August 14 through 20, 2022
It's hard to sum up a country having seen only one of its cities, so I can only talk about Stavanger in this post (we will also be visiting Oslo and Tromso in the next month or so). We are currently in Stavanger, a town I'd never heard of until this trip, and now I know that it is the 4th largest city in Norway and is almost 900 years old. I've also learned that Norway only became an independent country in 1905, which was surprising (I thought it was a country for a lot longer). Clearly I don't know much about Scandinavia 😮
I also thought it was going to be hella expensive but it's only sorta expensive. Mostly eating out is pricey but even that is not terrible. I think the exchange rate has been helping us on this trip. Dinners out seem to cost about $50-60 for both of us, but I'm pretty sure Thai Orchid back home usually runs close to that. Our hotel doesn't have a restaurant (or a mini-fridge) and strongly encourages eating out so we've tried many options, including pizza, Mexican, Thai, and Korean. Notice I didn't mention Norwegian food 😬
Art's backgammon tournament started yesterday and he's having fun. Before that, we went on a couple of adventurous excursions including sailing into the local fjord and hiking a famous (1800 ft tall!) mountain called Pulpit Rock. The sailing was lovely even if only 3 of us from the tournament came (the organizational skills of the tournament coordinator could be better 😐) and I did get some amazing sunset photos.
I bought hiking shoes in Stavanger for this hike and then mailed them to our
friend (relative?) in Tromso so I don't have to shlep them around the
next 3 countries. It was only about $15 to mail the box, as opposed to
the $500 that it would have cost to mail them from the US (crazy!). And
it appears that we can mail them home from Tromso for only $50 (huh?).
Who's making money on this US-to-Norway postal scheme? 😜
The Pulpit Rock hike nearly killed us both (but it didn't!) and was definitely one of the hardest I've ever done 😩. It was not only steep but rocky and uneven and it rained halfway up the mountain so it was slippery as well (and no handrails!). The only 2 people who came with us were clearly 100% more fit than us (those Norwegians 😉) but they were very patient. I honestly couldn't believe how many people of all sizes and ages climbed this mountain. We were personally lucky not to sprain an ankle (or die! 💀) We both agreed to call it "our last hike" this year (and maybe ever). We were achy for the next day and a half 😰.
While Art's free time is taken up with backgammon playing and research,
mine has been with reading, learning more about iPhone photography, and
keeping up with my social media (LOL). Gotta keep my 15 fans happy. We're also almost done with watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel :)
Enjoy these latest photos (btw that's really us at the top of the mountain!)
Deena and Art
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