Back in the swing of things
I'm back from our lovely vacation in Norway. Kirk now has a few days of meetings Amsterdam so I returned solo last night. I got home at 6:30 pm, and by 7:30 was downtown for my book club meeting. That's what I call getting back in the swing of things! Our final night in Norway, while talking about our vacation over dinner along the harbor in Oslo, we came to the following conclusions.
1. We like Norway. We would like to see more of Norway, especially the north country. Next time we would skip Oslo and spend more time in the fjords. The natural beauty along the fjords cannot be compared-- except perhaps to the Swiss Alps. Oslo is a nice city, but it doesn't have nearly as much charm as Bergen.
2. Norway is expensive. We thought Switzerland was expensive, but nothing compares to Norway. Even a small bottle of water in a convenience store costs a couple dollars. On the flip side, however, we were thrilled that virtually every restaurant served us a FREE pitcher of ice water with our meals! That would never happen in Switzerland. Fortunately the conversion rate was complicated enough that we were able to stop ourselves from comparing prices constantly.
3. Norwary is cold, even in September. My fleece was not enough! I happened to buy a new winter coat in Songdal which came in very handy throughout the week, especially when we woke up to 2 degrees (35 in Fahrenheit) in Balestrand and noticed a light dusting of fresh snow in the mountains above us!
4. Kirk's cell phone should be turned off on vacation. Next time we take vacation I opt for someplace where we don't even have cell phone access so that important people who want my husband to write important speeches will have to ask some other very capable person to help.
As for book club, last night we discussed Small Island by Andrea Levy. I really enjoyed it, as did everyone else at our meeting last night. I definitely recommend it. Next up we're turning to a nonfiction book called Blink by Malcom Gladwell. I think I'll go downtown this afternoon to see if I can find it at one of the bookstores selling English books. Our next meeting isn't until November, but I've made the mistake before of waiting too long to try and find a book club book!
More Norway pictures to come!
1. We like Norway. We would like to see more of Norway, especially the north country. Next time we would skip Oslo and spend more time in the fjords. The natural beauty along the fjords cannot be compared-- except perhaps to the Swiss Alps. Oslo is a nice city, but it doesn't have nearly as much charm as Bergen.
2. Norway is expensive. We thought Switzerland was expensive, but nothing compares to Norway. Even a small bottle of water in a convenience store costs a couple dollars. On the flip side, however, we were thrilled that virtually every restaurant served us a FREE pitcher of ice water with our meals! That would never happen in Switzerland. Fortunately the conversion rate was complicated enough that we were able to stop ourselves from comparing prices constantly.
3. Norwary is cold, even in September. My fleece was not enough! I happened to buy a new winter coat in Songdal which came in very handy throughout the week, especially when we woke up to 2 degrees (35 in Fahrenheit) in Balestrand and noticed a light dusting of fresh snow in the mountains above us!
4. Kirk's cell phone should be turned off on vacation. Next time we take vacation I opt for someplace where we don't even have cell phone access so that important people who want my husband to write important speeches will have to ask some other very capable person to help.
As for book club, last night we discussed Small Island by Andrea Levy. I really enjoyed it, as did everyone else at our meeting last night. I definitely recommend it. Next up we're turning to a nonfiction book called Blink by Malcom Gladwell. I think I'll go downtown this afternoon to see if I can find it at one of the bookstores selling English books. Our next meeting isn't until November, but I've made the mistake before of waiting too long to try and find a book club book!
More Norway pictures to come!
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