Trip Day 4 Oct. 11

On Monday of our trip, we got up early for our tour to the Salzbergwerk Salt Mines, which are actually, at least in part, in Germany!

We went on a bus with some other folks and our tour guide - we were dropped off at the Salt Mine while the others traveled on to see Obersalzburg and Eagle's Nest which was once used as a base for the Third Reich. Our tour started by us donning jumpsuits and then we boarded a small train that took us deep into the salt mine. Along with a couple miners' slides (which the kids loved!) and a raft trip across a salt lake we learned how and where salt is mined. The tour was very interesting and there were numerous areas with elaborate displays and such showing equipment that is used in the mine and scale models of how the salt is obtained - mainly through a water leaching process that can take as long as 30 years to complete in any one area of the mine. Truly an amazing and interesting process! At the end of the tour, we each received a small container of salt to take with us! Unfortunately, we could not take pictures inside the mine.

The bus was waiting for us after our tour and we traveled over to Obersalzburg to meet up with the rest of the tour group. Our guide was awesome (wish I could remember his name...) but he waited for us to arrive to share information and the scale model of the area and of Eagle's Nest. Although we did not have the opportunity to go all the way up there (they went while we were in the salt mine) and tour the house perched on the mountain, we did get the opportunity to see and hear lots of interesting facts about the area. Eagle's Nest was a entertaining home given to Hitler. He hated it up there and only was there a couple times, but Eva Braun enjoyed entertaining and spending time there. Hitler preferred to be in the lower elevation area of Obersalzburg instead. There is also a beautiful cafe there with an amazing view and we stopped to enjoy a piece of chocolate cake and the kids had cocoa!

After our tour ended, we headed back toward the city and our tour guide and bus driver were kind enough to drop us off at Hellbrunn Palace on the way back as we were going to go to tour the "trick fountains" and the inside of the palace. This saved us quite a bit of time and we certainly appreciated the consideration!

The Archbishop that called Hellbrunn Palace home obviously had a sense of humor...he entertained and shocked his guests in his lovely garden with a series of surprise showers...we arrived just in time to catch the tour of the trick fountains and found it quite entertaining as the guide had control of them and would shower his group with unexpected baths...the whole thing is really very clever! I am including a picture of the table he used in the garden - he had a special seat where he would stay dry, but all his dinner companions weren't so lucky...

After the fountains, we headed in to see some of the palace. We were able to do a self-guided audio tour where we heard about some of the art and furniture pieces in the palace. From there we went over to the park - a trip is not a trip unless we go to a park...or two or three...for the kids! By the way, remember that Salzburg card I mentioned...it got us into the palace and trick fountains and would have gotten us into the zoo nearby as well if we had had time to go!

We then headed over to the bus stop to catch the bus back into town - we had one last stop we wanted to make before the day was over! We could not go to Austria and not go to at least one brewery, so we made our way over to the Stiegl Brauerei! What a treat (especially for Spencer :) The Salzburg Card is good here too although when we went to get our tickets for the museum, it said we were one and a half hours past our 48 hours...the ladies were kind enough to let us in anyway (although I would have paid...) and we went through the Stiegl museum. It is a self-guided tour and it was very interesting! Spencer really enjoyed it and I took a ton of pictures - I think I will do a special digital scrapbook page we can frame for him! They went through the ingredients and brewing process, which Spencer is of course very familiar with after all the time he spent at the Shiner Brewery and had all the bottles, labels, and signs from their history. They also had an area with some of the early equipment that was used in the process. After the tour, we visited one of the two restaurants at the brewery and Spencer enjoyed a cold one while the kids and I nibbled on a big soft pretzel.

From here, it was back into town for dinner - the plan was to go up to the fortress and eat at the restaurant up there, but after our trip up the funicular, we discovered the restaurant closed at 5...ugh! So, we threaded our way back through town and stumbled on a restaurant that had a big menu that included traditional Austrian food and...yep, pizza for the kids! Perfect! We enjoyed dinner and headed in for the evening.

We had a very busy day, but at this point, we feel pretty confident we have made the most of our time in Salzburg! It is a beautiful city with a lot of things to offer! It is definitely worth a stop if you are ever in the area! I am including a picture of the city across the river at night - the picture isn't great, but in reality it was beautiful!

Trip Day 3 Oct. 10

First, since today is actually Oct. 19 and I am trying to get the vacation blogs done, I wanted to post a quick update on Brendan's appointment from yesterday. They did an x-ray and we were told the bone had only "slipped" a little bit and that they really preferred not to re-cast it and that it will be fine and heal properly. We are supposed to go back in 4 weeks at which time they will hopefully take the cast off and he will be healed. Apparently the minor slipping of the bone is not a concern in children as they have years of growing still to do, but would be a concern in an adult. I was skeptical, so asked my brother-in-law, the ER doc and he concurred, so I feel a little better about it. :)

Okay, on to Day 3...

Our first outing on Sunday was the Mozart City Tour which was about an hour and a half ride around the city featuring various important sights mostly related to Mozart along with a few other locations. We learned about several more interesting sights and saw the birthplace of Mozart, where he lived, and places he wrote and performed his music. It was a good way to learn more about the city!

One of the places our tour guide, Wolfgang, pointed out was the Haus Der Natur that featured a large display and information about Christian Doppler, who was also from Salzburg. He highly recommended the museum especially for kids. Doppler is famous physicist and of course, that was hard to pass up considering Spencer is also a big fan of physics! So, after the tour, we headed over there to check it out.

I don't think I mentioned it on the previous blog, but Barbara, our travel agent, arranged for us to have these cards called the 48 Hour Salzburg Card and it was great! It gets you into all kinds of places and includes rides on the public buses...so anyway, I mention this because we go over to the Haus Der Natur and get in with our Salzburg cards and spend a couple hours in the museum. It is really, really great and was definitely worth the visit! It had everything from dinosaurs to an aquarium to human body displays, to geo sciences to space to insect collections to displays on various "ages" (i.e. Ice Age) to physics to fables and legends and more! It was probably one of the best and most interesting museums I have been to and we all enjoyed it!

After that we grabbed a bite of lunch at the festival in the square and went off in search of the bus that would take us over to Untersbergbahn, the cable car up to the top of the mountain. We stopped off at the tourist information office to get a little more information and caught the next bus out to the mountain. We were blessed with wonderful weather in Salzburg, so we knew the views would be amazing and we weren't disappointed! This cable car ride was much longer than the one we had done in Bergen! When you arrive at the top, there are hiking trails and a couple restaurants and even cabins and camping and a B&B type place. We took advantage of the photo opportunity and hiked up a little bit (not too far with Brendan's arm though!) There are many legends associated with the Untersberg mountain with one of the most famous being that Emperor Charlesmagne never really died and is instead sleeping in the mountain along with his knights and will awaken then the empire needs him most to aid his people.

We took the bus back into town and headed back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner - big plans tonight - The Sound of Salzburg Dinner Show! We had originally not put this into our itinerary, but were persuaded by one of our tour people to go - he said we would love it and the kids would have a great time! We are so glad we took his advice! Dinner was a traditional Austrian meal and it was followed by a show that included songs from The Sound of Music, Trapp family folk songs they used to perform, operettas, and several Mozart pieces. Audience participation was part of the show and we all had our chance to be on stage - yes, totally true - and the kids got a huge kick out of seeing us up there and then getting to go up on stage also!

At the dinner show, we ran into some people that were also staying at the Radisson Blu hotel and they had two little girls. We ended up visiting with them for a bit and all walked back to the hotel together. He is in the military and stationed in Germany. Very nice family. It is so funny how we happen to run into people and end up chatting and such everywhere we go -

Anyway, it was a little bit later of an evening and we have an early Monday morning...one more scheduled tour in Salzburg and then Spencer's special request...stay tuned!

Trip Day 2 Oct. 9

Before I continue the trip stuff, my sister brought to my attention that I failed to mention HOW Brendan broke his arm...school playground, rain, slippery boots and play equipment...apparently not a good combo for Brendan. He fell and wasn't able to catch himself.

Okay, on to day 2 of our trip!

We woke up and headed downstairs to have breakfast - a very nice buffet I must say. At this point, I have to mention...the Radisson Blu we were staying in is also a conference center and the conference that was going on was...are you ready...an Orthopedic Conference. Yep, how appropriate. We figured they may ask to use Brendan as an example - ha ha ha!

Anyway, after breakfast, we went over to the front desk to wait for our ride to take us to the Unique Sound of Music Tour - this is awesome - the tour picks us up at the hotel and takes us over to where the tour leaves at Mirabell Gardens (which, by the way, part of the movie was filmed). The tour heads out right on time and we are lucky to have Sue as our guide and Martin is our bus driver - a great combination! Sue is fun and enthusiastic and obviously loves her job! Throughout the tour, she shares the facts and true story of Maria Von Trapp and the movie version. She also tells stories from the filming and we see various places that parts of the movie were filmed. Here is a list:

Mirabell Garden - where Maria and the children were singing Do-Re-Mi and dancing through the gardens in the movie

The Gazebo (now housed in the gardens of Hellbrunn Palace) - where Liesl and Rolf share their first kiss and Maria and the Baron sing "Something Good"

Palace of Leopoldskron - this is where the scenes on the terrace and the boating in the lake scene were filmed

Nonnberg Abbey - from both the true story and the movie - in real life, Maria and the Baron were married here

St. Gilgen/Lake Wolfgang - picturesque area in opening sequence of movie

Church of Mondsee - this was the location of the movie wedding between Maria and the Baron. Also in this area is where the children climbed the trees

And before you ask...yes, I took pictures of every place! I can only put 5 pictures on each blog, so I will just choose a few!

After this tour ended around 1:00, we walked back through Mirabell Gardens and then headed over to the funicular to go up to Fortress Hohensalzburg (which you can also see in several scenes of the movie.) From the fortress you can look out over "Old" Salzburg and see for miles! There is also a tour where you can get a glimpse at the old chapel and see artifacts and items from as far back as the 11th century when the fortress was built. There are restaurants and lookout points as well as the museum at the fortress. We rode the funicular up, but walked back down right into one of the big plaza squares.

From there, we went in search of dinner and ended up eating at the StieglBrau where we enjoyed more wonderful Austrian food (we are hooked)! After that, it was time to head to the hotel to turn in for the night with two worn out kids and two worn out parents as well!

It was a fun day and we saw tons of beautiful sights with more to come tomorrow!

Stay tuned...

Friday, Oct. 8 - Vacation Day 1

And, the adventure begins...

We managed to make it over to the bus stop to catch the Flybussen to the airport here in Sola around 7:40 and made it to the airport around 8:00 AM. Luckily, Spencer was able to check us in the night before and get us seat assignments all in the same row. We checked in our luggage and found a cafe to sit down in and relax for a few minutes.

The flight to Oslo was short and once we were there, we navigated the airport and headed to our gate for the flight to Munich. The most exciting part of that little layover...the duty free shop! It was considered an international flight, so you are forced to walk through duty free. I found and purchased a BIG bag of peanut M&Ms in the duty free shop, which we quickly gobbled down. They didn't last long...

We had another blessedly uneventful flight to Munich and headed over to baggage claim where - YES! - all three of our bags made it to the correct destination! We collected our bags and headed over to find out how to get over to the rail station for our ride to Salzburg. After stopping to ask several people, we finally found the train area and had our rail passes validated and got instructions on what train to take to get to the main rail station. Luckily, we had a little time to spare, so we weren't too rushed.

Now, this is where it gets crazy...we take the train to the rail station with no problem. We find the departure board and figure out where we need to be for our rail to Salzburg...all good...then, our train is late. Okay, not a big thing. Then, the sign changes for our track...getting a little nervous...can't figure out the trains because they all look the same...then a train pulls up and it says Salzburg Hbf, so we think this must be it...mind you the trains only stop for literally 2 minutes and it takes us that long to get on! We can't find our exact seat assignments, so we just sit down and hope we are in the right place. Well, then the ticket man comes by and says...you are on the wrong train. WHAT???!!! We are thinking, oh sh*t! The guy says to get off at the next stop and catch the next train which will be on the same rail in a few minutes. We are not feeling good about his instructions, and are talking between us when a guy sitting nearby comes over and explains the train deal and confirms what the ticket guy has said. Apparently there are regional trains and longer distance ones and we ended up on a regional train. We chat with him for a few minutes and thank him for his help.

We jump off at the next stop and start watching the signs and departure boards for our train. We are expecting it to be on the same rail as the previous because that is what we had been told when about that time a train pulls up on the next rail over that looks suspiciously like the one we want...we run over with our luggage and they are about to close the doors. I yell down to some train conductor guys and say, "Wait! Is this the EC 319 train?" They kind of nod yes and we hop on praying we are now on the right train. Finally the ticket guy comes around and thankfully we are! WHEW! Talk about a tense hour in there! We were so relieved!

Anyway, we arrive in Salzburg and start looking around for the hotel. We feel sure it is near the train station, but after circling around a few times, Spencer finally relents and we go to the taxi stand only to find out it is about a 5 minute walk and he points us in the right direction.

We check into the hotel - Radisson Blu - and it is very nice and the room is really spacious! By now, it is dinner time and we head down to the front desk and ask for a recommendation of a good restaurant nearby. The very nice staff send us over to a place called Zum Guten Hirten and it was delicious! Traditional Austrian food and only about a 5-7 minute walk from the hotel! We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and Spencer and I are immediately in love with this style of food!

We head back over to the hotel and settle in for the night. We have a big day planned for Saturday!

I am attaching a couple pictures Spencer took in the airport just for fun. These were obviously taken here in Norway with the troll and Norwegian plane.

Going back to Oct. 6th...

I have to backtrack a little before I get to the vacation stuff...

Wednesday, October 6th the weather dawned cold and rainy with no chance of a break from it. Spencer left early to catch his flight for Oslo and I got the kids off to school and came back home to get the apartment in order and laundry done in preparation for our trip (okay, and I confess, I went back to bed before I started on that...)

Anyway, I am slowly getting things accomplished and I get a message from Spencer to call him at a number NOW...Oh, oh...so I call him and he says, "Brendan broke his arm. You need to call this number right now." WHAT???!!!! So, I am frantic, of course, and immediately call the nurse at the school. She tells me what has happened and I need to come to the school right away to take him to the sjukehus (basically the ER.) I can hear Brendan in the background yelling, "It hurts like crap!" (and, yes, that is a direct quote...lol) so now I am in tears and I ask if someone can go with me to the hospital (I only have a vague idea where it is, and now I have an injured (and very dramatic) child I have to calmly drive...ummmm, not gonna happen...so the nurse says she will drive us and I grab purse and run out the door. I get to the school and realize I did not bring Brendan's person number (Norwegian ID number), have no make up on and haven't even had a shower yet that day...and, Spencer is in Oslo, Kyla is still at school, and I will have to leave my car in the school parking lot. Okay, one thing at a time, right...

The nurse, Cathy, drives us to the hospital and graciously stays with us through the first few steps before she has to head back to the school. In the meantime, I have received an email from Brendan's teacher who also happens to be Kyla's friend Anouk's mom and she says not to worry about Kyla that she will take care of her. Thank goodness and God bless her! First, we fill out a form and wait...then, we are called back and someone (a doctor, perhaps?) does an initial evaluation and we wait...then we head over to x-ray. We check in there and wait...after a little while, we are sent to one of the numerous x-ray rooms. From there, we are sent to the poliklinikk where we wait and are then called in to a room. We wait a little longer and a doctor comes in and basically tells us they looked at the x-ray, it is pretty bad, and will require sedation to line it back up but we have to wait 6 hours after he has last eaten and wouldn't you know, this happened right after lunch (around 12:30) and we are still hours away from the 6 hour point (okay, at this point, I am thinking a conscious sedation sort of thing in order to cast it.) Now a guy comes in and puts on a temporary, but more sturdy cast and Brendan is put into a bed and wheeled over to what they call triage. At this point, I am beginning to realize when they say sedation, they mean operation...

After the triage room, he is moved to another floor and put in a room where we wait some more. A doctor comes in and talks to us, asks a few questions, and I don't get any more information than I had before...she didn't have answers for us. We wait in that room quite a while, nurses come in and out debating in Norwegian whether they are going to draw blood and make an attempt to put in an IV. It was a no-go and they will only try once and then get someone else to try. After a while, we are moved to the Barn Rom (kids' room) which is basically a room that will hold up to probably 8 beds or so. There, we end up with another family with a 6-year-old with almost the exact same injury and they are about 2 hours ahead of us in the process. We still haven't seen the orthopedic doctor or surgeon. Eventually the nurse comes in and I ask some more questions...basically, I will not see the surgeon because she is in the OR now, will be doing the little boy next to us next, and Brendan after that unless and emergency comes in sometime in between. So, we wait. At least I have someone to visit with now. The parents of the little boy are very kind and we chat for a while. After a couple hours, they come in to take the little boy to surgery and by this time, it is about 8:15 pm. A little over an hour later, they come in to take Brendan. By this time, Spencer is back from Oslo and is trying to get Kyla's situated and the retrieve the car from the school parking lot. Kyla ends up staying the night with Anouk and her dad takes Spencer over to get the car. I am required to stay with Brendan until he is sedated and this turns out to be horrible. Two more nurses try to start IVs and his little veins keep bursting...they finally get one precariously situated in and start the medicine, but it isn't a strong IV and the sedation is very rough. They finally get him to sleep (and end up putting a new line in after that.) In the middle of all that, Spencer has made it to the hospital and is searching for us and I have no idea how to direct him...I come out of the OR area to a waiting area and see Spencer sitting there! YEA!!! Now, it is after 10 PM and we wait to get word that Brendan is out of surgery.

After about an hour, we are called back into what is basically the recovery room and sit with Brendan while he is waking up. Brendan is fighting to wake up and trying to get out of the bed...he is a wiggle worm! He is thrilled to see his Daddy and shortly we are moved back up to the Barn Rom where we join the other little boy and his parents. The night nurses are very kind and bring a bed in for us to sleep on beside Brendan. Spencer has found us food (neither of us had eaten) and the nurses bring a very hungry Brendan some crackers and juice. We then settle in for the night. Spencer heads out early to go to work (remember we are trying to leave for vacation on Friday and it is now Thursday morning.) I stay with Brendan anxiously waiting to see the doctor. Eventually, we are wheeled down for another xray and the doctor visits (now mind you, this is probably the 5th doctor we have seen and never the same one twice.) I again reiterate that fact that we are flying on Friday so that they will fix his cast to allow for additional swelling. The doctor is okay with this and sends someone up to slit the cast so he can travel. The only issue that is I am now dealing with is the fact that they want to see him in the clinic on Friday, Oct. 15th and we fly back that day, but too late for the appointment. I ask about Saturday, but they do not do Saturday appointments and the doctor is less than thrilled with Monday...oh, oh...he eventually relents and we get a Monday, Oct. 18 appointment for his check up. Whew! The other boy and Brendan get their release instructions and we call daddy for a ride home! By now it is about 11 AM Thursday, so this has been an almost 24 hour detour from the plan...

We get Spencer back to work and I head home to regroup. Later that afternoon, I take Brendan up to the school to gather his belongings and all the work he has and will be missing...because, now he has missed part of Wednesday, all of Thursday, will miss Friday for our vacation, and will miss most of the Monday they return to school for the follow-up appointment...super....I also check in on Kyla and see my sweet girl for a minute. Okay, so NOW I can focus on getting us ready for our vacation...!

After a very busy Thursday evening, I have suitcases packed and a family ready to head out on a much anticipated trip to Salzburg and Munich! Stay tuned for our vacation blogs and photos...(it may take me a week to catch up on it all!!!)

Bergen Part 2 - Sat-Sun

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!

Bergen Part 1 - Thur-Fri

Ah, the long-awaited blog about our weekend...here it goes! And by the way, it will be a two-part series for you die-hard readers! I want to include as many pictures as possible! It's a beautiful city with amazing sights and views!

So, we headed out Thursday morning about 10:30 and the sun was shining! We made it to the first of the 2 ferry rides and only had to wait about 20 minutes for the ferry. Not bad! We continued on and arrived just in time to catch the 2nd ferry with almost no wait at all. Now mind you, these are HUGE ferries! On one of the rides, I think there were 4 big trucks and a couple buses, not to mention all the cars! The ferry has two levels for vehicles and then a inside deck. You are also required to leave your vehicle and can buy food and snacks at the cafe. Of course, ferry rides are not complete without snacks...we put them off for the first one, but splurged for snacks on the second.

The drive to Bergen is only about 4 1/2 - 5 hours even if you have to wait a bit for a ferry. It is not a bad drive and the scenery is beautiful. I would have to say (and I am sure Spencer would agree) the worst part is the speed limits...pretty slow here, and since we have NO desire to get a ticket (which costs a small fortune) we always ended up with a line of cars behind us. Some finally gave up and would pass us, but that is not easy to do on the curvy roads! There are also numerous tunnels to go through, some as long a 7-8km! And get this, there are cameras inside the tunnels to snap your picture if you are speeding. Now once we got into the Bergen area, it was much more confusing to navigate, but with Spencer behind the wheel, we got to our destination with only a few wrong turns.

We were staying in a hotel called Det Hanseatiske Hotel and it was right by the harbor and Bryggen area. The hotel is tucked in between several restaurants and is small and quaint. It is 4 stories tall (we were on the 4th floor), but the first is the lobby and the second floor is where breakfast is served and had entrances for several restaurants. The room was really quite big and plenty of room for all of us. Obviously updated, the bathroom sported a big walk-in shower (which we loved since ours here is so tiny!) and a claw-foot tub too! They brought in two cots for the kids and there was still plenty of space!

Once we got the car safely parked in a nearby garage and dropped off our bags, we headed out to look around a bit. We headed down past the shops of Bryggen and were excited to find Bergenhus Fortress! It is a beautiful medieval castle of sorts with many buildings and lovely grounds to walk around, almost like a park. Parts of it are being renovated as well. We managed to find a map and Brendan was in heaven - off in his own little world exploring and looking for the various buildings, like the church and the bunkers, and the guard gate, etc.! I am also including a picture of it!

After we walked around a bit, we took off in search of a restaurant for dinner. And let me just say, Bergen is full of restaurants! We finally decided on a Mexican food at a place right under our hotel called Casa Del Toro and boy did we score with that choice! It was delicious! Tex-Mex at its best and I even had a margarita (not frozen, but it was yummy!) We then went up to chill in the hotel and rest up - I think we were all a bit tired and turned in early!

Friday morning dawned with the promise of a sun-filled day and we were so glad! We enjoyed breakfast in the hotel and then set off in search of amazing views and Bergen's best sites! Our first stop was Mount Floyen and ride up the funicular! We went early and with the exception of riding up with about 50 high school kids who were apparently out on a field trip...it was a great ride up - about 7 minutes from start to finish! We basically had the whole lookout area to ourselves! When you arrive at the top, WOW! You could see for miles (or kilometers, hahaha!) We did some exploring at the top and took in the views from the lookout area. There are numerous trails to explore at the top as well as a playground and the troll forest. Brendan and Kyla had so much fun looking for all the trolls and climbing around! I have a ton of pictures from troll forest as you can imagine! I will have to do a whole page in the scrapbooks of just pictures of the kids with the various troll statues! I did see the history of the troll in Norway and it is basically one of their main fairy tales dating back to the Viking times.

We decided to take the walk down rather than riding and it was a nice walk as well with great views all along the way! After that adventure, we took in more of the sights around town including the Fish Market! Spencer and I enjoyed fish and chips and then treated the kids to pizza at Peppe's Pizza. After lunch, we purchased a Bergen 2-way ticket that included rides on a special bus to both Mount Ulriken and the Aquarium plus the tickets for those attractions. We decided that since the weather was so good, we would go ahead and take the cable car ride up Mount Ulriken. I am so glad we did! This is another of the "7 hills" that surround Bergen and the view was spectacular! We hiked around up at the top for a while and then decided to go ahead and take the cable car back down, mainly because of two kids that were not thrilled with the option of walking... We met the bus back down at the bottom and headed back into town. After that, it was time for dinner! We stopped at a place right by the harbor and found a table outside on the sidewalk so we could "people-watch." It turns out, we were sitting next to some people with a little girl about Kyla's age named Serena. They heard us talking and asked where we were from and that set the stage for a friendly and lively chat with them! Serena and her mom had lived in Florida for a few years and the kids hit it off visiting with each other. By the end of the conversation we were a phone call away from being invited to a crab boil at their house then next day! LOL! We exchanged numbers, but didn't end up hearing from them (not that we really expected to, but...)

By then, it was time to turn in for the night! I am including pictures from these couple days and then I will do part 2 with the rest of the trip!