NORWAY!

It's a good thing I kept a journal of sorts during our 2 weeks up north, because so much happened but my memory is not what it used to be. Norway is incredible! We have never seen such scenery. Alaska comes close. The attempt I will make to describe with words or 2 dimensional images falls so short of what we experienced. I'll just get on with it and do what I can.

We left Amsterdam just before 10pm Friday night, with R driving the first leg of the trip. She drove until she got tired, which was about 12:30am, when I took over. We drove through Germany and Denmark, where the sun started to rise a little after 4am. By 5am it was plenty bright out. The landscape of southern Denmark is quite lovely. It rolls and undulates like green waves... it's very pastoral. Crossing one of the bridges between the islands of Denmark, we stopped so I could take a few pictures. I believe it was around 6am. Radhika took over driving again at 7am. I was tired and went right to sleep, waking up about 9:40 when we were in Sweden. It didn't look like much in this area. Not as attractive as southern Denmark had appeared 4 hours earlier. I took over again after a little while, making our way into Norway and reaching Oslo. We found ourselves in the city center on a very warm day. People were everywhere and spirits seemed high! On the way into Oslo, we passed a beach where people were relaxing and enjoying themselves. We even passed a park where Radhika said she saw women sunbathing topless (I think I'm going to like Oslo). Anyway, back at the city center, there was some serious bustling going on. The streetside cafe's were packed, the grassy areas were full of people sitting and talking. Sidewalks were full of tourists and locals, alike. I reprogramed the TomTom to take us to our B&B, finally getting there about 2pm. It was about 16 hours, but we were delayed about 30 minutes outside Amsterdam due to traffic, we made several stops for gas and breaks, not to mention a couple of photography stops. So, the resources I used said the trip was about 15 hours, so I got to say it was right on! We were a good team on the drive so it didn't seem bad at all. "Mission Accomplished"... right George?

We unloaded the car for our 1 night stay, and then after getting directions, we walked to a nearby park where one of the first things we saw was a blond woman sunbathing topless. After I got over my revulsion at such a disgusting sight (wink, wink), we continued on. The park was a sea of flesh, with folks soaking up the UV rays as fast as the sun was putting them out. Almost 8 of 10 blades of grass were covered by pale Norwegian epidermous (that's skin for you goobers) What a great atmosphere it was to be in!! We walked all the way through this park, exiting on the other side into a busy street, still looking for the post office to get some Norwegien Kroners as Norway is not part of the EU. It was closed when we found it, so being a little hungry, I convinced R to share a chicken sandwich at a BK (free refills on soda in Europe?!?!?!?). We just wandered some more in the area, and then took a tram to the central area where we first stopped when coming into Oslo.

Once there, we walked to the waterfront where a castle stands high on a ridge along the bay. Being hungry we started eyeballing the local cuisine. Bypassing the $25 chicken sandwich at TGI Friday's, we picked a nice, outdoor restaurant right on the water. Always wanting to eat local fare, R had fish soup and I had a salmon dish which was yummy! We lingered over dinner and enjoyed dessert, soaking up the late sun and scenery. We walked some more in the area after eating, and started looking for the bus that would take us to our B&B. Using the TomTom, we got dropped off right in front of it! We were a little too proud of ourselves, perhaps. We got a good nights sleep and planned our day tomorrow.