Stavanger, Norway

Javan and I arrived around 1 pm in Norway. We had a direct flight from Amsterdam and since it all seemed so simple and Javan was checking his bag, I figured I might as well check mine. BAD IDEA!!! I have a fear of checking bags, I never do so unless absolutely required and I remember why…especially when flying KLM. Well, upon arrival we wait, and wait, and wait for my bag. It never arrived. Turns out, it never caught the flight, or the next one. It finally caught the last flight over and was delivered to be at 12:30 am by the biggest burliest Norwegian I have yet seen. Most are tall and elegant and pretty, this one stepped out of the NFL including tattoos on his hand. He was nice though, and I did feel safer knowing he was guarding the hotel during the sinister hours.

The work day was pretty normal, but their hours of 8-4 with a 30 min lunch are pretty awesome. It is a combination of many of the great things I have learned throughout my experience in the corporate world. I miss getting off at 4 so it was great to have some free time in the afternoon to do things. It also helps that this country never really gets dark during the summer. Carean also met us in Norway so we did more culinary exploration. This is another country that isn’t starving and knows the finer things in life. They also know how to price gouge on EVERYTHING!! One evening I had venison, then the next we had fantastic Italian. On Wednesday night, June 23rd otherwise known as Midsummers Night, there was a special cruise offering. It went into the nearby fjord and underneath Pulpit rock. Next time I am hiking up to the rock and looking down. Javan and Carean didn’t want to go so I was on my own. As I was sitting there, a guy walked by with an NOV back pack. I figured he worked for the company and didn’t think much more of it. When he came back up for picture taking I started looking at him and thought he looked familiar. Turns out, I had a seminar with him back in October in Houston. It really, truly is a small world. This was the last place where I thought I would run into someone. When we arrived back on shore at 11 pm the harbor was hopping!! There was live music playing and people EVERYWHERE! I could have stayed out and enjoyed the party and atmosphere for a long time had I not needed to work the next day.

On Thursday, Javan and I headed to the oil museum after work. It was a great museum and very interactive. They had samples of crude oil from different parts of the world so you could compare, examples of rocks which make up the different formations in the ground, as well as all the different tools involved in drilling. Turns out, NOV even donated a driller’s chair. Javan drove it, I don’t know how his well drilling went, but he didn’t blow anything up. We did learn, though, that his ROV driving wasn’t too hot. They had a simulator of what it was like to steer an underwater remote operated vehicle and I can only imagine what the engineers in Houston are going through with the well a mile under the water in the Gulf. I give them props for doing what they have done. If it were left to me, that well would still be gushing full steam ahead and my ROV lost somewhere in Venezuela.

After the museum, we had sushi for dinner and Javan headed back. We were both heading back but somehow I got left behind and then left to my own devices. I found an ice cream shop then wondered the old streets of Stavanger. After getting back to the hotel at 9:30 pm I saw some big dudes in the lobby. I turned the corner and who is standing there giving autographs? None other than my dear friend Snoop Dogg. He had a concert the same evening that started at 9. Considering he was already late for it, I’m glad I spent my money on a fjord cruise rather than his concert. I heard today (Friday) he didn’t even do an encore and was a total of 1.5 hours late. Dang him…disappointing his fans. I am currently at the air port waiting for my flight back to Amsterdam where I will meet up with my German host parents Uwe and Andrea for a weekend of catching up and packing my life away. Maybe Snoop will be on my flight…he has a concert in Berlin next. Google told me.

A small town on the waters edge outside of Stavanger. This picture was taken aroun 11 pm. The advantage of living so far north.

A view from where our bbq was held. It was only accessible by boat and the guys were building a bon fire for after dinner.

A small harbor area and apartments in Stavanger


The Lysefjorden which is popular for hiking...

...mostly because it contains Pulpit Rock which is 1800 ft above the water. Next time, I'll be looking down from it.

Stockholm

After jumping on the train in Malmö and traveling through the beautiful Swedish country side that alternated between evergreen trees, lakes, and cute cabin/houses I arrived in Stockholm. My 2nd cousin Melanie met me took me to one of her favorite restaurants for a late dinner. Since I had family in the area, I figured I better take advantage of them while and I could and her and her husband were nice enough to let me stay with them. They have a wonderful place out on an island outside of the city. The island has about 20,000 people total so it is quaint, but large enough. Melanie’s husband also plays in a semi professional soccer league and they had a big game on Saturday with their local rivals. Melanie and I went first to Drottningholm Palace where the royal family lives and took a tour of the beautiful estate. Since they still live there, only a small portion of the palace is open for tours but you may wonder the grounds at will. We got lucky and had great weather so there were people laying out all over with feet in the fountains and boats on the water. There was a yacht pulled up to the dock by the palace so I would guess it belongs to the royal family, but I didn’t stop to ask anyone.

After the palace tour we went to the soccer game where her husband’s team ended up winning. Everyone was in a great mood after that which always makes things more enjoyable. Saturday evening we headed into the city for a walk around Stockholm then eventually dinner at an American favorite, TGIF. On our way though, we...well, more I, saw a beautiful sight. It was a tall, muscular Swedish man lifting heavy building materials at a construction site. He had longish blond hair and was wearing a tank top with perfect jeans and boots. He had the look down. Luckily we got seated outdoors in eye shot of this beautiful creature working. Melanie and her husband had a great laugh over my entertainment with, what we call, “the sexy Swedish Viking man.” After dinner we went out and experienced a bit of the Stockholm night life and had a lot of fun. Those Swedes know how to get down and sing those 80’s songs!

My flight left late Sunday evening so Melanie and I took an enjoyable and slow Sunday. We had some great discussions about politics, history, family, and business. It was also neat because Melanie gave me a run down on the other side (my dad’s side) of my family that I don’t know as much about. We headed into town to do a bit more sightseeing but all we ended up doing was hanging out at the train station drinking wine and having a muffin. The conversation was just too good to pass up and it is always very enjoyable to have an intelligent conversation with friends.

I fly quite a bit, especially with the way my life has been going. I never get lucky. On the flight home I got seated in the exit row AND next to a tall, cute, Dutch banker who was 32. I had more intellectual conversation over politics, history, and books. I felt like I hit the male jackpot over the weekend.

In the city. Stockholm is basically made up of a bunch of small natural and man made islands connected by bridges. Don't fall in!

Melanie and her husband

The view from Melanie's porch. Since we had such great weather, we ate breakfast out here. When they moved in, they had a view clear out to the water. Those pesky neighbors!

Stockholm and the wonderful weather we had

The Royal palace in Stockholm

Malmö

Friday morning I enjoyed sleeping in, again, and didn’t get a very early start. Due to this late start I wasn’t able to go and see any more sights in Copenhagen. There were a few things that I would have liked to have seen but I guess I’ll have to see them next time. When I got to the train station, I had to stand in a line that did not move for my train ticket. I watch all the other lines around me moving quickly and by the time I got the courage to switch lines, that line would have gotten a new influx of other impatient travelers. Usually, whenever I switch lines it seems that one gets stuck for some reason and then my old line moves rapidly. I decided to be patient as I wasn’t technically in a hurry. I bought my train ticket to Malmö from Copenhagen which goes over the Øresund bridge which is the first non water (ferry) connection between Sweden and Denmark. The bridge started construction in 1995 and was finished in 1999 3 months ahead of schedule even though they ran into a few setbacks (finding unexploded WWII bombs on the sea floor and a skewed tunnel segment). You can check out more information on the bridge and see aerial photos of it HERE.

My guide book told me (again) to start with a canal tour and since this one left right across from the train station, that is exactly what I did after stashing my bag in a locker. I am getting pretty good at that now but I did have a few mishaps and lost about $5 due to the machine being mean. I headed over and bought my ticket for the boat but I had about a 20 min wait since I just missed the last one. I walked into the city square and took some pictures and grabbed a warm chi tea because it was FREEZING out. I then headed back to the boat dock and started bundling up and wrapping my scarf for maximum warmth since I knew it was only going to get colder being on the water. The water cruise was a bit over an hour long and like Copenhagen; their harbor area is becoming quite inhabited and new modern housing buildings are being built left and right. Malmö also has a few luxurious gardens, one of which is the King’s Garden that I strolled through. It was a quick few hours there but very enjoyable.

A fountain and pretty flowers in the King's Garden

Cute little houses

These ducks almost attacked me. I reas ready to start kicking but luckily they flew off before things got dirty.

They put cats and fountains on the stairs so that people feel less lonely sitting on them enjoying the river

I had to include a Swedish viking ship

Copenhagen

Well, last Wednesday evening I flew out of Schipol direction Copenhagen for my first trip alone. I have travelled alone but I have always had somebody waiting for me on the other end. This time, I was all on my own. I didn’t arrive in Copenhagen till around 11 pm and I caught the train ticket agent just before they closed. I got situated and hopped on the right train and headed into town. Thinking back, I’m surprised how easy it was. I guess once you figure out these European systems, the rest goes pretty smoothly. I forgot my papers with the map to my hotel but I have a visual of it in my head and I start walking off in the direction I see hordes of drunken teenagers walking. I figured that would be a good sign of the direction of city center, or at least a bar. Thursday, May 13th, was Ascension Day which is a pretty big holiday across Europe I guess everyone was making the most of their day off. My hotel was super easy to find, right on the main square in downtown Copenhagen. I was going to go for a hostel, but I chickened out and after seeing how everyone was partying, I am sort of glad I was able to seclude myself from the masses.

I had big plans for Thursday but really nothing planned. I just wanted to go out and see the city. Well, my plans got delayed a bit by my love for sleep so I took advantage of the free time and slept in. I then enjoyed a not-cheap breakfast and headed out into the city. The book said to take the canal tour first to get situated with the city but I decided to stop by the royal area first. The 3rd major palace is located in the area as well as a few royal museums. Since it was a holiday, most things were closed. I didn’t think about that one. However, in the palace you can go down into the cellar/basement area and see the foundation remains from the 2 previous palaces that were built in the exact same spot. It seems that history repeats itself, though, because they both burnt down due to stove pipes not being cleaned properly and catching on fire.

My guide book recommended a few cafés to take a break at while following their recommended walking tour. I figured, if the book says so, it must be good. It was. I took a break at Cap Horn one of Copenhagen’s first organic restaurants. It is located by the old harbor, Nyhavn, with outdoor seating over looking the water and boats. One of the Danish staples is Smørrebrød and they had a wide variety of them. It means bread and butter which it is usually a piece or dense rye bread with butter and topped with fish or meats. I went for pickled herring, salmon, and roast beef. I had to eat herring once while I was in the area and it was quite delicious. They all were in fact. Since I enjoyed my lunch for 2 hours I ended up taking a late boat tour that was only supposed to last an hour but ended up going for about 1.5 hours. This isn’t usually a big deal but it made me late enough that I wasn’t able to go into anything else because everything was closed. I enjoyed the tour, though, and learned a lot about the city and its history. In the evening, I made my way back to the hotel slowly enjoying the city and an ice cream on the way. For dinner my book recommended visiting Tivoli gardens and a restaurant located in there.

Tivoli gardens are basically a large, classy theme park. They have rides, roller coasters, performing theaters, games, and a wide variety of food establishments ranging from vendor carts to gourmet restaurants. The nice part about going North is that spring is just now arriving and their tulips are just starting to bloom. I loved being surrounded by flowers…again so I had to take plenty of pictures. I decided not to go with the guide book and go with the happening resteraunt which is usually a good sign according to “Restaurant Roulette” and this time it didn’t disappoint. I read my book while having a peaceful dinner glancing up at families with running, screaming kids and thankful I didn’t have to worry about those yet. After dinner I walked through the park and even treated myself to a small Candy Floss (cotton candy) because I hadn’t had any in YEARS and I figured I was in the right place for it. I also remember why I probably won’t have any again for another several years. The sticky fingers just aren’t worth it! I have included more than enough pictures and I hope they aren’t boring. Tomorrow, my trip to Sweden!!

This is the town hall with a world clock inside that has 14,000 moving parts displayed between a double sided glass case. It was closed though, so I didn't witness it.

The 3rd of the Copenghagen palaces, of which the ruins from the first 2 are located underneath it

The royal library

Nyhavn

Nyhavn

This is the only picture I have of me in Copenhagen (the downside to travelling alone) so I thought I would include it as proof. I feel like it makes me look old and displays my future crows feet. I need to invest in some of that anti wrinkle cream!

The old harbor was historically industrial and the city is trying to make it into the new, hip area. Many modern buildings are being built, including this one, the new theater.

This used to be the largest ship building factory in Denmark. Now, it is modern apartments

These used to be cannon boat houses. Since the slope towards the water, the cannons could easily be rolled out onto boats and ships quickly if needed. Now, they are offices, meeting rooms and apartments.

Amalienborg, the queen's residence. I think the name correlation means something

The inside area of palace area

A building in Tivoli park. During my visit there, I got to watch a pantomime performance about arranged marriages and giving your first born child to the devil. Quite interesting

Couldn't skip the flowers

The roller coaster and chinese house in Tivoli. Also, bumper boats. They didn't look like much fun since one could probably row faster than they moved.

More pretty flowers :)

The main characters from the most famous Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson. I even bought one of his books there containing his 14 most famous stories including the Little Mermaid, the Ugly Duckling, and The Emporer's New Clothes. I didn't get to see the little mermaid sitting on the habor shores because she was in China at the Danish World Expo exhibit. I am still a bit dissapointed

Joe & The Juice have the right idea. I don't know if you can read, but some of the juices have interesting names. One way to sell your product!

I definitely couldn't miss taking a picture of a pink tulip!!