http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/AllisonNorway/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from AllisonNorway en-us Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:41:47 +0000 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:41:47 +0000 I arrived back in Bergen Friday morning at 7am. I headed back to my dorm to pack and check out of my room. I had two more mountains to climb. After turning my keys in and leaving my stuff in Stephie's room she and I headed to climb them. It was late afternoon when we started and it took about two hours to climb Lyderhorn. When we reached the bottom we were both exhausted and it was starting t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-308724.html Both Sandra and Angel had to work Wednesday so Chaz and I took the day to tour Frankfurt. We traveled to the top of the Main Tour for spectacular views of the city. We stopped in multiple tourist gift shops looking at cuckoo clocks. As we didnrsquot get a chance to go to the black forest I decided to look for my cuckoo clock in Frankfurt. I found a beautiful one in one of the shops and aft http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Hessen/Frankfurt/blog-308720.html Our train arrived in Munich at 2am. Marvin had arranged for us to stay with a friend of his that night. In the morning we checked into our hostel locked our luggage and headed to the city center. We had lunch at Donsil a restaurant with nice outside tables. We split white sausages a pretzel roasted pork and potato dumplings and topped it off with a cold beer. I am really enjoying the fo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-308718.html After saying goodbye to my parents in Oslo I took a few a few trains busses and a flight and arrived in Kln Germany late on Thursday evening. I had decided to spend my last week in Germany. Luckily Chaz was able to find the time and money to join me. His flight wouldnrsquot arrive until the morning but his roommate from last year Marvin is from Kln and was nice enough to offer us http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/North-Rhine-Westphalia/Cologne/blog-307102.html We arrived in Stockholm Saturday evening and headed to our hotel Rica Kungsgaten. We explored around the hotel and shared a calzone for dinner. We slept in Suday morning and enjoyed a large breakfast. The hotel offers crepes eggs bacon sausage sliced meats and cheeses cereal fresh fruit fresh breads and much more. After breakfast we walked along Gamla Stan old town Stockholm. We stop http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-302376.html Friday morning upon arriving in Copenhagen we headed straight for our hotel to drop off our luggage. Luckily they had a room ready early for us. After leaving our luggage in our room we headed to a bakery at the train station for crosants. Then we took a walking tour of the city again guided by Rick Steves. We walked along the Stroget a long pedestrain only street. We also took a rainy cana http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-302370.html This past week has been a busy weekOn Tuesday morning we woke up to pouring rain in Bergen. We took the bus to the train station to catch our train to Voss. This was the first leg of Norway in a Nutshell a popular tour of Norway. In Voss we caught a bus to Gudvangen. We traveled along the winding road in the rain. We passed numerous waterfalls and drove down a switchback road to the bottom of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Ostlandet/Oslo/blog-301960.html My parents arrived Friday night. After meeting them in the city around 10pm we walked up the hill to my dorm. Nothing like a 30 minute hike after over 24hours of flying. After catching up and unpacking a bit we decided to go to bed early. There was only one problem three people and one twin bed. Our resolution my parents slept head to foot in my twin sized bed and I slept of a 7 pool mattr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-299794.html Irsquom officially done with my research this summer. On Wednesday I gave a final presentation of my study. As most everyone in the office is already on holiday there were only five people there. It was good practice for a larger presentation that I will give when I arrive back in Tucson. I have learned a great deal this summer while researching. Nothing really ever goes as planned and you http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-298384.html Summer has finally arrived in Bergen. Monday was our last day of rain and 50 degree weather. Two days later the sun was shining and the temperature had jumped to 79 degrees. I have been taking advantage of the nice weather walking into the city almost every day. On Wednesday I bought some Norwegian strawberries at the fish market. The strawberries are full of flavor. Irsquove never tasted http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-295674.html This weekend was my second to last weekend in Bergen before traveling. Time has gone by quickly. On Saturday the sun was shining. Stephi and I decided to hike Lvstakken mountain number five for me. Stephi had climbed it during the seven mountain tour and figured she could find the trail head. However we ended up on a much smaller path up the mountain. Sometimes the trail was nonexistent. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-293515.html Itrsquos been extremely rainy for about two weeks now. However yesterday we got a break in the weather. I took advantage of the weather and traveled with my professor out to one of the islands outside of Bergen. While he worked on a research thesis with another professor I walked down the road across a few bridges to another island about 4km away. The weather was beautiful for walking. The http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-291938.html Last night we celebrated the Summer Solstice. It was not an official celebration but we made one. Stephi and I headed over to Larsrsquos house around 730pm for a Lasagna dinner. We watched the football match between Germany and Russia. Sadly for Stephi Germany lost. The three of us went out to Garage one of the local barclubs around 1130pm. It was not as crowded as it had been a few http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-290386.html I went with Stephi to work today. She is doing biology research specifically about how tourist fishing affects the fish supply. This means that several times a week she heads out to popular tourist fishing spots and weighs and measures the fish. She invited me to go with her today because it was the last time that she was going to one of the islands this summer and thought I might like the scen http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-287699.html Today was the Friday wine raffle again. As the winner of last week I was in charge of picking out the wine for this week. I went down to the store in town yesterday and bought two bottles of California red wine. I didnrsquot have much selection from the United States but figured I should represent my country. I entered the raffle again this week for fun. Guess Irsquom on a bit of a luck http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-286861.html Yesterday Kristine Solveig and I climbed Preikestolen or Pulpit Rock. Preikestolen lies 1981 ft. above the sea and is a 7.4 mile hike roundtrip. It is estimated that 100000 people hike it each year. In addition to Norwegians there are many tourists. On our hike we heard people speaking German Italian Spanish and English in addition to the Norwegian Swedish and Danish which are so si http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/blog-285459.html This weekend I traveled to Stavanger to visit Kristine. I took a five hour bus ride through tunnels and on two ferries. After I arrived Kristine and I walked out along the ocean to a nice spot to watch the sunset. It was cloudy but still beautiful. Saturday morning we headed into the city center. We walked around the shops and listened to the music that was around town. Stavanger was cho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Stavanger/blog-285458.html I think the light is finally getting to me. The past few days I have been having trouble going to bed and falling asleep. Irsquove been getting only 56hours of sleep which is definitely not enough for me. Hopefully I will be able to fall asleep better soon. This week has mainly consisted of work. Other than that I climbed Ulriken again and have been reading outside in the sun. It has war http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-284346.html When trying new foods my family uses a rating scale to determine if we will prepare a meal again. It is as followshellipFood ScaleExcellent Canrsquot wait to make it againGood Would enjoy eating it againFair Would eat it again but not oftenPoor Would prefer not to put it back in my mouthGROSS Wouldnrsquot touch it with a 10 ft. poleIrsquom going to use this scale to assess som http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-282235.html Last night I was invited by Stephy to a BBQ on Flyen. Ten of us spent the evening playing games and grilling food in a park on the mountain. We played Frisbee Botchee Ball and a bit of football soccer. Lars brought juggling balls and was giving me lessons. I saw about five different people juggle throughout the night and decided that Norwegians must be born with natural juggling skills. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Norway/Vestlandet/Bergen/blog-281709.html