berlinerkranser

Shelley and I woke up this morning in our hotel in Bodø and enjoyed another wonderful breakfast downstairs. The plan today was to collect my cousins Kjetil in town and bring him out to Fauske with us so that he could get a visit in with Kristine and also meet up with some of the other cousins he hadn't seen for a while. We drove to Kjetil's neighbourhood, but the GPS had us over shoot his location by a number of blocks. After a few Messenger phone calls, we got it sorted and he made his way to our car (we couldn't turn around on the one way street!). We then set off for the one hour's drive to Fauske. The drive to Fauske was nice. The roads were thin, as usual, and windy, as usual. ... read more

Today was the day we left for the Lofoten Islands. We arrived at the ferry terminal in Bodø and with our advanced reservation tickets, we were able to get into the proper line to ensure we boarded the ferry first. That was a smart move on our part having this all pre-booked. The ferry was packed with people travelling to Lofoten and beyond; many camper vans and RV’s in the line up. There were some people who were only walking on the ferry and it’s free for them to do so. Only vehicles are charged based on height and length. We noticed as we were being loaded onto the ferry that we were going to be heading ‘down’ into the ferry below decks, and that the deck above would be closed upon us as we entered ... read more

We awoke quite early this morning. Our flight from Oslo to Bodø on Norwegian Airlines was scheduled for 8:30 this morning. I woke up on my own at 20 mins to 5…..super early. Showered and ready, Shelley then got herself ready, followed by Kristine. We were downstairs and outside at the curb waiting for the shuttle bus to the airport at 5:55 am for the 6:10 shuttle. The shuttle arrived and we got on board. It didn’t take long to get to the airport. Our check in process was self-serve and pretty much seamless. We even had quick security screening access with our tickets. Wonderful stuff. Once we passed through security, we made our way towards our gate but stopped to grab a couple of items for breakfast. I had enjoyed a little package of Vestland’s ... read more

Shelley, Kristine, and I set off from Bergen in our rental car after a sumptuous breakfast (see previous post). We are on the E16 from Bergen to Stegastein Viewpoint and then back down to stay overnight in Flåm. I’m typing now in the car as Shelley is driving. We’ve driven through tunnels and beside towering mountains. Fast moving streams filled with fresh water cascade over the many levels of rocks - reminds me of British Columbia and some of the roadways up Between Hope and Cache Creek. The scenery is stunning and the roads are very well maintained. The average speed is 70 km/h and sometimes 80 km/h. It’s slower when you’re going through little towns or coming up on one of the many traffic circles used here for traffic. Arriving in Flåm we had to ... read more

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