The three of us woke up from a night full of sleep. Shelley was the first to get ready and headed down to the lobby for breakfast. Kristine and I tagged along not too long afterwards. Breakfast was AWESOME!! I have to say, for the both of us, that this was the BEST breakfast we’ve ever had in ANY hotel we’ve ever stayed in thus far. There were eggs, loafs of fresh baked bread we had to cut to size ourselves, yoghurt of various kinds, fruit, cheeses, smoked salmon, turkey sausages with onions, meatballs, mushrooms with spinach, fresh cut and fried potatoes, jams, cereals, juices….I can’t even remember how much variety they had. Cold cuts, miniature smoothies…I should capture this on a video tomorrow. We’re already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow. After breakfast we walked about ... read more

This was a full day for us in Kongsberg. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of breads, cheese, jam, caviar, vegetables, coffee….delicious. After getting ready, we went for a little hike up behind Elisabeth’s house. The area is called Håvet. There are trails and fields and a local road that leads to a place called “The Crowns in Håvet”. From Wikipedia: This attraction (Kronene i Håvet) is a site where Norwegian royal monograms have been carved into the mountainside overlooking Kongsberg to mark royal visits to the city. In June 1704 King Frederik IV visited Kongsberg and started a tradition that is still celebrated. King Frederik also arranged for the monograms of visits from earlier monarchs to be recorded as well.The first monogram on the hillside property belonged to Christian IV who in 1624 founded Kongsberg at ... read more

Today was the day for us to head in to Oslo. In the morning, Henning and Hilda were having some work done on the outside of the house and an electrician was coming by to start some of that work. Shelley was able to get her shower in on time, and my sister Kristine was next. She got into the shower, started the water, was able to get wet, and just when she reached for the soap, the electrician cut off the water supply to the house! Ooops! Ultimately, she was able to use the shower next door at the neighbour’s place. Not too long after, we got on our way to Oslo. Siw-Linda, Hilde, Kristine, Shelley, and I walked from Hilde’s place to catch the bus from Snarøya to Oslo. A quick little ride was ... read more

Our flight from Frankfurt landed in Oslo this afternoon. Shelley, Kristine, and I made our way off the plane to the duty free area where we purchased some of our ‘booze’ for the trip. Wine and spirits. I bought a bottle of Laphroaig that is only available when travelling. We also picked up some wine to enjoy while here in the south. After having successfully navigated the duty free we then made our way towards Customs. There were two rather large entrances to walk through, one was coloured green, the other red. The red one was for those who has something to declare. We had bought duty free items, so we thought we had to use that one. Nope. We weren’t over our limit, so we were able to walk on through. We then came through ... read more

08:30 hrs : Shelley and I have landed in Germany! We’re now waiting for Kristine to arrive from Vancouver. She should be here with us in about an hour. We loved our flight with Lufthansa! I’ve never flown ‘Premium Economy’ and I have to say that we enjoyed it very much. The seats are roomier, lots of leg room, the seats go back further and even have a footstool and pedestal so that you can have your feet up off the floor. We had a pillow and blanket waiting for us on our seats and a bottle of water too! Not only that, oh no….there was a neat little bag of goodies too! A black drawstring bag with a toothbrush/toothpaste, eye mask, black socks, a towelette, and ear plugs…. We have about two hours to wait ... read more