I've Neglected My Duties

Good day everyone! I know, I know, it’s been a few days since I’ve written. No excuse. I guess that shipboard life has made me lazy. Too much wine with dinner each night and that continual low level sea sickness have made for little incentive to write. Mostly I’ve been staring out the window with music from my iPod in my ears and an unread book in my hand.

My mom and I have been desperate for two things the last few days. First, to get off the boat and onto some solid land. So despite heavy rain, we get off and power walk through whatever little village we stop at, waiting until the last moment we get on board. I have to feel sorry, I think, for these small towns we stop at. Here this big boat comes up, and hundreds of like minded slightly seasick land kissing foreigners disgorge themselves from the ship en mass. No one really knows where to go and the first ones off the boat are unwittingly the leaders for the rest. Talk about a herd of sheep. We walk all over the road and sidewalks and from the townspeople perspective trying to drive down their own streets, it must seem like some shepherd has lost control of his flock.

Second, my mom and I want some “real” food. I don’t believe a word of the what the tour guide the other day said: “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” I’ve had enough good, no great, food! The trays of fishes and meats, salads, breads and cheeses (I’ve had so much of my beloved brie that I don’t think I’ll be doing wine, banquette and brie with Sara for a long time – sorry Sara!), and the immense array of such decadent desserts – oh, my stomach churns to think of it all. I want a hamburger! I want fries. I want a tofu burrito, please! My mom and I even skipped lunch today and will secretly rendezvous in the café to get burgers and fries when we are sure our waiters can’t see us. The only thing…I’ve seen them put canned corn on these burgers…WTF?!

At the End of the (old) World

As I stood for my obligatory picture at the northern most tip of Europe (so called the end of the world, but that’s just foolish on a globe shaped planet) I realized that about 15 years ago I stood on the southern most tip of Africa meaning I have now been tip to tip in the Old World. I’ve decided, just to be fair about it, I’ll have to do the same thing in the New World. So, I’ll be planning my next trip for Argentina and Patagonia, and then move on up to Alaska or Canada, whoever lays claim to the northern most point of North America. Just to be fair of course.

On our little excursion to the North Cape (as the English translation of the northernmost point is called – so original don’t you think?), I did see my first reindeer. First, at a Sami camp. This Sami camp brought out all my ugly, I hate being a tourist sentiments because it was a Sami family living along the tourist route who dress up and stand there with their token reindeer for some loose change the tourists will give while snapping photos. Truly, it turned my stomach. That didn’t stop me from taking some photos and throwing a few coins (here with the tanked dollar, a few coins meant $20) in the basket. My only excuse is that I’m my mom’s photographer for the trip. But still…

However, it was fun that as we drove along we saw one of the last herds of reindeer left on the coast along the highway. The look like white and brown small and fat deer. These were the last not because they are a disappearing (quite the contrary, there are too many of them), but because all the reindeer in northern Norway are privately owned herds of the Sami. Last week they started herding them up into the mountains for the winter. This herd was a little behind. It is interesting that they take the animals into the cold, snowy mountains for the winter and come down to the barren coast in the summer and not the other way around. Reindeer actually eat almost nothing all winter long, kind of like herring. Reindeer are so plentiful now that there is a moratorium on anyone owning a new herd. Herds now have to be inherited by a single child, usually the eldest son. And the fine for hitting a reindeer with your vehicle, Kr 10,000 – that’s $2,000! Can you imagine that fine if you hit a cow or sheep? Wait, my agricultural co-workers, don’t even think about it. By the way, it’s all open range here and I saw another small herd of reindeer mulling about in a small city park eating the grass! Can you imagine a herd of cows grazing in Alton Baker Park with a $2000 fine if you hit one of them?!

Remnants of the Vikings

Trondones Church in Harstad:

750 Years Old
200 Tourists
8 1/2 minute service
3 languages
1 god

With the alter squarely set over the old Viking sacrificial stone.

The Anti-Erosion Problem

This post is mostly for my agricultural friends. They have an anti-erosion problem here that we would just envy back in Oregon. They are gaining land. Nice, nutrient rich farmland. Turns out that the weight of the ice in the last ice age that ended 10,000 years ago pushed the land into the ocean. The land is still springing back up at a rate that is now about 6mm/year. But over 62 meters have been exposed up to now (that’s about 200 feet) of prime nutrient rich sea bottom. And it’s still coming. You can actually see the old sea level because all the houses are built along the original coast line since the prime farmland is below. In the area we went through yesterday they claim the worlds sweetest strawberries. The days are long and cool in the summer allowing for greater sugar conversion before they go bad. Too bad for me it was too late in the year to try any. :-(

Painting the Town Blue

Sortland, a medium sized town along the ferry route is engaged in a city wide art project…to literally paint all their buildings blue. They are off to a good start, but, oh, the color blue! I would like to come back here in a decade and see how their community art project is going. It will look pretty strange in this bleak environment.

More Stories of the Norwegian Army

I will admit that the Norwegian Army Band - North (to distinguish it from the four other Norwegian Army Bands) was a lot of fun. They are very good, even in a ship rocking so hard that our beers were sliding off the tables. How they could read music and blow into their instruments and not…well, you know, I’m just amazed. They did several concerts over two days. By far the best was the one of Herb Albert tunes. Oh, yes. I have a fondness for Herb Albert because it was the one guy that my parents loved to play records of that I remember from my youngest childhood. There is also a good name associative memory about his Tijuana Brass Band and my college escapades across the border. In a close second were the four percussionists who did a mini concert. They started with what was obviously a Grateful Dead/Hart/Kruetzmann inspired bit of Drumz. Obviously. And I’m sure that I was the only one who got it. Then a stupendous marimba piece that surpassed any expectations of what the marimba could sound like. I was in awe of this marimba playing. Finally the best piece: the four men sat down at a table with a fork and knife in their hands and proceeded with a very humorous piece called “Meatloaf” where they rhythmically demanded their plate of meatloaf through stomping and playing the forks and knives like Artis plays his spoons. In fact, considering they were lacking any spoons, I just thought this would have been the perfect place for Artis to appear and complete the scene. These guys would have brought a smile to his face.

Their final late night concert was a lot of Gershwin and Nat King Cole and Norwegian composers I, of course, never heard of. Flowers, cheers, stomping of feet and a rousing encore in a room much too small for the heavy drums and loud brass. And, damn, if they aren’t the best looking brass and woodwind band I’ve ever seen. Norwegians aren’t exactly the most congenial folks I’ve met in my travels around the world, but they are among the best looking.

The Artic Tattoo Parlor

Can anyone with tattoo knowledge tell me what the difference between a Eugene tattoo and an Artic Tattoo would be? Are they bluer? Colder? Or are the tattoo artists just better looking?

The Russian Border

Been there. Done that. Lots of dogs.

It felt like I was in a Stalleg 13 episode except the accents were different.

The Worlds REAL Most Northern Most Microbrewery

I guess I was hoodwinked about the northern most brewery being in Tromso, unless you like semantics. Turns out that in Honningsvag (um, you have to imagine a lot of vowels in that town’s name with lines and dots through them) there is a microbrew pub and it’s is much farther north and claims for itself that title. So, in the name of adventure and culture, I went in and ordered my self a pint. Nice generous pints there too. Not the normal 0.4l, but a whopping 0.6l. That’s 50% more pilsner to quaff! And quaff I did. Feeling bold I decided to ask the kind folks if I could purchase a beer glass from them. Every beer has its own glass in Europe, with the beer’s logo on it. Also, the shape of the glass is important. You would never serve a Heiferweisen in a glass made for a Pilsner. Big Foopah. I have a couple of Heiferweisen glasses from Germany back at home, but I’m lacking a Pilsner style glass. Well, not that I drink many Pilsners back home. There definitely is a difference in true European style Pilsners than even American microbrew Pilsners, much the less your Buds and Coors style watered down pilsners (note the deliberate use of lower case ‘P’ here). Oh, but I digress. Well, my lucky day they said, and gave me a free souvenir glass. “Bloody American Tourist” they probably thought and just wanted me out of there. It was family pizza lunch time in there and not time to cater to the American tourist who takes up a table for four all by himself. What I don’t understand is that here in the middle of nowhere, with not much to do in town, the microbrew closes at 2:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. Just what do they do on a Saturday night in Honnigsvag? I have a guess by the number of children running around the streets and in the pub. There were rug rats everywhere. By far more than I’ve seen in other towns on this trip.

People my age at last...oh, wait, it's the Norwegian Army!

The Norwegian Army has invaded our ship! Well, the Norwegian Army’s Brass and Woodwind Band. Really. They’ve set up shop in the observation lounge and promise a concert tonight, I kid you not, called “In a Norwegian Mood” They will also be playing tomorrow morning and evening. There is a camera crew on board interviewing and filming them and a few of them gave a little recital in the lobby. I was impressed. They would have given March 4th a run for their money and I thought, hmm, the Norwegian Army Brass and Woodwind Band at the Oregon Country Fair…

Hell's Kitchen and other Adventures in Tromso

The first thing one is told about Tromso, the largest city/town in the north of Norway is that it is a party town, especially during the period of the midnight sun. Even in the fall as the sun is well on its way to obscurity and the leaves have are past the turning to yellows and orange and well on the way to brown and dead, the town is a bee hive of activity. You can feel it on the streets that the way they counter the day-less winters is by endlessly celebrating life. They do have a mid-night sun marathon and the worlds northern most beer festival, which someday I must attend. This town sports the northernmost of just about everything, even if it isn’t quite the worlds northern most town (which I’ll get up at an ungodly hour of 5am just to set foot in – why? Because its there.) But I did enjoy a beer at the worlds most northern most brewpub – mediocre beer, but that wasn’t why I was there, was I? Interestingly it is only a block from the worlds northern most Burger King. I’m not saying if I ate the world’s northern most fast food burger. If I did, I wouldn’t admit it, would I?

My mom wanted to visit the Polar Museum. Great if you love dioramas of how to club and skin baby seals, artic foxes and other cute fury animals. They actually sell seal key chains and small stuffed seals made of…you guessed it, seal skin. Did I get one for Jasmine? Come on. Though I admit that the seal skin gloves were mighty nice and there was a brief moment where I thought, hmm…

Oh, I almost forgot about Hell’s Kitchen. Too bad this place opened after the boat took off. I really wanted a menu. Hell’s Kitchen, “Diner and a Party Too” the slogan says. I nuzzled up against the window and looked in at a very intimate old world style place. Of course the menu says “Spicy American Tapas Meny” (Meny being Norwegian for Menu). Interesting they equate American food with hell. I wish I could have remembered their menu, it was full of puns. I like the drink “When Hell Freezes Over” which was some iced liquor. When I’m back for that beer festival, you know I’ll have to go eat there.

Magic Ice, Magic Night

Well, this has been one surprising and wonderful night. I went out to the Magic Ice ice bar. That place is amazing! Imagine walking into a very very giant freezer turned into a disco club. It was pretty empty being a week night and basically only open for the ship’s tourists (it is in a rather small town), but oh, the potential! We’ve got to have one of these in Eugene! The bar really is made of ice with the vodka nicely displayed on ice shelves. No need for a freezer or putting ice cubes in your cups made of ice. The entrance has parkas and gloves for the unprepared. The cups are inverted elongated pyramids with a bowl in the bottom/top. Perfect for a few shots of your favorite drink. There are ice sculptures, ice mazes, paths, stairs and works of indescribable art. Even the seats and tables are ice with reindeer skins for seat covers. My favorite piece of art was a wall with a swirling mass of frozen mackerels in a spiral pattern. Real frozen mackerel in very clear ice. There were lots of things frozen in the ice to marvel at. Add to all this de-glow and black lighting, some good ambient music and it’s a party paradise. I could just imagine this place on a Friday night!

And so I thought my night would end until they started chatting up a night cap especially for the fjord we would pass through at midnight – a spicy rum concoction on the upper deck. The upper deck has been rather empty due to being outside and it being stormy. But tonight was a light mist. Not wanting to waste an opportunity for a little spicy rum, I made my way up. Quite a crowd gathered in the misty night. Soon the captain showed up with a trolley with a nice soup on it for everyone (he really did serve it himself!). Nice and warm, ahh… a nice way to end the evening. Then suddenly we all noticed that the distant walls of rock were quickly gathering to each side and suddenly we were within touching distance of walls of rock thousands of feet high. In the midnight dark, with only pale moonlight filtered through clouds lighting the walls, it was magical. Also a bit scary. Then suddenly music starts playing out of the loudspeakers, and I swear it was the theme to Titanic! Maybe not, but that was what I and several of the others around me were thinking as we glided past these towering walls. And, geez. if the pilot (wait, the captain was serving soup, who the hell was piloting this thing?) didn’t do a u turn at the end of the fjord, barely wide enough to spit across. Damn good piloting and we went back out. I grabbed a second and third cup of soup, ‘cause one never knows. And it was good.

Endangered Ice

I don’t feel as guilty about this as when I tried the whale meat, but there was some ping of “is this alright” when I had a glass of champagne cooled with 2000 year old glacial ice. I mean, I know ice isn’t considered an endangered fauna or animal yet, but still, there is a thrill of drinking old water isn’t there? I won’t mention that it was 10:30 in the morning, but I am on vacation. I do wish I could post pictures because I did take a nice art photo of my glass of glacial ice champagne with the actual glacier in the background.

Well, the boat is about to dock. They say there is an ice bar in town called “magic ice” where everything is made of ice, including the glasses. Culture! At last! I’ll report later.

PS. I did pass the artic circle today and I can definitly say that it is fucking cold up here!

Beer Cool Room

Today we had an exciting open ocean transfer to another smaller ferry to visit a glacier and other odds and ends. We exited through the bowels of the ship, winding down stairwells to the servents…oh, I mean crew, quarters and where they store the cars, cardboard boxes and other things these far flung villiagers need. But now I’m a bit worried. On a door just below the words “Pilot Door” which is where I guess the ships pilot is, are the words “Beer Cool Room.” No kidding. I took a picture for my life insurance agency. If I could post it I would. Does this make anyone else worry? I’m wondering now when the last time a Norwegian Ferry sank and why.

Adventure, Culture and Romance

I’ve been asked if I’ve managed to experience anything other than expensive food and bad music on my trip. Any adventure, culture, even romance?! I guess those are the things one does like to go on vacations for. It would never be to just relax and enjoy a good life. No, not me.

Well, if you read the last post, then, yes I’ve had some adventure, but certainly not romance. Romance, ah, let’s see. I’m thirty years younger than my fellow passengers and twenty years older than the crew (except the captain and first mate, but they are not on my list of possible fling material). When I was cultured today by going to the open air museum in Trondhiem the tour guide was cute! Oh, wait; she could have been my daughter. Never mind. I’m not quite old enough to need that kind of self-affirmation.

As for culture, the walks around the various ports have been very intriguing. I’m into the architecture. I like how there is much more detail in the buildings here, at least the older ones. Modern buildings are just as bland, if not blander, than ours in the States. I figured out part of the story behind the red and white houses. Red is predominant because the red paint could be made with local materials found around the farm: ox blood, mineral stained soil, etc. Only wealthy people painted their houses white because white paint had to be bought in the city, it couldn’t be made. I haven’t heard about the ochre colored houses (the color that I’ve decided those yellow/orange houses are). Often they only painted the front side of their house white. They also used lambs to keep their sod roofs neat and trimmed. Mostly to keep trees from sprouting and rooting through the roof. I’m looking for an example to take a picture of because you know it would be dang cute. I wonder if Sequential Fuels in Eugene will use lambs on their roof?

Tomorrow we go on a tour of a glacier which, thanks to global warming, is receding faster than my hairline. I think we visit a few villages along the way. I’ll report appropriately. I’m actually looking forward to our top of Norway stop where we take a bus to the Russian border in order to buy Russian souvenirs. Now that’s culture!

It had to happen

Sometime after lunch today I found myself crawling on the floor of my cabin up-chucking into one of many strategically placed foil lined bags. Every day there are one or two open stretches of sea that get a bit rock and rolling. Until today it has been fine. But as soon as it started today, I knew I was in trouble. But I laid down after my session of floor therapy and felt pretty darn good by dinner. We were back in the shelter of islands, or so I thought.

Dinner started out with a beautifully presented slice of baked brie on a cracker surrounded by miniscule sprigs of arugula and accompanied by a roasted cherry tomato. Mmm, what a wonderfully delicate start to the meal along with a nice bottle of German Riesling. A toast! But after the appetizer and before the main course of salmon garnished with an asparagus sauce, mussel and roasted potato, we hit open sea again. I’m glad to say that I kept down my appetizer and what little of my salmon I could get before I went to my room, but it was touch and go for a bit there.

I’m better. In fact when we docked for a short stop this evening in Rorvik (or something like that), I took a walk around town to steady my feet (I wasn’t going to go looking for any bars this evening). Well, me and about 60 other passengers who must have had the same need for something solid under our feet. Tonight, hungry and sober (I only had time before retiring to drink half a glass of wine) I’m dreaming of what a wonderful dessert I must have missed.

Sneaking out...

Tonight I snuck out of the room and off the boat! My mom was asleep early and when the boat made a port call at Kristiansund for an hour, I snuck out and off. Well, as much as one can sneak off of here, which is impossible since they keep such close tabs on you. It's like having an RFID tag planted in you. I'm thinking the entire cruise industry is a testing ground for the new USDA livetock ID program. Certainly we're often treated like livestock. Mooo. Or maybe that should be Baaaah.

Anyway, so I "snuck" off the ship and wandered the empty streets of Kristiansund which was pretty beautiful in the mist and darkness. I wondered into a local pub, mingled with the locals (ok, really I talked to almost no one and slamed the beer so I wouldn't miss the boat, so to speak), and started my trip back down the hill to the port. It shouldn't be hard to not miss the boat since its the largest "thing" in the city. It towers over the buildings down by the dock. You can look out from about anywhere in any of these ports and there she is, a beomoth (check that spelling Eric) on the skyline. Maybe I drank that beer too fast, but somewhere I took a wrong turn and lost the ship. Ok, no suspense here, I obviously made it back, but those last 20 minutes to get back to the ship sure seemed to go fast!

And I'm so efficient that I multi-tasked this sorte. Just before I left I put laundry in the washer (at Kr. 30 it's half the price of a beer!) and it was just ready for the dryer when I got back. I'm waiting for them to finish drying then it's off to bed. Goodnight!

The best soup ever

The food on this trip has been outstanding, from the buffets in the hotels and on the ship to the meals in the cities. Of course, it is for a price. The other evening my mom and I ate out at what is a normal pub/restraunt in Bergen, maybe a tad sophisticated, but that's normal for Europe. So a "normal" place. We had a gnochi appetizer which was just scrumptious. My mom had a divine chicken curry soup that was mouthwatering and I had a glazed lamb dish with roasted fennel, garlic and onions. We each had a drink. $175! I try to not think of how many of my friends I could have taken out to my favorite Thai restuarant in Eugene for that amount of money.

But that's not the story of my best soup ever. It's not a long story, though I could drag it out if you want. No? Ok, tonight on board we had a very nice three course dinner, the first course being this amazing soup. It was a cream soup with a touch of bacon on top. The creamy flavor was rich and hard to pin down. Too flavorfull for potato alone no doubt. Asparagus maybe? Or some artichoke? Mmm, but I was uncaringly licking the bowl in the ships dining room. So I asked on the way out. Parsnips and Fennel. I was floored. I was promised the recipe tomorrow. If I get it I'll post it and someone can try it out and give some feedback. It will be a great winter soup and I promise to make it for one of my potlucks. It will have to be a Norwegian theme, but someone else will have to make the fish cakes.

I don't mean to be stuck on bad lounge music...

but I am. It should be illegal for the soundtrack from Grease to be sung in Norwegian! It should be illegal for a bunch of drunk Americans, Germans and Norwegians (the predominant folks on this cruise) to sing along. For a moment I thought I was in a twilight zone episode. One from which there was no escape from this horror of horrors. At the moment at least, they are playing some slow jazz and I'm far enough away not to hear the singing. I'm thinking jazz, with one guy playing sax and keyboards both, can't be that good. The woman only sings, and that's the extent of the band. Oh, and she looks to be Japanese. So now you have to imagine a Japanese woman singing Grease in Norwegian. Makes you kind of sick doesn't it?

Speaking of sick, today we are experiencing a storm. In the south of the states they call this a huricane. In Oregon, I know we joke that we are just having a windy day. Here, we are a toy boat in a bathtub full of rambuncious four year old boys. I know I'm a newbie at this cruise thing because I'm just trying to stay laid down in one place without loosing my last meal while all these AARP members are eating and drinking the night away like they are at the local Elks club. The best line I heard tonight was one gentleman (American of course) who said "Gee, I'm walking like I've been drinking. Oh, wait, I have been drinking!" I bet the retired police offiers have some kind of inside joke about sobriety tests and cruises.

Ok, I promise, no more comments about the bad lounge music. Really.

I lied...

It's kr 1/minute for computer/internet use. That is $0.20/minute. Still at $12/hour I could buy a single beer for that!

The ships off with a shudder. The night lights of Bergen sliding by. Bad lounge music once again. I'm not sure I can handle two weeks of this bad of music. Maybe it is a ploy to get you to drink more beer so it sounds better or you just forget....

Oh, my animal loving friends, please forgive me!

I ate whale meat. There, I said it. What was I to do? There it sat in the buffet. Whale meat. It was a moment the world stood still (and only thought it did that when you met your true love). Didn't they know this was immoral and probably illegal? Well, maybe not, since I saw it on a menu in Bergen earlier today. But there I just sighed in disgust and had a bashing with my mum about it (Reagan conservative turned environmental liberal that she is - thanks Bush you changed her and my life! I can talk politics with my mom for the first time ever. Never ever let it be said that Bush didn't do at least one good thing for me personally). But there it was. And it was already dead, butchered and smoked. I had a duty to taste what I was fighting for didn't I? So I took one medium size piece and said a little prayer. Geez, it tasted horrible.

What tourists can't find that they need

So I'm desperate for nail clippers. I forgot mine at home and my nails are ripping at my soul. You know that feeling? For guys it's like getting a few day old fuzz...it itches like hell. I don't know about women and I won't even make an educated guess at an analogy. So, in the States, you need a nail clipper and we know just where to go...the local drug store, Fred Myers, whatever. Ever try and find a similiar store in a European city, especially downtown where the hotel is? Even the 7 Eleven is way different. Here it's all about the bread and pastries, narry a slurpy to be found. So I've spent the day ripping at my nails with my teeth looking desperatly in at high end make up stores and not finding anything but stares and snickers (not the candy kind). My mom needed a new suitcase due to a missing wheel (don't ask). She said "I don't want to pay much." and I answered, "well, have any idea where the Target or Walmart in this town would be?" Certainly not next to the place with 101 different sytles of high heeled boots, nor next to the store with $100 t-shirts. We bought what we found and we won't talk about price. But, boy, it sure is a high fashion suitcase.

Would someone mail me a pair of nail clippers? I'd probably get them faster than finding them. If I find a place that does pedicures the next time I'm in port, I'm all over it.

$1/minute for internet access!

I'm on the ship now and had so many good stories about Bergen in the rain! But at $1/minute for computer use on the ship, we'll see what happens! And I can't upload any more pictures. Just me and my words. If that doesn't scare you away, I don't know what will. Stay tuned...

Do you think dragons on the ends of my roof would be over the top in Eugene?

It's a rainy day here in Balestrand so I'm sitting at the bar/lounge at the Kvinke's Hotel drinking coffee (yes, still $4 a cup, no free refills), answering emails and reading up on Bergen in the Lonely Planet guide. My mom and I took a rather wet walk around town this morning. We have completely opposite views on what is a cute looking house. She likes the more modern houses and I like to older slightly run down ones. My houses (how posessive is that?!!) are beautiful. The ends of the roofs have dragon heads carved into them and bizzare faces in the edges of the windows. Their ornate paint job is flaking, but it must take months to repaint one of these houses in detail. Did I get pictures for you...um, no. Ok, I have this phobia about taking pictures of other people's houses. Somehow I start to feel weird about it...invasion of privacy kind of thing. I know they are probably use to it, but I'm just a bit too empathetic. I did get some nice pictures of the small church here. You'll see those later. When I'm a wealthy man and ready to build my own house, I think I'll take my architect on a tour of all my favorite style houses around the world and show her what roof lines make me drool. Dragons definitely fit in that category. Do you think dragons on the ends of my roof would be over the top in Eugene?

I like the great orange/yellow paint job on many of the houses here. My mom can't stand the color. The color seems to match the landscape for me, especially as the leaves turn color into their own shade of oranges, yellows and reds. I also figure that when the homes are 6 feet under snow, it makes it a bit easier to find. After all, in the depth of winter they get only four hours of light. It probably helps to cheer up the neighbors to look out at such a bright house. Red is another favorite color for houses. There are white houses, but they are rarer. Maybe it is natural selection as the owners get caught out all night when they can't find their house in a snow storm. This color orange, well, that would be over the top in Eugene.

Finally, I just want to make a quick comment about the sizes of the houses here. They are huge! I mean really really large. I can understand needing to be tall since you have to enter them through the second story in winter, but they are wide too. I've heard Norway has the highest birth rate in the EU (which you know must be due to the endless winter nights), so maybe they have lots of children to house.

I've put a few pictures of waterfalls up. There are so many waterfalls everywhere, but not very good pictures. Some were taken out of the train window and you can see the reflection. They are pretty darn high, especially the ones that start at the top of the fjords and work their way down...which would be just about every one. The landscape is full of them. It's almost like a virtual shower.

More Pictures from the Day's Journey

Bad Lounge Music and Good Food

If I could only stop laughing at those girls asking where all the kids go to get drunk...

We'll skip the plane flight. I mean what more can be added to the communal knowledge of airline travel concerning a trans-Atlantic flight, an eight hour layover and hop over to Oslo. Oh, but the hotel bar. Nice looking place outside of Oslo (bad location, but all we did was sleep there), but oh, the music. Imagine if Neil Diamond had a Norwegian accent and was drunk and maybe even had a mild stroke previously resulting in partially paralyzed facial muscles. Add to that $12 beers. As I have quickly learned, everything here is awfully expensive. Cup of coffee: $4 - and we're talking Dixie cup size of Folgers. True to Europe, though, the pilsners are quite good, which is important since it is often the only choice at the bar besides that American of pilsners, Bud. I did not spend thousands of dollars to travel to Norway to drink Bud. No way!

The bar tonight is stunning. It's an old hotel. Very old. The name, you ask. I'll have to look at the china in the dining room, it's printed on it. A decent piano man because he isn't singing and the local pilsner is quite good. Plus it has wireless. Hence this post.

Oh, the food. I'm gonna love Norway. The buffets are indescribably both in breadth of what is offered and how it is presented. I've never seen anything like it in the States. Separate tables for all the fish and seafood (good thing I don't like shell fish and most other sea food, so it was one less table to fill up at), another table for salads, another for main courses, another from bread and cheese and another for desserts. Oh, I think there is another table for everything else. My mom and I talked about what makes a good relationship. We'll leave that one alone. I did try reindeer. I told my mom she must not tell Jasmine that I ate Rudolph. The chef said, and this is honest to got the truth, not to worry, that this was Richard, Rudolph's brother. I wonder how many times a night he cracks that joke? Well, it was funny to me. The reindeer, it was kind of bland. Maybe knowing I wasn't eating Rudolph took the fun out it.

The day itself was spent taking a train from Oslo to Flam. Actually two trains. Oh, wait, three since we had to take the hotel shuttle back to the airport (at $20 each! I told you everything was expensive here), then take the express train to Oslo Central Station (made that by the hair or our chinny chin chin), then to Mydral. The train to Mydral was stunning. It started out looking a lot like Germany which looks a lot like western Oregon. And I started wondering why I traveled so far to see the same as I see at home. But this changed as we climbed the mountains and it turned to alpine plains dotted with homes that must be completely covered in snow all winter long. There was already quite a bit of snow. And idiots bicycling in the snow. I mean, you'd think that either they wouldn't do it or have some special Norwegian technique. But, no, they were skidding and sloshing all over the road just as I would have if I tried it. Only I wouldn't have.

In Mydral, we changed trains to take what is essentially a special train designed to jump off the edge of the fjord and survive a crash landing in Flam. You drop over 4000 feet in less than 10 miles. Through some tunnels, across a bridge or two, and through some stunning landscape. Places I could see myself living. I took photos of the train rides, and some are posted here, but they are limited by shooting through plexiglass.

In Flam, we transfered to a ferry and took a short trip through the beautiful fjord to Balenstrad (or something like that) to this really stunning hotel. See my first test post for a picture from the balcony.

All in all, a very nice day. I'll talk about our luggage woes later...

Where do all the people go to get drunk?

I was going to start off by telling about bad lounge music, good, no great food, and expensive beer, but instead I'm laughing at the girls at the bar loudly asking where do all the young people go to get drunk. And I thought only Americans were this loud and obnoxious, but these are two German/Italian girls (at least I overheard one of them say that). We're in a village of 800 people, what do they expect. It's a tourist destination and the people who could afford a place like this are not going to be in their early 20's unless their last name is Hilton and even then it wouldn't be their money. Ok, back to my regularly scheduled post...

Eric's Travels to Norway - First Test Post

Ok, so this is exactly as it says, a test post, although I am drinking a very expensive beer in a very nice hotel on the fjord. More to come...

The view from my balcony.