Sweden, Denmark, France, and More!

        As most of you friends know, I am currently on a month long voyage across Europe. Flying into Oslo, I spent my first week in Norway. Check out my blog from Norway here. From Norway, we traveled to Halsingborg, Sweden. There we stayed with two more family friends. They showed me some nice places to run near the ocean! The first day, we toured the city and ate some amazing food. That evening we took a trip to a very unknown area by the sea. There we explored the amazing raised bridges and towers built out of drift wood and beach trash from the ocean. 

Many Feet of Wood

Looking Down

      The following day we took a boat ride to an island and hiked around. That evening we went to a pier on the main land.

Lighthouse and Pier

Big Thanks to Ib and Inger for treating us on this part of our trip!

Our next stop was a day spent in Copenhagen, Denmark. We toured the main church and then set out on a beautiful boat tour. One of the things that amazed me so much about this city, is the amount of bikes you would see. Every street corner had at least 30 bikes, none locked up. Its so cool how everyone uses this for transportation. 

Beautiful City

Every Street Corner

Following Denmark, we took the night train from here to Basel, Switzerland and Germany. Here we met with my uncles friend Marcus. He showed us around the Swiss half for most of the day. That evening we went to the German side. Here we ate some dinner, watched the soccer game, and then went into the cathedral after hours. Marcus is an Organ player here so it was very cool to see him play with no one else in the dark church! 

No Border Patrol!!

Beautiful Organ!

The next morning, we took a 6 hour train ride to Paris, France. Even though I slept most of the ride, it was beautiful out side. When we arrived in Paris, it was raining. First thing we did was purchase metro passes and check into our apartment. That after noon we took a tour into Notre Dame. There we explored the great cathedral and climbed to the top.  

Notre Dame Cathedral

View From Above

After an amazing dinner, we went to the landmark Paris is most known for, The Eiffel Tower. 

From the Bottom

From the Top

And Yes, of course we climbed it.

For our last day in Paris, My cousin and I spent the morning at the Louvre. We saw almost every single piece on display while taking in some of the art that interested us. 

My Favorite

Yes, we saw it. 

That afternoon, we visited the cathedral on the hill over town. This one was beautiful and also had an amazing view over the city. 

One of the highlights for me was this evening. My cousin and I rented bikes that you can return every two blocks and then grab a new one when you want. We rode through the city like crazy heads and saw the amazing sunset. 

Paris, You will be missed.

       The following morning, we hopped on a bright and early 6 hr train to Barcelona, Spain. This was yet another beautiful scenic ride. We checked into our room in Barcelona and it started to rain. That evening we visited the La Sagrada Familia. This is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. So much thought and work has gone into it. 

Ceiling Inside

Beautiful La Sagrada Familia

Our main day in Barcelona, we toured the city with out 'Hop on, Hop off' Bus tickets. We were able to see a lot which was very cool!! That evening we took a trip out of town to have dinner with some more family friends! It was a very nice dinner with a very nice family! Thanks!

The City

Cristina, My Cousin, and I

Now we headed to the Dali museum!

Classic Dali

My Favorite Piece by Dali.(Look Close)

The Main Theater

From Dali's museum, we took a train to La Ciotat for a full day at the beach the next day! We arrived late that night.  The next day there, we encountered high winds and stormy weather. This was not fantastic beach weather. Instead, we explored the town. I woke up feeling a little sick so I laid low this day. It was very nice to sleep in! One of the coolest things was the night market. This market was right on the harbor and started at 9pm and ended at 1am. 

Harbor

Night Market

Now we are headed to Turin, Italy for a week with our amazing friend Mimma and her family!

Thanks everyone!

Adventures in Norway

         I am stoked to be out of school, but on top of that I am even more stoked to be in Europe. I spent the last week adventuring through Norway. I got out of school, then left for Norway 5 days later. I will be away from home for 4 weeks and out of the country for 3.5 weeks.
        My Aunt and Uncle have generously treated my cousin and I to this trip of a life time! We left from San Francisco and after a day of travel, arrived in Oslo, Norway. The first night, we met some of my aunts friends for dinner up on Holmenkollen, overlooking the beautiful City. I had a classic dish of reindeer for dinner.

The view from Dinner

Reindeer

Following dinner, we visited the ski jump and ski museum.

Holmenkollen Ski Jump

View From the Top

That same night, we went for a little walk and found some beautiful parks!

The Next day we stayed and toured Oslo! Some highlights were the viking ship Museum and an adventure run. I was so impressed with the public transportation system there. Since we arrived, I was wondering where the Highway was. Well on my run, I found out it runs directly through the center of town, Under ground. We also visited the Opera House. 

Viking Ship

Opera House

We then took the train from Oslo to Myrdal. From Myrdal, I was able to rent a bike and ride 28km downhill to the town of Flåm, Norway. It was a super fun ride mostly downhill. I sent all my bags down on the train. It took about an hour and a half but was an amazing ride!

Ride to Flåm

The Bike Trail!

That evening we went of a boat out into the Fjords to tour the amazing waters!

Fjords

Flåm

The next morning, I woke up early and went for an awesome run! I was out for about an hour and a half and found an awesome waterfall. There is so much land out there that is unexplored. I wish I could have had more time to explore. 

Sheep and Water

Looking Over the Town From the Falls

That same day, we took the train back up to Myrdal. On the ride up, we stopped at a waterfall. At the falls, there were women dancing to draw the men to the water.

Train to Myrdal

Water, a mans attraction

  From Myrdal, we got back on the train headed to Bergen. This was a beautiful train ride! It was awesome seeing the Norwegian country side! 

Train to Bergen

In Bergen, we met up with some relatives. They prepared us an awesome dinner of boiled Codd. The next day, we got to go out on his boat and fish. I caught one fish fairly small. He also took us to an island with the house he built and used to live in. It was very fun spending a couple of days with them!

Learning Navigation

Cousin and I

Me, Odbjorg, and Oddlieve

After a couple of days at the homestead, we went into the city of Bergen. We spent the day exploring the beautiful city and walking the fish markets. 

Bergen From Above

Old Buildings of Bergen

From Bergen, we rented a car and drove to Jotunhein. This was an amazing beautiful drive! The sun seem to set the whole drive with color in the sky all night. That night we stayed in Krossbu. The next morning I got up and headed out to go for a summer ski! I skied for almost three hours. On the snow I ran into some US coaches and athletes that I knew. I also skied with some Norwegians I knew. 

Skiing at Sognefjellet Summer Ski Glacier

 That day, some friends of ours took us out to there country side cabin. This was a beautiful area and cabin to spend a couple of days! We were out there with a friend of my moms and her daughter. There is no power, running water, service, internet, or connected bathroom. It was nice to spend some time off the grid! From the cabin, My cousin and Kristin (Ragnhild's daughter) hiked out to a lake and fished. We used some standard rods on the hike out there but once we got to the lake, we used a devise called an oter. With this, it was possible to catch many fish at once. I caught one larger trout which we had as part of dinner.

Fishing Before the Lake

Beautiful Cabin

 From the countryside, we toured through Lillehammer, and spent the night at Ragnhilds home town of Hammer. We were able to watch some soccer that night and spend some nice time with there whole family. Yesterday, Monday, We drove back to Oslo, then got on the train. We took the train through Gothenburg, Sweden onto Helsingborg. We will now spend a couple of days here before continuing our travel!