Norway

We flew from Copenhagen to Bergen, Norway and stayed at an Airbnb for 3 nights.  Our flight was delayed in Bergen.  We took off and then landed again due to a maintenance issue.  We sat on the runway for 1 ½ hours getting that resolved.  When we got to Bergen, we had trouble finding the bus to take us to our place.  Google Maps wouldn't provide any bus information, and we couldn't read the Norwegian schedules. We eventually got a message back from the owner of the Airbnb about the bus number that goes near their place.  Once we found the correct bus stop, it was a 5 minute walk down a hill, which was fine going down.  Walking back UP the hill with luggage was another story... 

By the time we found our place, I was exhausted and still recovering from a cold.  Most of the kids were worn out too.  Most of us relaxed or took a nap while Alex and Savannah went out to explore Bergen.    

The next day (Saturday), we took a 3 hour bus ride from Bergen to Voss.  We had some pretty views, but didn't get to get out until we got to Voss.  We hung around in Voss for an hour or so and then took a train back to Bergen.

On Sunday, we went to the Bergen Ward for sacrament meeting.  We had a few headphones that we shared for translation.  Since we didn't understand any Norwegian (and no headphones for translation for the other meetings), we only stayed the first hour.  Nathan and Jared got to help pass the sacrament.  We met the sister missionaries in the ward and found out that one of them had served with a girl from our ward back in CA.

Later that day, Alex, Jared, Savannah and I rode the Fløibanen Funicular (tram car) up the mountain to a nice view of the city.  We thought it was just a nice view, but it turned out there were several play areas and trails up there.  We wished we had done this with everyone the day before instead of sitting on a bus for 3 hours... I even tried out the mini zipline! 

It looks like Alex is talking to the goat... he probably was!

On Sunday evening, we were working on packing things up.  Alex came up the stairs and then realized his toe was bleeding.  Somehow he had sliced it open on the stairs, and it was a pretty good gash.  We looked around the place for band-aids or something to wrap around the wound.  We couldn't find anything.  We weren't sure what to do, because it was almost 9:00pm and we didn't think any of the stores in town would be open.  But it was 5 or 6 minutes until 9:00pm, so I took off running down the hill (trying to remember where the shortcut was to the market).  There was a store still open - I tried to find band-aids or gauze or anything to wrap around his toe.  I couldn't find anything there except tape.  But while there I realized that I DID already have something that would soak up blood back at the Airbnb... I bought the tape and then headed back, handing Alex the tape and a feminine pad for his bleeding toe.  It worked well!  He cut it so it would fit around his toe, and then ended up wearing it to Oslo and through the airports and back to TX.

On Monday August 6th, we had a 7 hour train ride from Bergen to Oslo.  It was a pretty ride, but long... we got in and got on another train that took us where our motel was located (closer to the airport).  It took us a little bit to get to the motel and then to find dinner for that night and snacks that we could take on the plane (we didn't have a car at any of these places).  After dinner, we didn't have much time, but ventured out with Owen to see some of Oslo.

Some pictures from the train ride...

The Opera House was cool because you could walk on the roof!