Made it back to the computer for part 2!
So, I left off with Friday night bedtime...and we had some partiers outside...oktoberfest Bergen style, we think...
Saturday morning was not as pretty and rain was in the forecast, so we decided to plan our day to try to avoid getting too wet. I had read about a 20 km train trip the wound through the mountains with 8 stops at various small towns, so we went in search of the train station to find out more about it. After a short search for the train station, we asked a lady at the counter and found out that this particular trip required a 2 hour train from Bergen to get to the start of the 20 km ride...ummmm, nevermind then...bummer. We had misunderstood the time frame and where it left from. That was obviously not in our future, so we headed back over to catch the Bergen-2 Way bus to check out the Akvariet i Bergen (Bergen Aquarium). They have pretty good penguin area and some nice tanks. They also have quite a variety of crocodiles in their facility...! We caught the seal show also. It isn't a huge place and maybe in need of a facelift, but it was a nice place to visit. Right next to the aquarium was a small soccer field with games going on, so we were able to catch a little of the match while we waited for the bus to come back around. On the way back, we caught sight of a street with something strung across the street...later, upon further inspection, we discovered it it a tribute to those with breast cancer and it was an awareness campaign - bras and pink ribbons draped between tops of buildings...cool!
From there, we set out to find the TGI Friday's that was near the town center. It turns out we had probably walked by it 3 times, but noticed it (thankfully) this time around! Talk about food like home...this was it! Fried mozzarella, club sandwich, salad with real ranch, and...drum roll, please...FROZEN margarita! Yeah, baby! Even the kids were impressed with their hamburger and chicken fingers!
After our late lunch we, well Spencer and the kids, took a little break at the hotel while I went and looked through some of the stores along Bryggen. I found a great cross-stitch kit of Norway that I, of course, purchased. Also out was a little open air market with homemade goods, like baked goods, jellies, dried meats, etc. I picked up a couple of homemade pancakes (very popular here with jelly or cream on them) for us to sample.
Later, we went out to check out a couple churches we had seen and wanted a closer look at. On the way back, Spencer stumbled upon a chocolate shop, so several specialty dark chocolates were on tap for him.
We then popped over to an Irish pub and sat outside so Spencer could enjoy a Guiness. We bribed the kids with ice creams so there wasn't any complaining :)
We then turned in for the night. Unfortunately, the revelers were back at it on Saturday night and they were seriously in the partying mood...all the way until 4 AM...Kyla slept through it all, Brendan was quite bothered, which means Mom and Dad were also...ah, well, if that is the worst thing, I will live with it!
We got up Sunday and headed back toward Stavanger. It was raining in Bergen and continued to rain the whole way back. We had to wait for about 30 minutes or so for the first ferry and with all the rain and wind, the water was a little choppy! We made it across and were one in a long string of cars that very shortly came to an abrupt halt...due to a downed tree across the road. Yep, we were in the midst of a small "forest" of skinny trees and the wind was blowing pretty good. A number of men, including my good samaritan husband, bailed out of their cars and went to work to get the tree out of the road. Pretty soon, there was a loud "SNAP" and the trunk broke and luckily it mostly cleared the road. I managed to grab a picture of this interesting event. Spencer said when he got back in the car that he could hear other trees cracking and making noise and the wind was blowing them around pretty good, so it was clearly time to head on because another tree was likely to come down!
The rest of the trip home was fairly uneventful. We did see dolphins swimming around the second ferry though! The captain had made an announcement, which we obviously didn't quite understand, but realized when everyone was plastered up to the windows that we were missing something cool, so we went to check it out. It was hard to get a picture, but they were neat to watch!
It was raining here at home too and has continued to rain all day today (Monday), so I am very glad we had those couple nice days on the front end of our trip! I immediately started laundry and pretty soon will be getting ready for our next excursion! We have a pretty busy four days before we head out again - I walked this morning (yes, in the rain), and tomorrow Brendan has a 4th grade play they are presenting. Mostly just the usual stuff...with a few extras thrown in.
We have also now watched the movie The Sound of Music in preparation for our upcoming trip! We will be doing the Unique Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, so we needed to watch it before we went! Luckily, I was able to borrow it from a lady I have met at the school and is also in the same yoga class, Louise.
Ok, well that's all for now!
