Norweezy

Okay, so catching up with all our travels because I am WAAAY behind...here is our Norway adventure!

While Kai was at BYU, he had a roommate from Norway named Eivind. Kai always told Eivind he would come visit him in Norway, but lets be honest, I think it was mostly talk at the time. But, since we are in London, we figured we might as well take a trip here, so we did!

Our flight left at 6am (which meant the gate closed at 5:30am), and the airport is a little over an hour away from our place, so we decided we would just go up the night before and sleep in the airport.

When we got there, there weren't many people around, so we put down a fleece blanket in a corner, and tried to fall asleep. That was at about 11:30pm. I woke up at about 1:30am and the place was packed with sleeping people. There was a family next to us who brought blow up mattresses to sleep on! Seriously, I had no idea that many people sleep in airports!

Anyways, in the morning, we packed up our stuff, got on our flight, and flew to Norway! Two hours and one crappy flight later we were in Norway!

After landing, we hopped on a bus to get to Oslo where Eivind met us. Not sure if I missed the memo, but they were both wearing pretty much the same outfit! Black hats, plaid jackets, dark jeans, and white shoes.

We walked through the city center and got free scrambled eggs on toast since apparently it was Egg Day in Norway! Then we headed up to the Royal Palace. I learned that all Norwegian boys have to serve in the military for 1 year (Eivind had been an Air Force Pilot), and this boy was lucky enough to be a Palace Guard...which meant he got to march back and forth with another guy ALL day!
From the Palace, we went to Eivind's place to drop off our stuff and by that time...we were pretty hungry. In order to get to the bus stop, we had to walk down this hill with houses that have been around for a LONG time. Apparently Norwegians were really short back then because all of the houses were tiny! Just in case you don't believe me, look at how tall I look (i'm 5'1" for those who don't know) at these people's front door! At the bottom of the hill, we got on the bus and headed to the local mall for some food.



I had heard that Norway was expensive, but I figured that since everyone says London is expensive, it would be about the same -- I couldn't have been more wrong! We went to a FAST FOOD Chinese food place and paid 20 pounds, which is like $30!

Then, we went up to this place that overlooks Norway (check out the jumping picture). I can't remember what it is called, but they have this huge ski jump thing that is apparently going to be used for a big competition in 2011. It was awesome!

Back at the bottom of the hill, we went to this huge park with tons of statues made out of marble (once again, I can't remember the name of the place). It was really pretty amazing since all the sculptures were made by one guy, but it was FREEZING (see how I look like Rudolph -- it was that cold).

This was where I learned that I do not travel well when I am cold. I wanted to check out the park, but I honestly couldn't take the cold anymore, so we headed back to Eivinds place, ate some pizza, and went to sleep.

Eivind had taken off work for the weekend, so we decided to take a road trip to a place called Stavanger. From the pictures I saw, it was really pretty, so we got in the car the next morning and started driving. The drive was sooo beautiful and it was full of lakes, trees, and long windy roads. I'm not gonna lie, it made me kind of homesick for good old PTown since it totally reminded me of driving up the canyon in the fall!




Seriously, I really wasn't lying...Norway is sooo pretty in the fall!










Anyways, after driving ALL day, we got to our hotel, which was nice, but tiny! The hotel was running a special, so we got our room for about 50 pounds, which was seriously a steal of a deal. We dropped off our stuff, and then headed out to find a dinner place. The hotel recommended an Italian place close by, so we went, ate, and then came back to the hotel. There were a bunch of people out and about and it seriously boggled my mind how they could all be out at that time...it was soooo cold! Regardless, I was glad to get back to the warmth of the hotel.

This is Kai in our hotel room -- notice how close the TV is to the bed!

The next morning, we woke up and went down to breakfast -- the best deal of the entire trip! Apparently breakfast is always included when you stay at hotels, so I was expecting the standard 'Continental' breakfast...boy was I wrong. This place had tons of stuff: crispy bacon (just the way I like it), scrambled eggs, pancakes, fresh breads, yogurt, juices, Salmon (yup, salmon filets for breakfast), a bunch of different cheeses including goat cheese (Kai's favorite), fresh fruit, and the list could honestly go on and on. It was awesome! I made Kai load up on breakfast so we wouldn't have to spend another fortune for lunch and dinner :)

From there, we headed to a place called Priekestolen.

Kai in front of the Stavanger cathedral -- notice how foggy and cold it is
Leaving Stavanger on the ferry
When we got off the ferry, the weather wasn't looking any more promising....
Then, as we turned up to Preikestolen, the sun came out and the weather was AMAZING!!!Us starting the hike...

Halfway point -- The water was so pretty, I told Kai we needed to take a picture and when I looked over, this is what he looked like -- can you say Asian tourist?! Bahahaha!

Almost there...check out the drop!

We made it! Check out the view! It was sooo pretty and definitely worth the hike!

Now for the funny part -- Kai is always the daredevil, but for some reason, this place scared him. I wasn't scared at all, so I went to the edge to look over and take pictures and Kai was terrified! After a little, actually, after a LOT of prodding, he finally made it to the edge and took some pictures.



We got really daring by the end!

Check us out!

After hiking back to the car, it was time to start the trek back to Oslo (did I mention that it was a 7 hour drive each way on WINDY roads)? As we drove out, check out the beautiful view!

We drove for what seemed like FOREVER to get back to Eivinds, but we finally made it after a few pit stops. One stop was in the middle of nowhere...literally, it was pitch black -- no street lights or light of any sort. BUT, we saw soooo many stars! It was sooo cool...it really does feel like you are in the middle of a huge dome, with millions of stars everywhere!

Anyways, this is getting a little long, so lets just cut to the chase...we all slept in the next morning and then had to pack up our stuff so Eivind could drive us to the airport. Before we left, I we walked through this huge cemetary that was right across the street from Eivinds (It sounds creepy, but this cemetary was sooo beautiful with the trees and awesome tombstones).
And, just for randomness, when we were leaving for the airport, we drove past the EY Norway office, so I had to take a picture -- I did just get my promotion bonus deposited into my bank account! I love getting money for not working...its about time! :)