We have had a busy few days with a fair amount of sitting in airports - oh, the joys of traveling :). In the last 3 days we have stayed in 3 different countries : Norway, Netherlands and now the UK. We are now at our last stop before heading home - still a bit crazy. It's funny how it feels like we have been gone for so long (we have) but at the same time it feels like it has goes so fast (it has)!
First, back to Norway with our last stop of the cruise in Bergen. My mom's great great grandparents on her dad's mom's side were from in / around Bergen. It is now the second largest city in Norway behind Oslo. It is a big port city and historically had a lot of fishermen. It was (still is) a rough climate in the winter resulting in strong, hardworking people.
Here are some pictures from our visit. Beautiful views.
Traditional wooden homes.
The oldest church in town from the 17th century.
A view of the port from a painting done in the 1800's which is when our relatives lived there.
A picture of that same port today.
For lunch we went to a local restaurant - tried some of the local beers and I was thinking of my mom as I had a BLT - quite yummy.
Sitting in the bar we were reminded of a story our guide in Aalborg Denmark shared on the beer tour. He said an American came into one of the local pubs and asked for a Bud Light. The bartender drew a pint of the lightest beer they had on tap and also filled a glass with water. He gave both to the guy and told him that was the best he could do and it would be up to the guy to mix his own :)
On the last night of our cruise we met two wonderful, young at heart women - Ida and Marty. They are both 81 and travel together - often with two other friends. We had a really nice time sharing travel stories and some great laughs. We hope have the same energy and zest for life as they do when we are their age.
Just like on the first cruise, there were so many wonderful folks on the crew. Two of our favorites were Ruby and CJ. They spoiled both of us - especially Craig with some special treats :)
We disembarked from the cruise yesterday morning. We really loved it - Viking was awesome. Our flight to Amsterdam was in the afternoon. Unfortunately it was a steady, strong rain when we arrived and I was fighting a small sinus infection so we stuck close to the hotel last night. This morning we were able to walk around the city for a while - but it was too short of a time to experience very much. Still, we were able to see a few things. And, it was Amsterdam, so we also smelled some interesting aromas during our walk. At one point we joked that we might get munchies just from walking around!
We walked through the infamous Red Light District - although it definitely is different on a Monday morning than at night :)
Beautiful canals - we had no idea there were so many canals through the entire city.
Some beautiful architecture.
The royal palace.
Central train station.
Lots of pigeons :)
This afternoon we flew to London and will be here until we fly home on Friday. While we have been fortunate to not have any issues communicating for the most part on this trip, it is nice to be in a country where English is the primary language - even though sometimes it still can sound like a foreign language here :). One quick story. On an earlier flight during this trip, the flight attendant was asking what we wanted to drink and I said 'water'. He laughed and said 'you're not from England are you?' Apparently my pronunciation was a bit off. Afterwards Craig and I compared our pronunciations which both sounded perfectly fine to us. Later we went online to see if we could figure out the different ways to say 'water'. Well, the way we say it actually pronounces the "t" more like a "d" - something like "wa-der". The way the English say it definitely has a "t" sound and a different emphasis - like "wat-er". I bet you can't resist trying out different ways of saying it now :)
No matter how you say it, Enjoy the Ride!
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