Summer vacation part 1

On July 11th I went to work like I normally do. At 6pm I caught a non-stop plane to London, grabbed a prepaid SIM card for my phone at the train station, checked into my hotel, and fell asleep before midnight. Then I woke up at 4:30am and caught the Heathrow Express so I could meet my mom at the airport.


Our intentions were simple: enjoy London, see the Rolling Stones play in Hyde Park, and visit 'The Making of Harry Potter' so my mom could meet a house-elf named Dobby.

There was a sketchy Ferris wheel at Hyde Park.

  The Ferris wheel went faster than I would have preferred but the view from the top was nice. It was sunny and hot but the beer was cold so the afternoon was quite pleasant.

The concert itself was excellent. I try my best to not get too attached to the Stones these days because they are going to drop dead at any moment. They can, however, still rock and roll. The stage was full of trees and beautiful.

My mom enjoyed the Harry Potter museum. I don't know much about the franchise but I was impressed by the scale model of Hogwarts that they used during filming. As it turns out, Dobby was entirely CGI and was therefore absent from the experience.

After we left London we returned to Trondheim. My mom divided her time between relaxing, cooking, and meeting my friends at dinner. This may have been the first American pumpkin pie made with Viking Melk.

We introduced my mom's cooking to a carefully-selected demographic. Pictured here is fudge, pumpkin pie, and a carefully-selected native.

Although the food at the top of the Tyholt Tower is terrible, the rotating restaurant provides a terrific tour of Trondheim.

After a few days of taking it easy in Trondheim my mom, Becca, and I hopped on the Hurtigruten ferry for an overnight trip to Bergen in southern Norway. The ferry is famous for being a cruise ship that weaves in and out of islands and fjords wherever it goes.

Part of the fun of riding on boats in Norway is watching for other boats. I had an app for my phone that allowed us to identify nearby vessels and get interesting statistics such as purpose and the number of beds on board.

It was a lot of fun watching the cruise ship weave between little islands.

True story: the Jurassic Park movies were filmed in Norway.

We had the hot tub all to ourselves because of the weather. Specifically, because the decks were wet and all of the geriatric passengers on board were afraid of breaking a hip.

By the time we got to Bergen the weather was so nice that the water was quite crowded.

In Bergen we tried to have dinner at a nice restaurant (it started with raw reindeer and went downhill from there), visited the fish market, rode the Fløibanen, and then crashed at a crappy hotel. I'm not a fan of Bergen.

It was literally too sunny to get good pictures from the top of the funicular in Bergen. My mom did, however, score some sweet souvenirs.

The train between Bergen and Oslo is incredible. It is also incredibly hard to photograph without exiting the train. Oslo is a great place to live but a terrible place to visit so we hopped on a plane to Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, the weather was stupidly hot on our first day in Amsterdam and our hotel rooms were miserable. We had to abandon a tour boat like this one because it got too hot to even rest your arm on the tables.

Thankfully, the beer in The Netherlands is wonderful and basically free compared to Norway.

The hollyhocks in Amsterdam are even nicer than the ones in England. EDIT: "There's a bee in your blossom, dear Liza" - the Girl

Amsterdam is even more beautiful at night.

The Amsterdam zoo was amazing. This is a baby giraffe.

 

The zoo decided to celebrate its anniversary with an abundance of flowers. There were so many pretty flowers that it was hard to pay attention to the animals.

These strange flowers reminded me of the Great Gonzo from The Muppets.

 

Baby monkeys are cuter than baby humans.

The weather in Amsterdam got better after the first day and by the time my mom left for home we were all enamoured with this great city. Not pictured: Van Gogh museum, horse-draw carriage ride, Dutch cheese store, killer breakfasts.

... continued.

We subjected Becca's parents to a very Swedish dinner: two types of sill (pickled herring), präst cheese, knäckebröd (crisp bread), Swedish meatballs (beef or horse, depending on supplier), and lingonberry jam. With a side of Norwegian akvavit.

The Natives came over for dinner and brought hvalbiff for the grill. Can you see the difference between cow beef and whale beef?

Bouncy playground equipment brings people together. Literally.

Midnight in Tromsø

A rare photo of the Medley's; not because of the location but because no one blinked.

If you look closely you can see the cable car descending on the right.

Mom and Dad's Trip!

Mom and Dad were able to take a three week vacation and come to Norway for a visit. We packed a lot into those three weeks and had a great time!

Mom and Dad arrived on June 23rd. We spent the next few days exploring Trondheim, dodging the rainstorms and letting Mom and Dad recover from their jetlag.

Mom sitting in the gunners chair in the antiaircraft gun on Munkholmen.

A couple of days later we hopped on a plane and headed for Germany. Our first stop was in Munich! We spent the evening exploring a bit of the city and drinking beer!

Beer? Yes please!

The next day we went to the Royal Residence in Munich. We visited the treasury to see the royal jewels and wandered around the residence. It was gigantic but very interesting. We even found a painting of one of the princesses who looked like Mom!

Pretty shiny things.

The Royal Residence felt like a giant maze!

After the Residence, we braved the rain, grabbed the rental car and headed off to Austria. We drove through the Bavarian Alps and ended up in a cute town called Höfen.

Walking in Höfen, Austria

The next day we headed back over the border to visit the Königsschlösser (King's Castles) near Füssen. We toured both castles and met people from all over the world, even Oregon!

Hohenschwangau Castle

Mom and Dad celebrated their anniversary at the castles!

In front of Neuschwanstein Castle

"Crazy Ludwig's Castle"

The next day we headed north to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is a medieval city complete with city walls. Our hotel was very close to the wall. We enjoyed wandering around the city and visited several museums, including a crime and punishment museum. That evening we took the Night Watchman tour of the city and walked along the wall.

Such a pretty little town!

The view from the wall

The cathedral in Rothenburg

Our next stop was in Cologne. After quite an ordeal finding the hotel (there was a lot of road construction and the German GPS lady kept trying to send us into walls and dead end streets) we headed out to the chocolate factory and to explore the city. The chocolate was delicious and the cathedral was impressive!  We spent our last evening in Germany drinking some tasty Kolsh beer (a regional specialty) and eating really good food at a local brewery.

Chocolate fountain, yum!!

The Kölner Dom

Statues along the cathedral

The next day we flew to Copenhagen. We had just over 24 hours to explore the city. We decided that the best idea to start was to take a canal tour. The tour was great and we were able to see a good amount of the city. Afterward we had dinner along the canal and explored a bit more of the city. The next morning was beautiful so we decided to head to the fortress in the middle of the city. We also went to visit the Little Mermaid and found the sand sculptures we had seen on the boat tour!

Dad enjoying the canal tour

Along the main canal

Reflections in the water around the fortress

Windmills and cannons, what more do you need?

Mom and Dad enjoying our day in Copenhagen

Obligatory photo of the Little Mermaid

Sand sculptures! They were so cool!

After that we grabbed our luggage and went to catch the shuttle bus to our ferry to Oslo. We waited at the bus stop for a long time and were worried that we wouldn't make it to the boat in time! Finally the bus arrived and we crowded on along with everyone else waiting at the stop. That evening was spent relaxing on deck reading and drinking sparkling rose. We tried to stay up to see the sunset but we didn't quite make it (since sunset was after midnight that night!).

On deck looking back at Copenhagen

Sparkling wine in tiny paper cups

This was as close to sunset as we got!

We woke up the next morning as we were headed into Oslo. The fjord is really pretty on the approach to Oslo and it is a lot of fun to stand on deck and watch the scenery go by.

After getting checked in to our hotel we decided to go visit the Edvard Munch museum. He is best know for "The Scream" but he had many impressive pieces of art. After that we were able to visit the botanical gardens and wander around the city a bit before it started raining.

I love water lily ponds!

Statues and gardens in downtown Oslo

The next day we took the train from Oslo to Bergen. The ride was so beautiful and is highly recommended to everyone! It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful train trips in Norway.

A stop along the Oslo/Bergen route

We arrived in Bergen that afternoon and set out to visit the city. I was excited to ride the funicular to get a view of the city. Bergen is much bigger than I realized. We enjoyed the view of the city and even found trolls to visit with. We headed down the hill just as it started raining. We grabbed some dinner at the fish market and then got soaked exploring more of the city later that night.

The view from the funicular as the rain started.

Mom found a troll to hug!

Lots of dried fish and caviar in the fish market

The next day we woke up and walked to the aquarium. We watched the sea lion show, visited the fish in the tanks and found out they had baby penguins! They were so adorable!

The historic buildings along the warf

Pretty pink starfish

Baby Penguins!!!

Later that afternoon we headed out to the airport and got on our plane to Tromsø. We had a layover in Trondheim where we met up with Daniel! We decided that we wanted to see the midnight sun that night so we wandered around the city until after midnight.

Everyone's first time seeing the midnight sun!

We spent the next few days wandering around the city and following the advice of our friends Håvard and Anne Lise who used to live in Tromsø. Thanks to them we had lots of good food and saw lots of great things!

I think you have a bird on your head!

The Arctic Church

On Sunday we decided to ride the cable car up the hill and were rewarded with an amazing view of the city.

The view from the top of the hill

It was a bit windy up there!

We spent the last few days of the trip in Trondheim. We were able to visit Sverresborg (the Trøndelag Folk Museum), Nidaros Cathedral, the Bishops Residence and Kristiansten fort. Dad even got the opportunity to go fishing thanks to our friend Anders! It was a great way to spend the last few days of their trip. I enjoyed showing them around town and they enjoyed seeing more of the city. We even had some nice weather!

Living roofs at Sverresborg

The view from the old castle in Sverresborg

Fishing on the river

Anders trying his hand at fly fishing

I finally went inside the cathedral!

The original stone pieces in the Bishops Residence were really interesting.

You can go inside the fort now! The view of town from the top floor.

We had a great vacation together. I am so glad that they were able to make the trip and that we were able to spend so much time together!

Thanks Mom and Dad! I love you!!