Home

Well, I made it home.

Everyone but Hanne and Marie was at work or not home for other reasons. Here's a picture from my last car ride to the airport.

Then we went through the airport, got on an airplane, and took off.

From Norway,

through clouds,

to Iceland,

then from Iceland

to Minneapolis, and home.

I thought that being home would feel more strange than it did. Jet lag was really a lot easier to overcome traveling west. I did wake up at 6:00 in the morning, but it was actually kind of nice. Around 8:30 at night, I was minding my own business when-BOOM! I was hit by a wave of tiredness and drowned in it. To be more specific, I felt really tired until I went to bed, and I fell asleep really fast. It wasn't as hard as travelling east. I was able to fall asleep on time instead of being awake until two in the morning.

I said that it doesn't feel too strange to be home, but it feels like no time has passed at all. It's as if I took something called "Norway Trip" and downloaded it into my brain. The memories are there, but I don't feel like any time has passed since I left home. On the other hand, time has passed, and I missed a lot of stuff while I was gone. A large chunk of summer was spent by my family, but I wasn't there.

As strange as it feels, it's definitely good to be home. This is my final post.

Oslo Exploration

Today is my last full day in Norway. I will be leaving tomorrow at noon for the airport. I'm sad that I'm leaving, but I really miss my family and my home.

Anyways, we made the most of today. Hanne took me and Parker on a bus, a train

and a subway to meet Liv Tone. Subway selfie!

We went to a statue park where you could climb on the statues and took some funny pictures. Parker and I had a contest to see who could find this statue first. I won. I posed like the statue, but I had to smile instead of frown because I was so happy to have found it first.

We also had a contest to see who could take the funniest picture. I took a few.

 

This one is Parker's

We tried to visit an art museum, but it was closed on Mondays, so we couldn't go in. We went to the beach instead. Parker and Liv Tone went swimming.

 Hanne and I did not. Hanne, the braid master, did my hair. I liked it.

Next, we went to see the castle where the royal family of Norway live. It was cool. We took some pictures with a guard. Here's Liv Tone with the guard,

this is Parker,

and then there's me.

After we ate lunch, we went to the Opera House. It was really bright because the outside was white and it was very sunny out. Hanne posed for a picture.

While we were walking the streets in Oslo, we saw plenty of street performers, mostly musicians. There was also a clown and this one guy who made paintings with spray paint. He was really good! There was a big crowd watching him. He would grab a can, test spray it, spray some lines that looked really random to those watching, then flip the can in his hand and put it back with the other colors. Occasionally he would grab special can and a lighter and then spray flames onto the painting to dry it. Here are some pictures. 

 

 

 It was really interesting to watch how he turned a blank canvas into this in about ten minutes.

We saw the floating person trick again.

Later, we went for a short walk to see some other stuff. There was a carving of an inverted face that always seemed to be looking at you.

 

 

And then, there was the talking lamp post. We were walking by this lamp post when I heard some words coming from speakers. I was like, "Hey guys, do you hear that?", and they decided to tell me that they couldn't. Ohhh, I was so mad when I found out they had been tricking me. They kept up the act for hours, and by the end I was only about 30% sure they were tricking me. The other 70% was confusion. Parker was like "You're crazy." I knew I wasn't hallucinating, but nobody else admitted that they could hear the lamp post. The recording was really creepy too, it kept saying random and creepy things. I was so mad.

If you want to hear a short recording, just search "lamp in depression" on youtube, it should be the first thing that pops up. You will probably be able to see why I was mad when they told me they couldn't hear it. It was creepy!

Back to Oslo

Today, Parker, Hanne and I took the train from Bergen back to Oslo. It took about seven hours. We played a few card games, but mostly I passed the time by reading. Here are a few pictures.

Departing from Bergen! There's another train. It looks exactly like ours...

Mountain viewz.

Wow, we're really high up, look at the snow!

Another nice view, lower elevation this time.

After we got back, we had dinner and dessert and chatted a lot. Those who weren't in Bergen wanted to know what we did there, so we told them. However, the conversation ended up taking an odd turn, and we were suddenly talking about how there was this one man who basically lived in the Mall of America for three years. I mean, that mall is big, but he lived in it for three years?! He got kicked out eventually, and I'm not at all surprised. Ahh, conversations...

Yeah, I didn't do much more than ride a train. Tomorrow is our last full day in Norway, so Parker and I are going to do as many things as we can in and around Oslo.

Bergen and Fløyen

Today, our day started out with taking a special kind of train up to Fløyen, which is one of the mountains surrounding Bergen. The train was special because it was meant for climbing, so it was shaped diagonally. It's hard to describe... Just imagine a set of stairs, and turn some of the stairs into benches. Then put a box around the stairs, attach it to a cable and put it on rails.

At the top of the mountain, there was a nice troll that Parker and I took a picture next to.

We also got to enjoy a view of Bergen. A really nice view of Bergen.

Parker got to look even more like a tourist when he bought these radical glasses. Such an American...

Then we climbed down into Bergen. We tried to find the house where our great-times-a-lot grandpa is said to be born, and we took pictures in front of the one we think is it.

Yes, very interesting...

There was a cat that watched us the whole time.

Then we went shopping

and walking through Bergen.

There were a lot of cool things to be seen, including what looked like a chess tournament, giant legos, some musicians and dancers, and this illusion.

So one guy is holding a stick that has a guy holding onto the other end, levitating. How?!

Interesting sights we saw today. It was fun. Bergen is cool on Saturdays!

Aquarium Adventures and Rock Climbing

Today, we went to the Bergen Aquarium. We saw sea lions,

crocodiles (or alligators?),

penguins (cute!)

and starfish. And fish. There were plenty of fish. Wait a second, is that starfish eating the other starfish?!

Anyways... There were these fish that came up and kissed your hands if you put them in the water. They really kissed you, puckered lips and everything! This was my surprised-but-delighted-and-also-a-little-bit-grossed-out expression when I experienced this for the first time.

There was also a cool fish tunnel. It's a bit difficult to see the curve of it because the glass is so clear.

While we were walking through Bergen, there were plenty of cool things to see and hear. I decided to casually pose like the statue you can see next to me.

After we walked back to the car from the Aquarium, we drove to an indoor rock climbing place. Yay!

Then we climbed.

 

 

The first two pictures there were of me, and the third was of Parker.

Overall, I think that my favorite part of the day was when the fish kissed me. We also learned that the fish will suck on pacifiers, which is really funny. Parker said he almost wanted to buy one just to try it out. Just remember that when all seems lost, fish will still love you.