5th of November

I requested to be escorted to the bus stop this am as I was carrying bags and had no idea where it was.  Phillipo was kind enough to take me at 530.  I catch the bus that goes straight to the airport.  So there were a few stops to pick up folks!  I had too much energy to sit still so I walked around at the airport. My flight was delayed, so I kept walking and finally just sat and focused on writing in my journal.  An 830 trip became 855.  I left, one hour from Bergen to Oslo. 


I reached Oslo to only learn that IcelandAir didn't open up till 1130.  Had to wait 1.5 hours, so I did! Journal time.  I get my tickets (I was third in line and waited for nearly 20 minutes).  I get through security, though they did have to check my bags because they though lotion equated to liquids.  Anyways, I had some Norwegian money so I bough myself a neck pillow, even though Taz could get one for free, I needed it-my poor neck did not like the flights.  So second flight was from Oslo back to Iceland.  2.5 hours.  I got food from Oslo, which was made with cheese.  I requested it to be re-cooked and the person was rude and on top of being rude she under-cooked my food.  Maybe she had a bad day, but yet again, I couldn't eat anything.  The layover in Iceland was not to long but I got a souvenir from Iceland and got on the plane for the 6.5 hour flight home.  I wrote a tad bit in the journal.  I didn't have a blanket so I was fairly cold but survived.  I watched movies and got a banana and apple juice.  I made it home and went through the longest customs process in the world!  Thankfully, my only issue with baggage was in Denver, as I got my stuff.  1 hour after customs I was out and met by my parents who took me home.  I unpacked and did some fall cleaning.  I went through my files and old papers and trashed stuff that I no longer needed.




Now since I'm writing this blog and the last 2 on the 16th of November, I gather that most have probably seen my pictures on Facebook and don't need them here.  However, if you would like to see more photos here just write it in a post.  Next adventure is South Korea!!!!




Till the next adventure!

2nd-4th of November

2nd of November


Time for the cruise!  It was amazing my own room, my own bathroom, and a crew ship!  I was so exhausted, I took pictures of the ship and then slept through the departure and probably for a good 1.5-2 hours.  I found a place that could make me food!  I had 3 cups of a apple, pumpkin, raisin tea, I think!  I was surprised to the raisin but it was delicious.  I also had 3 cups of water.  I didn't like my bread from yesterday too much!  I got chicken, salad, bacon, and fries.  I just was so delighted to be in this great ship and be surrounded by fjords and just stunning views.  There was even a gym and an outdoor pool, that I didn't use but I was glad to have the  option available.  I went to the 8th floor for the great views and the internet where I studied for my LCSW exam.  In the evening I went back to my wonderful lunch place and got hot soy milk.  I had someone fix the tv in my room.  I ended up watching a movie that was on about a shipwreck- why!?!?!?! I don't know, but I did.  I went to sleep.


3rd of November


I took a nice shower this morning and was informed that checkout was at 10.  They had a luggage area so I put my big bag there and went back to picture taking and studying.  I got the same lunch as I did yesterday and then watched the views from 12-1400.  After we docked, I felt like I was back at an airport with how luggage was being put out, thankfully I just carried mine.  It was cool to see the cars be driven out.  I asked a security guard how to get to the visitor center.  I went the direction he told me and it was leading to a highway.. I turned asked someone else.  About 4 people later, in the rain, and cold, I found the visitor center.  Sadly, the visitor center closed at 4, so back in the rain I went!  I did sight see a little.  Then I had some yummy Tanzanian food: Pilaf but instead of chicken or beef, it was with fish and coconut cream!  My tummy was happy!!!!!


4th of November
Same issues with obtaining directions.  People were sometimes rude or simply didn't know their way around. Also, like Taz said, places were not labeled! So the map did not correspond with what we saw and then there were names of places that were not on the map or did not seem to be in accordance with how I walked.  Anyways, I saw the Fantoft Stave Church ( I took a bus there) and walked from there to the king's palace.  There was a pre-school at the stave church who were helping the kids work on gross motor and fine motor skills by having them walk on the rocks and the rough path covered with wet leaves.  One youngen fell and looked at me crying so I gave her my hand and helped her a bit of the way and then slowly let it go.  It is so funny how you can determine and see a child's personality despite being so young in age.  So attempt to go to the King's place.  Some people tell me 10 minute walk others say 30 minutes.  I asked about 5 people and finally take a scenic route, in the middle of nowhere.  I find the King's Place only to be informed that they are doing construction work on it so no tours.  After a decent walk of 30-40 minutes.  So I ask for directions back to the church, hoping to receive a path that wouldn't be to long or difficult to figure out.  This guy was right until the crossroads, he told me to go left and my gut said right.  The kids were like we don't know we are not from here.  I asked an elderly fellow who led me on the right path, and as I began my walk I saw the bus station, voila! I returned to Bergen!  I toured Bergen and got all my souvenirs.  Sadly, all the museums opened around 11 and closed at 3.  I missed them.... so I found all the churches.  I got Chinese for dinner.  Hot and sour soup was taken literally- it was "hot" and "sour."   I preferred the spicy chicken and rice with veggies!  Then I looked up a bjj school.  It was right next to a cardio kick/muay thai self-defense school.  I found the BJJ school and they were doing no gi.  I was the only girl and they put me with a beginner who was a "light weight."  Very nice folks!  I think they didn't expect a girl to be comfortable in a no-gi class.  I had to guys even roll with me.  One I had to keep in check so that he didn't bust my knee as I had no brace :O  After that great workout I returned to my room and relaxed-watched movies and packed.

1st of November 2014

Oh yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I made it to Trondheim and saw my cathedral.  The guy at the front said I could take pictures as long as I wasn't disruptive.  Thankfully, I have a silent option on my camera.  I finally saw the one church that I wanted to see the whole trip-the gothic church!!!!  I also went to Bryggen-an old quaint part of town.    I was really hungry-no breakfast.... there was a food bizarre and I got bread only to be dismayed at the fact that it was frozen.  So I kept touring the area- I found the library and updated my blog.  I finally went back to the food bizarre and got the famous hot dogs; sadly the bread had milk so I had to throw it out.  I also got a fruit smoothie but it was too heavy to handle.  I met up with some Ugandans, who were having a gathering!  I met a Norwegian who went to Uganda and he and I got along with the kids and played with them.  I finally got some yummy food!!!!!!I helped them at this meeting and explained the importance of a website and a Faceboook page and helped them create it.  I think I hit the bed at 2/3 in the morning!

Happy Halloween from Norway

Time to tour the town we got lost in!  We made oatmeal this morning... since I was unable to confirm my cruise b/c the bank card didn't go through, I had to wait three hours to call the bank and give them permission (which should have been done already).  Well I called them and finally was able to get my ticket.  So it was funny, I warmed up water in a microwave that was hidden above the fridge and required that I stood on a stool!!!!! So high, and I felt so tall climbing it.  We added sugar, cinnamon, and persimmon into our oatmeal.  yum..... so while I was on the phone for 30 minutes, on hold might I add, we hiked up the hills to see the Olympic site.  We get there.  May I say, my call to reserve my cruise was much faster, maybe because they were making money ;).  Anyways we walked around in 2-3 degrees Celsius.  We went to Maihaugen which is a town created by a dentist whose hobby was to collect homes!!!! It was closed so we had to see everything by peaking through window.  It was so cold that half-way through we went to the bathroom and warmed up our hands by running it under hot water.  However, time escaped us and Taz had to catch her train. Of we went to the station, but not before stopping at a coffee shop that had hot chocolate that I could have!  So I waited for my train to Trondheim.  I had to warm up my food in front of the fireplace b/c they wouldn't warm it up in the kitchen.  A nice elderly man came and sat across of me and we started chatting about my travels and said to keep doing it!  He was very pleasant, one of the few that I met in Norway.  He envied Taz and I's adventures and told me to keep at it.  He left and I ate!!!! yum!!! luke warm, dehydrated food (the stuff I saved from last nights dinner).  It started to snow!!!! That is how cold it was. 

So oddly, my ticket did not state which gate to leave from, but I asked and got my train- no window seat but still managed to catch pictures.  The guy I sat next to left after 30 minutes and then I took the window seat and relaxed.  I got to Trondheim and relaxed and my place of stay.

29th of October & 30th of October

Today we toured Oslo and Taz was the navigator.  We started around 10ish and went all around and by the end I had tripped and my knee was sore.  I needed ice :/ but I saw everything I wanted to see. We saw the Parliament, the fort, where I took a picture with the statue like guard who barely nodded to say it was ok to take a picture.  We passed the national theatre  and saw the Vigeland Sculpture park.  We found it interesting that being primarily Catholic, this park was allowed.  We learned that we couldn't do the norway in a nutshull due to a flooding in the West.  So we planned to go east- Lillehammer, then Trondheim, then a boat to Bergen and then home.  The online reservation didn't work so we dashed to the metro to take it to the main centre and got our train tickets for the next afternoon (around 2300)

We then went to a bar/tea shop where we stated till about 1 AM.  The bus we were informed to take was wrong so we looked our map and were able to get to our destination.  our host told us to the follow the river back.  Well, the river split so we did our best to follow it.  I saw a fitness centre sign and our host is next to one (and it is crossfit) so we kept following it.  About 30-40 minutes later we had created our own path to his house.  I got an ice pack at the tea place so I iced down and researched the remainder of our trip, got us a place to stay for at least tomorrow, and signed up for couchsurfing.  I slept around 3:30/4.  We had our dehydrated food and home made hot cocoa for dinner!


30th of October
We woke up around 9.  Finished all we bought from the grocery store for breakfast and then went to the grocery store again.  We got chickpeas, tuna in oil, and spagetti noodles.  We took the metro to Oslo Centre.  We looked at the Opera House from the outside and toured in the mini mall in the metro ( sooo cool).  We then took a the train to Lillehammer!  We took a small nap and woke up to the Oslo Fyord.  We had some snacks for lunch.  We arrived to Lillehammer and it took me forever to convert money; this girl and I just arranged for me to giver her my money for hers!  We left our bags and I repacked mine a bit.  We left them in the lockers as we were coming back the next day-we took what we needed.  We wanted to get our tickets for tomorrow but my card didn't work.  So, Taz used hers.  But she got my ticket for 1 AM.  So we had to go to the store get her to fill out a form, cancel the ticket and we had to mail the form for Taz to get a refund.  Then I tried again and was able to get my ticket. 
Taz had a picture of the directions to our guesthouse.  We walked till a shell, asked for directions and then kept walking until we ended up at a dead end (really it was an unsafe unpaved road).  We walked back where this nice middle aged lady led us to the path that would take us to the destination.  In the middle of no-where we go all the way down the path, nada!  We walk a bit up and there is our place ( it was already pitch dark).  Taz and I cooked the pasta that was at the guest house with, the tuna, her olives, and the chickpeas.  I got dehydrated food and the tea.  We left the dehydrated food for tomorrow but devoured everything else. 
I booked a ticket from Bergen to Oslo and planned out Trondheim.  I couldn't get the boat reservation b/c there was no English option so to bed I went around 23/24.

28th of October

We woke up at 5!!!!!! So I had like 3/4 hours of sleep.  We had to drive back to the airport.  It was pitch dark and the sound was Taz and I singing in the car.  We did not see a car for 55 minutes!  There were no northern lights last night nor through the drive.   I pulled out the map to see where we were conidering we had to get gas (below a quarter and we needed to know where the next town was).  We stopped in Borgarnes and got our gas, Taz got coffee and a pastery and I had my fruit bars.  As we got to the city we stopped at a grocery store which wasn't open.  We went back to get a little more gas, we just wanted to use a credit card and went to three gas stations and then finally went back to the first one- he slid his card, we quoted a price and he watched us till we were done.  We got to the airport and couldn't check in so we planned Norway.  Taz could not take my extra box of luggage so we fit it into my duffle bag and hers.  I checked into my flight ( we are on seperate flights),  We used the last of our change to buy bread/crackers and chips for lunch.  We went through security and I got a beep for the first time and got checked and was fine.  We decided to meet in baggage claims.  We arrived to Norway and had to convert 40 dollars to N.Kr because we couldn't get a metro ticket otherwise; we only got 140 kr :O   Anyways we also got our train ticket. 

We get to Oslo Central, sent a text to our host who told us where to go next.  Onward.  We met with him, and then his friend and brother at a bar.  I got a coke.  We chatted about the cultural differences of U.S. and Norway.  We also discussed politics (socialist vs. democratic), health care, education, and units of measurement.  They took us to a grocery store later around 2130 and we got smoked salmon, eggs, and soy milk (yea).  We made scrambled eggs with salmon and had our bread from yesterday and I had some soy milk and then we slept!

sunrise in iceland occurs around 9:30-10

Welcome to Norway

MMMMMM dinner!

27th of October

Taz and I try to get tons done in a day!  Our morning started with our host Julia.  We had a nice cultural discussion.  I pulled my laundry out of the car and let it dry on the heater.  Only a few fit on the heater so I put some on the heater and some I left around the room and then I swapped them....  Wohooooo for laundry being dry and having clothes :)  Yes it is the small things.  We had tea-coffee and discussed studying and being in the U.S. and how she came to be where she is.  She showed us the lambs they selected; they painted one green so that they could keep an eye on it.    We talked about ham and how some can be so inexpensive and some can be so expensive.  It is based on weight so sometimes water is put in to add weight.  She also told us that the government wants to make sure their people are healthy and put all nutritional values on items and are always have information presented.  Apparantly, Julia used to get Cocoa Puff but Iceland created a lower fat version (by lowering the sugar)of it b/c there was too much sugar.   So, we left.

We had a quarter tank of gas so stopped for the first time in our whole trip!!!!!  It was freezing 1 degree/ 2 degree Celsius.  The tank was like frozen shut but I got it open.  However, the machine did not take my credit icard.  Apparantly, I had to go inside, quote a price, get a money card and stick that in.  So we did.  We had an hour and made it to the caves.  They didn't see our reservation b/c their windmill was down and henceforth, their electricity, but Taz had a picture.  We went through the 4 parts of the cave that was created by a volcano eruption, more specifically the lava!  We saw the water cave, the troll cave (where trolls lived, the spirit hall (which used to scare folks), and the guts where I got to drink water from the fountain of youth.  I will forever be and look young!  ahahahahah.  We went to the Hellner Visitor Center where we learned from other tourists that yes, the northern lights did show up, just around 2300-2400 :(  They said it may come out tonight!  Hope!  We continued on to Djupalonssandur.  A beach that has no sand but pebbles!  There are rocks that we attempt to pick up to determine if we are farmers and we both are.  The pebbles-marbles also have the remaints of ship wreck on them!  It was very slippery but a I found an area to practice my Hapkido and balancing!  Taz and I lost each other, but we assumed that the best place to find each other is at the car.  So there we went, to the car and we found each other.    We continued to Amarstapi, a beautiful formation of rocks.  We drove to Buoir but were to tired and cold to hike so we just took pictures.  The glacier hike was closed but we went through the mountain, and got rain, ice, hail, and snow covered roads.  We made it back just fine and had a lovely dinner of boiled fish, with the sauce being lamb fat, and a nice side of mashed potatoes.  I stayed up till 2 to finish things and try to see the northern lights.  No lights  :(

Climbing to the top of the canyon yesterday

Not up yet

still going

cave

cave safety

I am a farmer

where is the sand?!?!?!

Run back here if we get stuck!

Glacier