Norwegian Wood or Fur or Meat

Ah, Norway... Beautiful but different than I expected. Or maybe I was different. Jordan could probably differentiate between the two, because he saw me do some things I never thought I'd do. I'll confess as I go along.

The "ride" in was a little bumpy, but once we turned into the fjords, the water was completely calm.

The Pilot was just headed out, and snow was still sitting on the mountains in July:

Knowing the ship's path was 15km through the fjords, in semi-darkness, made my confidence in the Pilot's arrival that much stronger. if you're interested, take a look at this link http://goo.gl/maps/ifYg0 to get an even better understanding of our route. It's a bit daunting to take a ship through here.

We slept in until 8am, ate a bit of a late breakfast, and watched the "early-riser-first-off-the-ship" people get rained on. It was the only real rain we saw for the first week, and it was over in just a few minutes.

Walking into town, we, somehow, walked past the walls of the fort. Don't judge me - it was my 2nd time zone in 4 days. Maybe we can credit my other behaviors here to that same thing, but I'll get to that...

It has more of a 'city' feel to it until you get away from the center of town. 

They have a Fish Market, which I know is not a shocker to any of you... Lots of fish(y) items:

and very large crabs:

They have whale... And, yes, I confess, I tried it. Judge me if you must, but "When in Rome" or Norway...

In my defense, there are A LOT of odd foods to eat here. "The Chef recommends":

What is surprising here is that the fish mongers speak 14 languages! You read that right - 14! I loved that, because it quashes all our stereo-types, does it not? Impressive... Spanish, Mandarin (!), Flemish - you name it.

We saw our first 2 churches in Bergen. The first was under reconstruction, so we couldn't enter. Mariakerke (St. Mary's Church) is Bergen's oldest building and dates back to the 12th century. It was the parish church for the Hanseatic Merchants from the 15th to the 18th centuries and still holds services.

This is Barbara. She's a manatee. (All Veggie Tales fans will get that...) Barbara travels with us, but, sadly, I left her in the cabin after this. So, here is her only shot:

We took a walk through town and found the City Gate, our second church (which was open and accessible), and the rows of historically wooden houses that explain everyone's fear of fire here. (Hi, Jordan. Thanks for putting up with my need to take pictures of you...)

The stained glass windows of the church were all made to appear child-like, and they had the single most interesting child baptism piece I'd ever seen. Check out the (mechanical) angel they can lower for use...

I always feel sorry for the seagulls that follow our ships. Often, they're so far from a shoreline, and I know they're just looking for food. So... during Sail-away I fed them. And they liked it. And we became "close" friends - really close.

I have 2 forms of proof we were in Bergen. Here's the first (please ignore the photo-bombing professional photographer behind us):

And, now, my final confession of this post. Here's the 2nd one:

I bought a reindeer... Judge me. I love it, and it was already dead. Does that count? I'm sorry - sort of.

A few thoughts on London

It's always a bit disconcerting to be in a "foreign country" in which they speak your language. Friends who visit us in Canada have actually said, "it's almost like being in another country." Well, yes, it is... Jordan and I found ourselves in England today and yet were more than vaguely familiar with the language. All languages are not the same; here they actually speak English, and they have every right to claim it.

A few things here surprised me, such as:

1). Darts are a BIG deal here. Crowds go wild, announcers go nuts, the cameras follow the action (of the arm and the dart's path). It's so fun to watch. The NFL and NHL fans have nothing on these people. Seriously.

2). London is a waaaaaay bigger city to walk than Rome. We're exhausted, and I have blisters for the first time ever from walking on a vacation. Oh, and 'bandaids' are called "Plasters" here.

3). Big Ben is not that big in person. Neither is Buckingham Palace. But, I think we all felt the same way when we first saw the White House, didn't we? It's still magical to stand in front of these historical places and know their legacies and importance.

4). London is way ahead of every major city I've visited in terms of healthy eating.  Jordan and I had lunch at Pret (www.pret.com) and dinner at Ravello. Both have a great fresh food, but we were really impressed that Pret makes everything that day, and gives away anything they don't sell after each meal's allotted time. They donate unsold foods to local food banks and charities. Very cool. Check out my (chicken & avocado) sandwich label:

5) Kleenex brand tissues have the softness thing down compared to every other brand in the world... My nose thanks them.

6) Baby Cambridge must be otherwise occupied. Prince George was nowhere to be found today, but "yay" for Katherine for keeping him close for now. I imagine it's not easy knowing your baby is the future King of England. If I see him, I'll take an out-of-focus picture like everyone else and post it. I know you're waiting...

7)  A standard converter will not work for a curling iron. Apparently, you need one of these 20-lb. thingys. A portable hair dryer will blow a fuse in a car during a snow storm (don't ask me how I know this...), but needing one of these was a completely new experience. I'm not kidding about the weight of it; I'm glad Jordan answered the door when they brought it up from Guest Services...

8)  Foreign keyboards always have some funky keys on them. There are these: £, €, and §. This one has an extra key next to the Z. It makes all my caps look like this:  `z  If my post has abnormalities, can we just blame them on the keyboard idiosyncrasies and not my lack of sleep? Thanks. ;-) That goes for the photos, too, okay? I promise, with sleep, they'll get better.

Off to Norway.

A Love/Hate Relationship

Our sons will probably guess where this is going as soon as they see the name Mark Schultz written here. Love them for the way they love me...

Music stirs us, and those emotions and tastes are as varied as we are. Have you ever had someone say, "You should hear this song! You'll love it.", yet when you listen to it, you're left flat? Variety is the spice of life, right?

Mark Schultz is a singer-songwriter who absolutely slays me. To say I love his work would be the truth - and a lie, because, most of the time, his songs send my spiraling into full-blown, sobbing, tears. How can I love someone's work when it throws me into sadness and sorrow? Perhaps anyone who can move me so strongly deserves to be appreciated.

It all started with a song called He's My Son. It was particularly poignant as it came during a time we watched our friend Jenny lose her son to leukemia. That was accompanied by a song called When You Come Home. I've never made it through either of those songs without crying.

I can't make it through the first line of Letters from War. "She walked to the mailbox... On that bright summers day"  Ask anyone who's ever been around me when that song starts... I KNOW what's coming, and I still start crying. It sounds silly, because, as I said, I know what's coming, and I still can't help it. (This, Jared & Jordan, would be the appropriate place for one of you to say, "Oh, Peter, I worried about you so." But that's another story.)

Today, while reading the blog Aaron in Africa, I was introduced to another Mark Schultz song that, apparently, I can't make it through either. Yay. Darn him! This one's called Closer to You, and, if I add it to the other songs I want at my funeral, it'll be the longest funeral on record. So, for those of you who love me, I'll not add it and hope that our sons, out of respect for me and all of you, don't do as I've asked and just pick a song that would be special to them. Not that I'm dying, mind you. I just have a tendency to fall in love with a LOT of music. Michael, Jared, and Jordan graciously put up with that in me. I love my guys. When was the last time I said that?

If you've not heard Mark Schultz before, search him out. You'll thank me or hate me, but either way you'll be moved - probably to tears.