Cheers...

Today Marit's father gave us a tour of the power plant near Gaupne. It was very interesting. The plant is located inside a mountain so we were able to touch the inside of the mountain at certain points. After the power plant we spent some time at a cabin playing games and making tomato soup. We were also able to take in a concert at the restaurante near the glacier. The band was surprisingly good and it was a lot of fun to dance and listen to music!! Tomorrow we will be heading to the glacier early in the morning...we are walking on the glacier...don't get to worried, we will make sure that everyone makes it back safely:) It will certainly be an experience!!!

The Birthday Was a Success

We all met this afternoon to have a little celebration for Alex´s birthday. We had cake and ice cream and lots of other delicious treats! (yes they do alot of eating in Norway). We also ended up watching a couple of movies and just spent time hanging out together. We had a marvelous evening and will be spending most of tomorrow together as well...tune in next time when we tell you about our travels to the glacier...thanks for watching, this is KD signing off.

Happy Birthday Alex!!!!

Pictures of Me, Picture of You...

Here are some more wonderful pictures from our travels:

This is in the bell tower of the Dale Kirke in Luster.
The Urnes Stave Kirke...the oldest Stave Church in the world.

Chillaxin' on the ferry on our way to Urnes Stave Kirke.

It's A Small World After All!!!!

So... today we visit Lom...which was fabulous!!! We had lunch in a very cute little restaurante. We even tried...reindeer steak which surprisingly we found to taste pretty darn good. After lunch and visiting a rock shop we were headed to the ice cream cafe to get something else to eat when in front of us on the sidewalk we spotted a family of tourists looking at their surroundings. On further inspection Kiernan and I realized that the family was in fact the Solverson's (aka Jenny\sam\tracy,etc.)in Lom in Norway...really now:) To say the least we were highly surpirsed to see them there and we chatted for quite a while. Gotta love small town world? It was rather enjoyable\amusing to see them interact with our Norwegian hosts! After chatting for about a half an hour we finally got our ice cream...Gotta love Norway!

Having Fun:)

Well I finally had time to sort through some of our (thousands?) of pictures. I think that these will help give you an idea of just how much we are enjoying our time here in Norway!!

Outside the Dale Church in Luster.

Playing the organ in the Dale Kirke...so amazing!!!

Bowling made us kind of tired...good thing there were couches for us to kick back on!


Waffles at Marit's house:)

OH NORWAY!!!

Still Going Strong

Everything is still going pretty fabulously here in Norway. From the looks of her facebook status Alex is having an amazing time in Oslo and is doing lots and lots of shopping...be that good or bad, I won't be the judge. Kiernan and I are also doing well in Luster. There have been many trips to gorgeous churches in the area, picturesque mountain tops, and just enjoyable time spent with our host families. By being in situations where we have no idea what is going on we have learned alot about each other...playing games has really been a hilarious event!!! Yesterday ended up being very nice and relaxing...the cookie bars were kind of more like a cake thing...but they were pretty good! Last night we even played singstar (kind of like rockband) for quite a few hours Kiernan and I against our hosts(we lost everytime, but we won't go there). It was a lot of fun and I am sensing a rematch in the near future. Today we will be taking another car ride and doing some more site-seeing.

So...

Monday morning dawned sunny and warm in Luster Norway...however after chatting til 3 am we slept til noon. We then enjoyed a fabulously delicious brunch at the local bakeri(bakery). We had bakt potets(you can guess)...they were very good. We had planned to take a hike in the mountains and then swim in the fjord but it suddenly became quite cold and rainy so instead we decided to make chocolate chips bars...epic fail. Actually they look ok but we will have to see how they taste later. It was actually quite hilarious to watch Kiernan and I trying to convert cups into...well anyway it was hilarious! We are currently hanging out at Sunniva's house. Ok time for dinner by back soon:)

I Want To Take A Ride...In Your Car!!!

OK so...last night got a little bit late so this is a story about our fabulous Sunday adventures!!! We started out by eating frokost(breakfast may as well learn some vocab while you read the blog right???) at Sunniva's house. Then we headed on a roadtrip to visit the Urnes Stavekirke, which is the oldest stave church in the world! We were able to take a ferry across the fjord to the town where the church is located. This was an extremely beautiful trip and I'm sure that there will be plenty of gorgeous pictures to share soon. The church is currently under renovation because during an archealogical dig some of the stones on the left side were placed back under the church incorrectly so it was beginning to sink. This church was built pre-reformation so was originally used as a Catholic church in the 12th century. Even though it is under construction we were able to take a tour of the inside and learned some facts while standing in the...dare I say it...rather unstable balcony area. Sunniva's parents then treated us to snacks at the shop near the church. We even went out for supper on the way home. The day was filled with lots of site-seeing and picture taking, and when we finally arrived home we decided to hang out at Brit's for awhile. We ended up watching movies and chatting until about 3.30am!!! I think you can now appreciate why I didn't blog last night;) Anyways...my point being...we are still having a wonderful time, it is going to fast but I suppose that is usually the case. Ok well off to swim in a fjord or take pictures of mountains or some other form of fabulous Norwegian fun!! Ha det! (good bye)

We Made It Through a Day Without Buying Any Shoes

Honestly the title of this post may not be correct as Alex is currently is Oslo with her family and there is a good chance that she did indeed purchase shoes...Kiernan and I however are on a 12 step program;) hehe. Anyway..... the point is we are still having a wonderful time here in Norway. Today we ate breakfast at Sunniva's house and then headed to an outdoor market to look at locally produced Norwegian goods\crafts. It was extremely exciting...just think what you would normally pay for a rosemaled bowl, about 70 percent off of that price was what we were paying. I guess that means that those of you reading this blog will be expecting gifts???? After depleting our cash supply at the market we drove to the tops of some mountains to get some excellent 'Japenese' pictures (landscape\panorama). This car ride also supplied us with time to tell some hilarious stories about ourselves and bond even more deeply with our fabulous Norwegian hosts! Later in the day we attended a wedding in the church in Luster. It was very interesting and enjoyable. We noticed that Norwegians wear their wedding bands on the right hand instead of the left. When we all discussed this we discovered that they wear it on the right for the same reason as we wear it on the left...(the love line\being closest to the heart)...interesting;) The rest of our evening was very enjoyable as well, we not only ate far to much delicious food, we also had an opportunity to see where Brit, Sunniva and many of the other women in Luster and the surrounding areas work. All in all quite a fabulous day! Tomorrow we will be off to do more sight seeing in the Luster area...after a trip to an ATM.

Clothing and Shoes and Candy...Oh My!

This morning we all met at Marit and Alex's house and had waffles. The waffles here are very good because you can put different things on them. For example brown cheese and sugar, or strawberry jaw and sour cream yes i know that might not sound very good but when in Rome;) After waffles all six of us went shopping in Gaupne and Sogndal. I'm not naming names but the shoe total soon reached five pairs and I believe there was a winter coat purchased as well!!! So all in all there were many wonderful purchases made...how exactly these purchases will find their way back to the US we are not certain, but I'm sure it will work out fine! After shopping we went to have pizza and do some bowling. The pizza was wonderful and I beat everyone at bowling...sorry Brit but I had to say it;) (I think my score was about 86, no judgments from the Newman side please! haha) We then left Sogndal and headed back to Luster where Sunniva's father gave us a tour of the church in Luster(one of the five churches to which he is pastor). I had been in the church before but having a tour from him made it even more amazing and we saw and learned many new things. Not only did he show us around the church we were actually able to go literally beneath the floorboards of the altar and see the 60+ coffins of parishioners who were buried in the 1600's! The only catch...we had to crouch down and walk on top of some of the graves to get inside to see anything. Now upon entering the church I had noticed a very nice large pipe organ in the balcony so i decided to ask if it would be alright to try it out. I was pretty excited when he said yes!!! So we played some hymns on the organ and let me tell you that was probably the high point of my trip thus far, amazing! After that we were able to go into the very top of the bell tower of the church and take some pictures and see the graveyard and some more of the town from the tower. After our Christian adventures(if you will) we decided we needed to do some screaming so we watched the newest Fritt Vilt movie which was filmed about an hour away from where we are right now. It was extremely scarry! Made even worse by the fact that there were no English sub-titles and thus we understood very little of what was going on, except of course for the scary parts! All in all it was an excellent day. Tomorrow Alex is headed off to Oslo with her family and Kiernan and I have the opportunity to take in a real wedding ceremony that is taking place in the church we saw today. It is supposed to be very important because the bride is wearing the traditional Norwegian bunad instead of the more popular current day wedding gown.

Oh the Place You'll Go...

Sunniva and Brit making wonderful tacos!

A picture from the top of Berge which is a mountain close to Luster.

Sunniva and Kiernan outside of Harastølen.

Harastølen is an old hospital (no longer in use-pretty much in ruins) near Brit and Sunniva's homes. It was originally built for Tuberculosis patients but was later used for mentally ill patients. It was believed that the fresh mountain air would cure anything.

Another picture of Harastølen, this is really only the middle section and the left wing...it is amazing how large it is in reality. It is located at the top of a large mountain which certainly makes it seem even larger.

Note; Kiernan and I decided we should buy it and use it for dormitories when we open our Conservatory of Music and Religios studies in Luster.

Another lanscape from the Luster Kommune area. Unfortunately the sun has yet to come out while we have been in Norway although the weather looks good for Sat. and Sun. keep your fingers crossed!

Discussions Over Breakfast

Thoughts For the Day;

She looks like a Polly.
He is the most lost person...
Trombones have more fun!
The Tiddy Bear
My little reminder
Snuggies!!!!
Too bad we don't have a splitter (headphones)
Oh wow, they are doing something over there!!
You need to hit delete
Are we ready to go-go?
Hi Alex, I hope you are having, see you soon!
I'm surpirsed it didn't take you longer to find that?
I am going to add to this...(katie started typing but really Kiernan was just letting me know she was going to start dictation of the following...)
Incident of the Day:

So we wanted to use the computer...so...(that is spoken with an MN accent) Sunniva told Katie to use the guest option on her computer because her account had a password. When Katie turned on the computer she said "OH NO! I need a password:("

Note of the Day:
: = Ø forevermore!

Story of the DayØ
will soon be posted for your literary enjoyment? Too soon?

The 'Journey'...NO not the band!

Kiernan found an extremely fun chair at the Amsterdam airport!!

Alex striking a pose on the moving sidewalk in Amsterdam;)

This was post-flight attitude;( ......

... And pre-(final) flight attitude! ;)

Good Morning!!!

Ok so...I havn't talked to the girls yet this morning but I definitely slept far too long...oh well so much for jet lag! It's currently about 1.30 on Thursday and all of us are going to meet for the mid-day meal in about an hour. There is a new Bakery in Luster (across the road from Sunniva's house). There are also rumors of a trip to a theatre to check out Harry Potter 6 so we are looking forward to that. Yes don't worry there will be subtitles;) Later in the day i will post the quotes and phrases that we come up with while we are together...hehe So look for another post and the pictures that I am now going to attempt to place on the blog!
PS we are watching Rachel Ray right now;) hehe
PPS please disregard any horrid spelling mistakes as the spell check is done in Norsk not English, oops!

The Eagle Has Landed!!!!

After multiple flights (and cups of coffee) where we watched movies, threw up on each other(ok actually just me), and sat by large awkward men we finally arrived in Bergen!! One special memory of our bonding time was our picture shoot on the moving sidewalk at the Amsterdam airport...and the flight attendant who hated Kiernan because she laughed at the safety presentation. It was ridiculous!!! Kiernan would also like to send out a happy thought to the lovely swivelly chair in the airport (pictures will be posted soon!!) And of course we can't forget the trip through the fragrance store in which Alex and Kiernan sprayed me with every scent in the shop to try and cover up that loverly stench!!! LOVE IT:) I still smell like apples and Pretty. Any way moral of the story we all got to Norway...as did our luggage, and if this post isn't evidence enough we are a little sleep deprived and wacky(more than usual!)

Vocab words/phrases for the day:
Pleasure
That's what she said
Too Soon
Blaaaagh (that's the puke sound)
You girls are having way too much fun!! (spoken by a snotty lady in front of us on the plane)
We speak American
There's a Fritt Vilt 2!!!!!
There are babies in the basement of the church
Here wear this life jacket your the youngest(Sunniva to Kiernan)
You have to pay to use the bathrooms here!!!???
Coffee and Barssssss
Imagine...Jesus gone missing...imagine
ETC.

Preparing For the Journey

Hello Friends,

Kiernan, Alex, and I are soon going to be heading to Norway. This blog is designed for friends and family to keep up with us during our travels! We fly out on Tuesday, and hopefully there will be a new post for y'all to see on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. Until then...I hope everyone is busy packing:) Can't wait to travel with the two of you, we are going to have a fabulous time!!! BTW hope you are enjoying the wonderful Wisconsin fall weather in late July...gotta love the Mid-west:)