Santa Rides

And I have proof!  Here's Santa (really--a guy with a long, white beard wearing red cycling kit) out for a ride on a rainy Norwegian weekday:

Take my word for it, folks!

Here's what he was about to ride up:

The Trollstigen

How to Teach Your Child to Ski, Viking Style

Grab them under your arm and fly down the mountain.  You can see a photo of the entire sculpture here.  I was more interested in trying to get the expressions on their faces--the determination of the father and the distress of the baby.

Not a Lot of People Know This

It seems that no Norwegian home is complete without a trampoline in the yard.  We played a version of "Slug Bug" to entertain us during our long drives where we would slug each other every time we saw one.  After awhile, our arms were sore.

The most bizarre trampoline-in-yard experience happened as we walked through a residential area in Bygdoy, which is a part of Oslo.  As we walked to the Kon Tiki Museum from the Viking Museum, we passed a yard where three boys, probably eight or nine years old, were jumping on a tramp.  About half an hour later, as we walked by on the return trip, two of the three boys were stark naked, still jumping on the tramp.  And it's not like this was in some backyard.  It was in a side yard right next to the sidewalk.  Those nutty Scandinavians!

På dagligvarer

One of the things that I enjoy when I travel is going to the grocery store.  It gives a really good picture of what life is like for the average person in that location.

We saw the above commercial before the trailers when we were at the movies in Norway.  So when we next went to the store, I had to find  this in the freezer case.

"Cuz that's what we eat in America.

We about died laughing when we saw this.  There is another version of the packaging where the burritos are presented standing on end in small plastic cups, like something out of Pinterest.  The "crispy chicken" has this weird breading on it.  Everywhere we went that had a "Mexican" version of something (hamburger, deli sandwich) had taco chips on it.  Like old-school Doritos taco chips.  

Homer Simpson on a bread wrapper.  Just an FYI--$1 = 6 NOK

Which makes me wonder if someone is trying to sell marshmallows that are made with some fakey American recipe or a non-American recipe.

Trip Videos--Got About 40 Minutes?

It's easier just for you to go to Rowdy's blog and view the videos from there. Be warned that each video is roughly 19 minutes long. I will also add that the Israel video seems to make me look both my age and my body fat percentage, so that's not my favorite part of them. Also, they may raise questions like, "Where was that exactly?" or "How did you feel about (such-and-such-a-place)?" Feel free to ask those questions here.

The Layover

Writing you from the BA lounge as we prepare to take the final leg of our journey, from London to San Diego. Our trip was great. We went from the heat of the Dead Sea to the snow of Norway. Pictures will be posted, after we sift through them. Israel was fascinating and tense. It was really cool to be able to get a better understanding of where Jesus walked. The more modern Israeli history was also pretty interesting. Norway in the summer is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. "Wow!" becomes trite after awhile. Driving there is a pain in the butt, though. We would have been able to see so much more if the "freeway" (really two-lane or sometimes one-lane country roads) speed limit wasn't 45 mph.

Olympic City

We are stopping in Lillehammer fora couple of days. Unfortunately, Hundefossen Familienpark and the local mtb park are closed on the weekdays until next week. We spent a pleasureable hour at the Jorgenstadt water park and a tolerable two hours watching Men in Black 3. Tomorrow will be a hike and/or bike ride and checking out the Olympic stuff.

Driving in Norway

Norway seems not to have freeways as we know them in the US. They have two-lane roads that sometimes narrow into one lane. These are used by passenger cars as well as semi trucks and large buses. This results in the motorist having lots of time to reflect on the ridiculous amount of beauty this country contains. It is almost unfair. We have taken to speaking in opposites, as in, "This place is butt-ugly. How can they stand to live here?"

There is Beauty All Around

That is Norway in a nutshell. Our drive from Oslo to Goes was filled with so much spectacular beauty that it actually became monotonous after a few hours. I mean, how many waterfalls and forests and lakes and green meadows can a person take before it becomes overload? We drove through many tunnels, including the world's longest driving tunnel, measuring 25 Km in length. Once you're in there, you really have no choice but to keep going and have faith that it will eventually end.