Scandinavia. Could life get any better..? ..I submit that it canNOT!! :)

Haha, Brian Reagan said it best! (He was talking about peanut butter, jelly and croutons in a squeeze bottle for breakfast, but still.) :) If anyone has not heard of this comedian, check him out. He is fantastic! I can listen to the same show over and over and it makes me laugh every single time. And he is CLEAN! Which is much of the reason why I like him. Anyways.. ..so off topic.. :)

We did, indeed take an overnight train to Denmark. ..However, it did not go entirely as planned. :) We missed our first train, and there was no other overnight train going from Brussels that night, and so we had to take a series of different trains to get to Copenhagen, which made for a very long night. :) But, our favorite part of the trip was when the train went on the ferry to Denmark!!

The train.. on a BOAT! :)
It was so.. mindboggling. How do you just.. put a train on a ferry?! There is a lot of thought having to go into that! But anyways, after the cool ferry ride, :) we got to "Kobenhavn", and began to explore this great city. :) 

We didn't exactly know where to begin, and so we just hopped on a bus, and rode this one until the very end of its route. I love just hopping on buses! Its like we get our own little tour of part of the city. Sometimes for free, because there are no places to get tickets, that we've seen, and the drivers don't understand when we ask how to buy a ticket.. so we don't! :) (I apologize if that seems unethical to some of you.. but we sometimes have no other choice.) :) This time we paid the driver for a ticket, and he actually laughed at us, because I didn't know how to get the change from the machine, and because we were so clearly tourists. :) Sometimes I think we should just put a big stamp on our foreheads that say, "TOURIST".. Actually, we wouldn't even need it. We stand out enough. :) Anyways, we rode this bus to its final destination. Then, everyone got off the bus, including the driver! Before he got off, he handed us a map of the city, which we did not have, then said "Bye!" and hopped off the bus. :) We could have hi-jacked it! But.. we didn't, because that WOULD be unethical. :) SO, we started exploring where the bus let us off, and we ended up right near the harbour. The best part of any city, in my humble opinion. :)

As we were looking at our big "Europe On A Shoestring" book, that we bought before we left Canada, we saw that there were many different things to do and see in Copenhagen. One of them made me laugh, because it described it as "the least interesting thing to see in Copenhagen". ..I wanna go THERE! It was a statue of the Little Mermaid. ..We are not entirely sure why, but it made me laugh. :)
So, as we made our way along the shore, what did we happen to stumble upon, but..



 ..The Little Mermaid!! :) As we were walking along the harbour, we saw a sign for it, meaning we were close, and so then we wanted to find it. But really, as soon as we read that it was the "least interesting" of all the attractions in Copenhagen, we wanted to find it. I mean, c'mon, who wouldn't want to see that?! :) 

Along the way, we saw the most beautiful harbour I perhaps have ever seen. Maybe it was because it was the first one I have seen that was frozen!! 

Boats frozen in water.. wierd. :) 

The only other harbour I have seen is the one off the coast of Prince Rupert, BC, where my grandparents live, and I have never seen it frozen. I don't think it does freeze.. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Momma.) :) Anyways, it was beautiful to see the boats frozen in the water, not going anywhere anytime soon. :) And then we saw the spectacular Little Mermaid.. which really was as un-interesting as the book said. :) But, it was built there in dedication to Hans Christian Anderson, who lived in Copenhagen, and who wrote the Little Mermaid, and millions of other fairy tales. (No, not literally.) So, that was cool! I love Hans Christian Anderson. :) 

Oh, we also were on the search for Danishes! Like, the pastry. .. Not the people.. They were everywhere. :) And I guess they're even called "Danes", aren't they? ..Hm. But about the pastries, we did find some eventually! Ok.. don't tell anyone.. but the ones we found were at a 7-11.. But they were legit!! :) And so good.  :)

Danish Danishes! :)


Shortly after this we made our way to the train station, and actually decided we wanted to go to Sweden! So, we booked a night train to Stockholm! Our plan was to go to Stockholm, and then from there, take the train to other parts of Sweden during the day, at random, and then take the night train to Oslo that night. But then, when we got to Stockholm, (No, we didn't miss our train!! Yay!) they told us that there are no night trains running in Sweden anywhere during the winter. Bummer.. So, we had to take the day train, which was fine, but that left at 3:30 pm ish, and so that meant that we should probably stay in Stockholm to ensure we make that train. It also posed another problem.. Where to stay in Oslo during the night we were going to be on the night train..? So, we phoned one of Jesse Sorenson's friends (a 2nd cousin of ours went to Oslo last year on an exchange, I believe, and so has many friends in Oslo) named Kristine, and asked her if she knew anywhere we could stay. She said she'd check it out, and we'd call her back later. So, we explored the city for the morning, and early afternoon. 

We did not hop on a bus this time, because we saw on a map that the Old Town of Stockholm, called Gamla Stan, was near the Train Station! So, we walked there, and checked it out. It was beautiful! We LOVE old architecture!! And that means we are in the right place, because Europe is full of it! :) We saw a palace, that perhaps still has a Royal family living in it..? We are never sure. There were guards all around it, anyways! And it was not a museum. Apparently, it has 1430 rooms, and that makes it the largest Royal Palace in the world. Cool. :) It was very large! (Oh, and I just checked on Wiki (which is not always trustworthy, but still.), and apparently, and I quote, "The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. (The private residence of the royal family is Drottningholm Palace)" So there you have it.)

And then, when we were walking down a pedestrian street, (a street without cars, mainly for shopping) we saw a huge Canadian flag flying proudly on top of one of the buildings!! We decided to head towards it, thinking it was maybe a Canadian Embassy, not really sure what we were intending to do once we got there.. "Hello!! ..We're from Canada too.." :) But we headed towards it, all the same. :) We got to the building it was situated on top of.. and there was no sign saying anything about Canada at all!! We looked everywhere, and we couldn't find a single thing about Canada. :( Dissapointing. But that solved the problem of what to do when we got there! We just go to sit back, and gaze up at the flag for awhile.. admiring the beauty. It is a beautiful flag, eh? I love it. :) And I've come to appreciate it even more while being here in Europe, with all the flags being just stripes of varying colors.. Ours is original!! And I love it. 

NORWAY!!

Anyways, we headed back to the Train Station, since it was nearing time to leave, and caught our train to Oslo. It announced on the train when we left Sweden and crossed the border into Norway!! I almost stood up and cheered. :) We were in Norway!!! I have always dreamed of going to Norway, and now I was actually there. I was.. overwhelmed. :) We got into Oslo, and called Kristine to see what she found out. She said we could stay at her place!! So we met her at a certain Metro station, called Majorstuen, at midnight. Oh, I don't think I've mentioned it, but we found out that while we would be in Oslo, the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 would be going on as well!! Talk about hype..! WOW. :) Anyways, Kristine has some friends that are camping out, with tents and the whole deal, near the place where the races will be held. And the night we got in, Friday, Kristine and a bunch of their friends were up there having a bonfire with them!! And thats why we had to wait until midnight to meet her. If we had known thats where she was, we would have asked to come and join them!! It sounded awesome. :) Like Winter Camp, at CLBI! So fun. :) Anyways, we met her, and she is wonderfully, typical Norwegian in appearance. :) Tall and blonde. And beautiful! She showed us to her aparentment, which she shares with 2 other girls, Maren and Soveig. ..I love the name Solveig. :) They were so hospitable!! And very friendly. Kristine also showed us what all we had to see in Oslo the following day, and drew on a map where they were. 

The view from Kristine's apartment, of beautiful Oslo, and its SNOW! :)

So, the next morning, we headed out to see the sights of Oslo! ..With the added hype of the World Championships! ..Wow.. Norwegian pride to the MAX!!! I have never SEEN as many Norwegian flags and sweaters and touques and painted faces all in one place!! It was incredible. I would say it was almost bigger than the Olympics in Vancouver. But thats because its skiing. In Norway. Of course its gonna be huge!! Norwegians invented it! ..Did you know that in its early history, they used skiing to hunt? ..Wikipedia again.. :) We started our day at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology. (Norsk Teknisk Museum) Very interesting! The upstairs was all about Music, and Medicine, and Automobiles.. which was very cool to see, and read about, when there was an English translation. No, we don't speak Norwegian, unfortunately. But then you went downstairs and WOW. It became less of a museum, and more like every childs dream!! :) There were buttons to push, things to climb on and in, every kind of interactive science thing you can imagine! It was incredible. It was brilliant. If you ever get a chance to come to Oslo, go here! Its fun. :) You don't even have to be a child to enjoy it! :) If you are a "child at heart", that will help. 

Having some fun at the technical museum.. You figure it out. :)

We then ventured down into the main part of the city, near the National Theater and the Royal Palace (which, yes, is also the official residence of the Norwegian Monarch.. wierd.) was packed with people, at all times during the day!! This is the area where they do the presentation of the metals, and on that stage, during the way, there were live bands, and groups of 6-8 ladies/men doing medlies of songs from the '70'! Complete with matching outfits and choreographed dancing. :) It was AWESOME. 

The ladies were actually very good! ..The men left a little something to be desired, but they were still fun to watch. :) And there were shops everywhere, and and outdoor skating rink, and a jumbotron where you could see what was happening up on the hill, WOOD sculpting, (with HUGE chainsaws!!) and ice sculpting, candy apples, the whole works.. :) It was crazy. Also, while we were there, we walked past a bakery, and in the window, there was kransekake!! (Norwegian wedding cake. It is huge at weddings in my family!) It was so cool to see it in Norway, and it looks exactly like the ones we make! Way to go, Grandma. :) We took a picture, and I'm pretty sure the people in the bakery thought we were a little strange.. :) So, we hung out there for a bit, then we went to see the Opera house! (Kristine prounced it "Oprah", and we were like, "What?! Oprah lives in Oslo?!" :) Not really. We knew what she was talking about.) :) And it was beautiful! You could walk up to the roof, and it had a great view of Oslo, and the harbour of the fjord. :) Lovely. Then, it was getting close to dark, and we went to the harbour, to a place called Akke Brugge, to see the harbour at night. It was beautiful.

The view from the top of the Oprah House, over the fjord.

Earlier in the day, we found out that one of Kristine's good friends had fallen and twisted her arm really badly, and so they were going to go stay with her for the night, which meant that we could not stay at her place Saturday night. Very understandable, but who else do we know that lives in Oslo..?? Hmm.. Well, I remembered my Mom has a cousin named Geir, who lives in Oslo but was out of town until Sunday. We called him to see if there was any place he knew of that we could stay. After some phoning around, he said we could stay at his house with his sister, and his son! Awesome! We had some time to kill before we went to his house, so we had just seen on a TV in a pub, (we were just walking by..) :) that the Medal ceremony was taking place, down on the stage where we were earlier that day, and that was not far from where we were! So, we hustled down there, but we got to see the medal platform, and the HUGE CROWDS coming away from the place. We actually had to hop off the bus to walk to the stage area, because there was extreme traffic congestion. :) It was fun to see that place at night, though. It was beautiful. :) 

The stage where the medals were presented!

After that, we made our way to Geir's house, and only his son, Håkon, was home. We never did meet Geir's sister..! Hm. Soon after we got there, 7 or 8 young Norwegian men just happened to show up.. I think Håkon probably sent a text out to all his friends.. "I have two Canadian girls staying at my place." And they all flocked over. :) Haha, it was fun to get to know some of them though! Two of them were particularly friendly and outgoing, and their names were Robert and Lars. We talked to Lars the most, and found out that he is in the Norwegian Army! Cool. At about midnight, we said we needed to go to bed, and they left for a night out on the town. :) They never did ask us to come with them, so that was nice. :) They were very respectful actually. It was an interesting and entertaining evening. :)

The next morning, our plan was to meet Kristine at Majorstuen, where we met her the first time, and catch the Metro up to the hill to watch the Men's Final in the 50 km Cross Country Skiing!! Well, our train was delayed because of heavy train traffic, so we missed meeting them. Them we went to catch the train ourselves.. and WOW. I think that is definately the most people I have EVER seen in a Metro station in my entire life. It was PACKED. Then when we got on the train.. well, lets just say we became verrry buddy-buddy with the people next to us. :) 

The people waiting to get on the train at the Metro Station. It was absolutely packed with proud Norwegians. It was incredible.. and a bit scary! :)

When we finally got up to the top of the hill, (yes, we survived the crowds.) we found a place right near the track. It was awesome. We watched the skiers going past us, and realized that this was only the warm-ups. We waited and waited for the actual race to start.. but we had a train to catch early that afternoon to Kristiansand, Norway..! So, we had to leave before the race actually began. Which was sad. But we got to see all the hype anyways! 

The official track of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011!!  

And the crowds went wild everytime a Norwegian skier went past..! And so did we! We definately got caught up in it all. A few times we thought we saw the Canadians go past... but there were SO many red and white uniforms.. :) But most had blue on them as well. So we saw a couple without blue, and figured they had to either be Canadian or Swiss. But generally, there was no way to tell. Anyways, we saw the results later, and Alex Harvey, from Canada got 5th overall! Which is very good. (He got a gold metal earlier on in the championships!) Norwegians, of course, came in first, and third. But we are proud of them too. :)

Us at the official track of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011!! :) And our various items of Nordic Pride. :) Funny, nowhere were people selling Canadian flags.. :)

We got on the train to Kristiansand, and arrived at about 9:30 pm last night, being picked up by relatives on my father's side! Kind of. Do you want me to explain the connection? :) Well, my father's dad was a first cousin to a lady who married the brother of the father of the person we are staying with. Figure that out. (I think I got it right..) Haha. Don't think about it too much, you're brain might explode. :) Anyways, they are VERY hospitable, wonderful people, and we are very much enjoying our stay here!! His name is Rasmus Morvik. And Kari, Rasmus's wife, even took me to a pharmacy to get some medication to help my cold!! She is wonderful, and so is he. I am glad we get to spend a couple more days here! Today, they took us around the town of Kristiansand and showed us the sights. It is a beautiful little city! And also southernmost city in Norway! Right on the coast. It is lovely. Tomorrow, they are taking us to a spot that is the VERY southernmost part of Norway, and apparently there is a beautiful lighthouse and such. :) Porbably will be a mite cold, since its winter, and the wind is strong, coming right off the open ocean. But we can deal with that!!

Well, thats about it! Just a short little note this turned out to be.. :) Sorry for the long novels, everyone who reads this... I just love writing! I hope you enjoy reading. :)

God Bless, everyone!!!

From the wonderful land of Norway,

Demara and Anna