fabulous crepes and saw some nice parts of the city tourists might not normally see. Though we also did the tourists sights like the Eiffel Tower (at night), Norte Dame and St. Chapelle. We then took a cheap flight to Barcelona. I had never been to Spain before and I really enjoyed it! I basically got of the metro onto Las Rambles (the main market street) and turned to Jason and said “I like it already”. The weather was warm the day we arrived which was a welcome change from rainy Paris (and colder Norway). We spent the first day just walking the city and enjoying the sun. Then we visited some of the classic sights like Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and some of Gaudi’s other landmarks in the city. We did tour the Picasso Museum after waiting outside in the rain for 45 minutes. I was glad I was able to clear up Jason’s ideas on Picasso before we went inside- he had it in his mind that Picasso was actually Van Gogh – he would have been so disappointed!

We parted ways with Cheung, Devina and Brooks and stayed another 2 days in Barcelona before taking a sleeper training back to Paris. The train was a nice way to travel but not as quick or cheap at a flight. We spent the last three days in Paris. We saw the Sacre-Coeur– including the end of a service, which was cool – and we climbed the tower, which has a nice view but it was raining. Then we spent an hour in line to tour the Catacombs. It was very, very interesting and creepy – 6 million Parisians and their bones. And little did I realize it was Halloween! It as a 1.7 km walk but it was well worth it – we were checked for bones at the exit – they had about 3 skulls and 5 long bones on display that they had collected from visitors on that day alone- yuck! Then we had dinner with other friends working in Paris, Brian and Phuong and their son Michael, which was great- it is nice to hear others experiences with living and working abroad. We spent the last day at Versailles – it was beautiful and we got to see a good bit of the gardens and Marie Antoinette’s domain, which was really interesting. The weather let up just in time for us to talk a cold 2 hour hike in the gardens. Though we were annoyed with the “modern art” displays in Versailles- it took a lot away from the rooms- see the pictures for an example. The trip was really nice and relaxing. It made us long for good food but also realize how lucky we are to live in a country were people can and will speak English to you and are nice! The French were quiet interesting JOn Sunday we flew home to our dogs. The first snow of the season happened while we were gone. Part of me was happy to miss it but another part was sad to miss it. But the next snow will be our first. I think it might happen late next week.

Winter Tires

Jason arrived home last weekend!  It is great to have him home- the dogs missed him too.  I took my driving lesson last week (in the dark and rain) and the instructor told me I was the best foreign driver he had ever worked with.  I was pretty impressed with myself!  So now I am ready to take my driving test – I am just waiting on notification of the test date.  Jason also took him driving lessons and passed but I think I am still the “best”.  Jason is sick so we have spent all weekend inside trying to get Jason better.  Though we did venture out yesterday afternoon to change our summer tires out for our winter tires – Jason did the work but I helpedJ.  You legally must have your winter tires on by November 1 but they say it is good to do it before then cause you never know when the snow will start!  We have heard this week could be pretty cold and snow is possible. 

We are also having our bathroom at the house redone so we are currently without a shower and having to use the gym.  It has been quite an ordeal with our landlady since she told us the shower would be set up in the laundry room for us to use but then when she scheduled it I guess that didn’t follow through.  The issue is we are traveling the last week of October and have someone watching the dogs and they must have a shower.  So it looks like she will have the shower set up and there is a possibility she will leave a shower in the laundry room for good and install another shower in the new bathroom. That may be nice as long as the new shower is nice too.  I know it is strange to have a shower in the laundry room but houses are weird like that in Norway.  It is interesting to see Norwegian construction –there is very little insulation in the walls of bathroom, which makes me think the house has no really insulation (which doesn’t surprise me).  Also the workers are very messy – they have left drywall dust all over the house every day – in the US I would expect them to clean up after themselves in the common spaces every day- but I guess I have high expectations!

Observations

It is funny how you don’t notice things that are missing in a society. You notice stuff that is different like all the weird food but you don’t notice little things like the fact that the world markets do not affect gas prices. Since we have been here gas has only fluctuated maybe 50 cents a gallon at most. Most days it is within 5 cents of the price last week. Needless to say the gas itself is literally $10/gallon.

The other thing I noticed last night while walking to Norwegian class was how few people use a Bluetooth earpiece for their phones. I really hate the Bluetooth earpieces in public places so I am surprised I haven’t noticed this sooner. Don’t get me wrong the Norwegians love their cell phones but they are more polite about them – they don’t talk on them while checking out at stores or in line etc. But on a whole this society is less 24/7 crazy – they are real believers in time off and leaving work at the office.

I am interested to see what type of experiences I have when I come home for Christmas. I will have been out of the US for 7 months at that point. Jason has already had some eye openers while in the US but I think I might even be more sensitive to them since I have been gone longer. Jason went to buy a “healthy” breakfast in Houston last week to avoid the unhealthy food he would get in the office. He was looking for something similar to what we eat here - light yogurt with muesli (which is fabulous!). He ended up with a yogurt parfait (with granola) but he quickly realized that it was 3 times the size of our normal portion in Norway. We all know the portion sizes are huge in the US but it was interesting for Jason to notice it and be really frustrated by it.

I have my practice driving lessons tomorrow at 7am (this seems to be the only thing open before 8am). Hopefully they go well and I can schedule the driving test before the snow arrives. Though I am told it can snow in October! Yippee!

Autumn in Norway

It has turned to autumn here. The trees, bushes and weeds are all changing colors and it is really spectacular.  I have never lived anywhere to see the change in seasons so this is really neat.  Here is the view out the kitchen window – it is where I spend most of my time on the computer.

It has also gotten cold.  The high today is supposed to be 5 C (41 F) and rainy.  I think this is the start of the season of cold, wet and dark.  The sun is now setting and rising at more normal times but we are losing 20 minutes a week so soon it will be dark!  Jason and I invested in flannel sheets and electric blankets 2 weeks ago and they are really nice at night!  Of course they don’t really have electric blankets only heating pads, which is kinda weird, but they work well.  We have also broken the heat in the bathroom – well we don’t think it was our fault and we don’t think our landlady is going to make us pay for it -thank god!  I guess some moisture got through the grout and shorted the heaters – what a stupid system!    But our entire bathroom (floor and walls) will be ripped out to replace the electric strip heaters under the floor and all the tile – it will take THREE WEEKS!  You could build an entire house in Houston in 3 weeksJ  We think the house is going to be mighty cold – strip heating is the dumbest idea ever.

 

Other then that things are going well.  Jason has been in Houston for a week and he has one more week to go.  I am on vacation from school next week (Autumn Break) so I am going to catch up with school work and plan our next trip to France/Spain. 

Drivers Licenses

This week we turned in our US drivers licenses and we now have temporary Norwegian licenses.  Getting a real Norwegian license should be an interesting process.  First we have to wait for the Norwegian version of the DMV to send us a letter indicating we can take the exam – then we have go to a driving school and take some lessons.  But the kicker is there is no set amount of lessons we have to take but instead just until the driving school thinks we are “ready”.  At $100 an hour that will be great!  Then when we are “ready” the driving school makes an appointment for us but we have to rent the driving schools’ special car to take the test – which of course costs 3 times the amount of a lesson.  Hopefully the day I am assigned to take the test it won’t be snowing or icy!  We have three months to complete the process – I will keep you updated on how that goes.  It was a strange feeling handing over our licenses, good thing we have a spare at homeJ

Not much else to report here.  Jason and I are back to the humdrum of life and work.  Jason’s work is pretty tedious nowadays.  And mine is really a constant challenge.  We have some work to do this weekend  - I thought I was done with weekend working!  The weather has started to turn cold here – the nights are 40 or so and the days are 60 max.  I have a feeling the winter will be colder then I expect. 

It was really strange to watch Hurricane Ike destroy the Houston area from here.  We didn’t have much footage of it but we did watch some on the Slingbox.  It was weird not have 24/7 coverage of it on every channel though.  Thankfully all our friends and their families in the Houston area are safe – most have power again but some are still waiting.  Makes us glad to be in Norway when you talk about not having power for 3 days in 90-degree heat and humidity!  

VACATION!

Zurich

It couldn't have come soon enough! Jason was tired of work and I was ready to be out of school for a week - sad since I have only taught for one week. We headed off on Friday to meet our friends from Houston, Natalie and Gavin, in Zurich Switzerland. We traveled wiht Natalie and Gavin all week which was great. We spent two nights in Zurich enjoying catching up and eating and drink good food and beer! Quite a change from Norway. Zurich had a lot of street food to enjoy and it was quite a nice city with some nice shopping. Then we headed to Lucerne by train. We spent 3 nights in Lucerne and I love the city. It is pretty small but absolutely beautiful, clean and friendly. We hiked the city walls and towers and crossed all the city bridges numerous times. We took a half-day bike ride out into the country side and meet up with a sweet widower who showed us his amazing house. On the last day we went to Mt Pilatus, which is the highest peak in the area and was a great trip. The trip to the mountain consists of a nice boat trip on Lake Lucerne, a 40 minute ride in the steepest cog railway in the world to the top and then to get down you take an aerial tramway to a gondola- good thing I am no afraid of heights (oh wait I am). We stopped on the way down the mountain to ride the longest summer toboggan run (1.3 KM) and Jason and Gavin did a ropes course. It was quite the day!

Sadly we left Switzerland and took a 5-hour train ride Munich. We spent the last 3 nights in Munich. Munich was also a great city- much larger and busier then the first two but very nice. We enjoyed the mandatory stop at the Hofbrauhaus – we were amazed how inexpensive the beer was and how good the food was. We also toured the city on foot and bus – we saw Nymphenburg Palace and Olympic Park and most of the other important sites. We were all slightly insulted though at the lack of recognition the city gave to Hitler and the Nazi Party in Munich. The famous square where the Nazi’s had many parades and held the book burning is barely even mentioned. We also took a day trip out to the famous King Ludwig II castles – Neuschwanstein (the Disney castle) and Linderhof - it was nice to see the German countryside and check out the massive castles. We also enjoyed a nice run in the huge English Garden and we were jealous we don’t have something like that in Trondheim! We returned to Norway on Saturday with some slight sadness about leaving the warm and inexpensive south but I think we have recovered and have settled back into daily life. Though we are excited for our next trip to France and Spain!

Highlights of the trip included:

-Swiss and German cows with honest to god bells on their neck!

-Learning out first hand about electric fences in Switzerland (unmarked I might add)

-Feeding the numerous and sometime vicious swans in Switzerland

-Good food including our favorite vanilla creamed filled croissants that almost made us late to a train!

-Seeing real people in Germany wearing lederhosen and tall socks in the street

See pictures of our trip in the picture section!

Start of School

I know, I know I have been a big slacker and have not updated the blog!  Sorry about that but it has been pretty busy around here.  So for those of you keeping tabs I am now officially a middle school teacher!  Weird change from college kids and corporate America but it will keep me challenged to say the least.  I have a 70% appointment and I teach 4 subjects – gym, science, home economics and religion. Interesting mix to say the least but hopefully I can handle it.   There are only about 30 kids in the whole school so the classes are small and you get to know the kids pretty well.  The kids are at that fun age where they like to push the limits and be generally obnoxious so that will be one of the biggest challenges for me I think. 

Through teaching I have met some new people including an American couple from Minnesota.   Kathryn teaches with me and we get along well and her husband Matt is a chemist working on the PhD so he and Jason have a good bit in common.  It is nice to have more friends.  We also started our Norwegian lesson – we shall see how much we learn - we are learning some basics but actually speaking to Norwegians will be a challenge.  Ha Det!  (Bye in Norwegian)

Stockholm

Mom and I headed to Stockholm last Monday morning. We arrived around noon and took the high-speed train the 40km from the airport to the city – it is fun to ride at 200 km/hour! We had to take the subway to our hotel so we didn’t arrive for awhile. The hotel was really nice and only a few subway stops from the main city. We had some lunch and wandered the local mall. We headed into the old town (Gamla Stan) for dinner. It was raining so we didn’t wander too far but found a nice café for dinner. It was much cheaper then Norway so that was a welcome change (but still not cheap by US standards).

Stockholm is really a beautiful city. It is situated on 14 (or 17 I can’t remember) islands that are all connected with bridges and ferries. The architecture is more European then Norway and the city is really clean and the subway system is very nice. I really liked the city but it does seem overly populated – they utilize a high congestion toll to keep cars out of the city.

So back to our trip - It rained all the next day so we spent most of the day attempting to stay dry and I think we did a decent job. We took the subway to Osermalm and then took a ferry the island of Djurgarden to tour the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a warship from the 1600’s that sank after 30 minutes on the water in the harbor of Stockholm. The boat was built 1 meter to narrow and the rocks used to ballast it were round so they all rolled to one side so the boat sank. The great part is that they knew it was not stable and therefore not seaworthy but they were scared to tell the King who was demanding it in Spain so they let it sail – opps! So in 1950 they found it (I guess they “lost” it) and pulled it up. It was mostly intact so they spent 17 years preserving it and now it is on display. It was pretty impressive to say the least! Then we headed to the National Museum to see some fine art, the most famous being Rembrandts' Self- Portrait. Then we were off to the Nobel Museum which was not so great but it is located in a beautiful town square so we had dinner in a cute café in the square and headed home.

The next day it finally stopped raining so we were able to get some good photos and see a little more of the city. We saw the Official Residence of the King - but they don’t actually live there! It was very nice and we saw a tiny bit of the changing of guard. We did go to a few interesting royal museums like the treasury and armory which held some pretty neat stuff like royal coaches and the crown jewels which were more interesting then Norway’s but still no comparison to England. Then we had some lunch then toured the Storkyrkan (Stockholm Cathedral) where the current King and Queen were married. After that we decided to take a canal tour which was a nice leisurely tour and we saw some other interesting sites like the Stockholm City Hall were they hold the Nobel Awards. Our last stop was Riddarholmsyrkan (The Ridderholm Church), which was where the royal family (until recent times) was buried so there are lots of crypts etc and the architecture was really neat. So the day was wrapping up since everything closes around 5pm. We wandered and I found a great oil painting of the Old Town so I bought that for our collection and then went to dinner in a very cute open-air café in a park. We headed back to the hotel and picked up our bags for the taxi ride to the airport at the hotel – we had early flights the next day so it was easier to do that. Overall Stockholm was a very cool city – I am pleased I got to see it (and that it stopped raining long enough to enjoy it!) There is defiantly a lot to see so it is somewhere I couldn’t go back to and enjoy more of the sights!

Roros

My mom was here in Trondheim for nearly 2 weeks so we saw a good bit of the local sights including the Nidaros Cathedral, Archbishop’s Palace, and the Crown Jewels. Seeing the crown jewels was interesting since there are not much of them. Norway was a very poor country before they discovered oil so the jewels are pretty minimal and the kings had to buy the jewels themselves since the government couldn’t afford them. It was quite a contrast to the British crown jewels. We spent some time at the local St. Olav’s Festival with commemorates St. Olav’s death (he is a huge Norwegian saint).

We also took a two and a half hour train ride to a town called Roros. It is an old copper mining town that is an UNESCO World Heritage site so most of it is protected. The buildings are all really cute and many of them have sod roofs. There are also the remains of the smelting process. The church in the town is quite large and it has the mining company’s logo on the bell tower since they built it. I think it is the only church in the world with a corporate logoJ We had a nice dinner in town and then took the train home. We ran into my landlady and her husband at the train station since that is were he is originally from. We ended up taking our landlady to her house and she gave us some cloudberries to try. They are somewhat rare and don’t bear fruit every year – not my favorite berry…

We also headed out to an island very in the Trondheim Fjord. It is a 10 minute ferry ride and the island is mostly used for sunbathing and picnicking by the locals. The island called Munkholen – used to be an execution grounds in Viking times, a monastery, a prison and most recently a German camp in WWII.

Mom Arrives

Jason arrived home from a trip to the US on Tuesday and my mom also arrived Tuesday afternoon for a 2 week visit! Jason surprised me with a brand new Mac Book Pro laptop! So I am back to using a Mac (which I love) and it is really nice to have my own computerJ

We haven’t done a ton of sightseeing with mom but we have seen the downtown area and many of the local stores. On Saturday we took a drive out to a little town called Frosta, on a peninsula in the Trondheim Fjord. It was a nice drive and a pretty little town with a church from mediaeval times and some stone drawings from the Stone Age. There is also an abandoned Monastery from the 1200’s. We had lunch at a tiny little bakery and then headed back to Trondheim. On the way home we saw two bald eagles diving for fish in the fjord right next to the road. I have never seen an eagle in the wild – they are massive and very beautiful.

On Sunday we went to see Dark Knight – it was opening weekend here in Norway – it was quite good- maybe even worth the $20 ticket. This week there is a festival going on in Trondheim so hopefully we can see some of that and then on Friday we plan to take a train to a city called Roros about 3 hours from here to sightsee. Hopefully I will have some photos to upload then.

Our Weekend Adventure

Jason and I took a weekend trip to see some of Norway. The locals were pretty insistent that we needed to see Norway. We decided to go to Alesund which is along the coast south of us and is supposed to be one of the prettiest towns in Norway. We had Emilie (our relocation agent's daughter who is 16) dogsit for us. That went really well so we are pretty excited we have someone to watch the dogs at our house while we are gone. Here is a link to the map of our trip. I have highligted the route we took along with some sights.

We left after work on Thursday and drove to a town called Kristandsund which is 198 km from us (or about 123 miles) but the drive took about 4 hours which is due to slow speed limits, narrow roads and breathtaking scenery. We had the experience of taking a ferry and driving under a fjord. The tunnel under the fjord (which cost us a $20 toll) was pretty interesting – it was quite steep, dark and very wet – the rock was dripping the whole way. We had several tolls to pay along the way – all were automated booths that took credit cards and coins. The Norwegian road people do run a good racket - if you pay with coins they don’t give you change! The toll is 16NOK (which would require 3 coins) but if you put a 20NOK coin ($2) in you don’t get change.

Kristiansund is a cute little town of about 16,000 and it is situated on 3 islands. The town was pretty sleepy due to the holiday season. We had dinner at the worst Chinese place in Norway then found a cute place for dessert. Our guide book told us to see the “old town” on the next island but the ferry stopped running (so we thought) so we walked a long way over to the “old town”. Not much to see so we hiked up to the lovely stone monument – which was really just a large rock but it had a nice view. Then we hiked all the way back to the other island since the ferry wasn’t running. After we hiked back we saw the ferry running! Very annoying but we got some exercise.

Day two of our trip started with another ferry to the island of Averoya. We took a detour to see the Kvernes Stave church. There are only 31 of this type of churches left in Norway. We followed the GPS’ advice and took a road that would lead us back to the main road. Bad advice! The road ended up being a one lane dirt road with a 25% grade up and down. Luckily our little car has all wheel drive. About halfway through this 6 mile road we meet up with a large bulldozer coming right at us. We back up about 200 meters to find a wide spot so we could pass. It was slightly scary – I am glad Jason was driving. I am really glad Jason drove the whole weekend actually since the roads are crazy here- many areas are one lane and around turns you are gambling. Buses and trucks have no fear and barely slow down for you! We continued on to the Atlantic Ocean Highway which connects about 17 islands with 8 bridges. It was a neat sight – very different scenery then you would expect. Next we hit Molde for lunch and our next ferry ride. We ended up in Alesund about 3pm.

Stave Church

Atlantic Coast Highway

Alesund is a very pretty town of about 33,000. It was burnt to the ground in 1904 and was rebuilt in an Art Nouveau style which is very different then the rest of Norway. There was a boat festival going on so we saw the city with lots of people and stourist around. We visited the Atlantic Ocean Aquarium. It was kind of interesting but overall a disappointment for an aquarium – they only showcased Norwegian fish (not surprising I guess). We did see some penguins in an outside exhibit along with some huge flounders. And the next day we saw puffins in the wild on our fjord trip!

Day three is our fjord adventure. We took a catamaran boat from Alesund to Oye down the Hjorund Fjord. From Oye we took a bus to Hellesylt. Our bus driver was a local from Oye and was a fearless driver on the one lane road. We saw a part of the fjord that had been dammed by a rock slide many years ago – you could see the old road and house foundations in the lake. From Hellesylt we took a 70 minute ferry ride to Geiranger through the Geiranger Fjord which is one of Norway’s most famous. I had seen pictures and I expected it to be pretty but words cannot describe how beautiful it really is.

The mountains come right out of the water and the water is blue green almost like the Caribbean Ocean. There are some farms along the fjord that are abandoned but have pretty amazing stories – these people lived in the middle of nowhere and many times had to row to another section of land for water in the middle of winter! The ferry we took was just like any other car ferry and wasn’t much more expensive but it did have nice commentary. We arrived in Geiranger – which is not much since the only business anymore is tourism- they say 600,000 people tour it and the fjord each year.

We stayed an hour and then took a cruise ship called the Hurtigruten back to Alesund. The Hurtigruten is cruise ship that does the whole Norwegian coast in 6 days with something like 25 stops – it has been around for about 100 years (not the boat but the company). Back in Alesund we hiked up to the 400 steps to the Kniven viewpoint over the city then hiked back for some dinner which was one of the first very good meals in Norway.

View from top of hill over Alesund

Last day – we left Alesund pretty early and retraced our steps for about an hour. Then headed to Andalsnes which is famous for the Trollstigen (a sheer rock wall) and the Trolls Highway which consists of 11 hairpin turns up the mountain- we had seen enough crazy driving so we skipped this and drove on. We drove though the Rauma River Valley. I can’t really put into words how spectacular this drive was. We stopped several times to take photos. The river runs the whole way and drops from about 600 meters (2000 feet) to the sea – so the waterfalls are pretty spectacular. We continued home on highway E6 – which is the major north south route from Oslo. It is one lane in each direction with a max speed of 90K (55 mph) so Jason was ready to shoot himself when we got home. It was a really great trip. Norway is hands down the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice. Norway doesn't have the castles and churches like the rest of Europe but their countryside more then makes up for it. I have added pictures of the journey to the New Photo Album along with more commentary on the photos.