Vee Skull Purr Go Kart! (We're going to go kart)

 We woke up in the morning to have breakfast at Lena and Sverre's house, er huset! Aaron was really excited to eat pickled herring (blegh) as well as caviar paste that came out of a tube, much like toothpaste. At breakfast, we gave Thea some new converse shoes, something that she is very fond of. In America, they only cost around $50, but since they're an import, they cost at least $100 in Norway! Yikes!

 We tried to go to a music museum, but you could only go through on a tour. Oops, forgot to see that rule before we left. Instead, we went to the botanical garden. It was a little boring, seeing as most of the plants were pine trees, but Norway does have a LOT of peonies, one of my favorite flowers. The honey bees were happy and we tried to take their pictures.

We then went to the folk museum. We were able to see Norwegian buildings from 1906 as well as the ski museum. Skiing is Norway's national sport, says Sverre. Alexander was a little bored of the museum but we were able to tell him that Spiky (his new toy from Lennert) wanted to see the sights and he instantly changed his mood. I even had him pose with Spiky so we can remember him. (I keep asking Spiky if he wants to go to America and he tells me yes)

 After a LONG day of museums and trying to find food, we went to the go kart track. (Yeah for Alexander) It was a LONG wait (2 hours) and very poorly managed. It was run by one KID (a teenager hipster type, greasy hair and zits combined) when it should've been run by 2. He hated his job which was obvious as each person would ask him things and you'd see him roll his eyes and sigh. He also left for about 5 minutes to have a phone call, probably with his girl friend. Everyone who was waiting for their turn was more qualified, sighing and frustrated with the whole endeavor. It looked like Sverre was ready to tell this teenager which way was up! We didn't have to sign any waivers or show identification. They let kids drive at the same time as the adults but at a much slower speed. (20kph vs 50kph) Aaron actually bumped a random kid into the wall and he limped while crying all the way to his parents. Aaron felt really bad but I had to remind him that you take a risk when you drive, even go karts. The kid was fine in the end, as his mom was a nurse and able to make sure that he was fine. In America, we would've been sued. Well, actually in America, you wouldn't be allowed to drive unless you had signed something and there would be at least 2 people managing the karts.

We went to Christina's again for dinner and what did we see in the newspaper?! A story of a Norwegian girl who 2 days ago had gone to the same exact go karts and couldn't reach the brakes and broke her hip! Guess we're not the only ones getting in accidents there.

PS Aaron STILL feels bad but after reading my blog, he keeps laughing, so maybe he's over it?

Learning to Speak

 Today was a beautiful day....for going to a cemetery. This is the view from Lena and Sverre's house in Trondheim. Not bad, right? I finally made it to the Norwegian Jewish cemetery. I didn't have to go the last time I was in Trondheim because Freda had already gone. It was really neat actually. The family knew most of the people buried there. It was like a family reunion.

 Aaron read two of Grandma Freda's poems, one about putting people to rest in the graveyard and one about springtime. It was a very sweet and moving moment. It felt like even though her body is in LA, her soul is here in Trondheim among her other family members. RIP Freda! Also among Freda are both of Aaron's great grandparents and his great great grandparents.

 We then went to town via the old bridge and took the Royal residence tour. We couldn't take pictures inside (boo) but Aaron kept mentioning how interesting it was to see a palace made of pine. I really enjoyed the Queen's room. It was bright pink and looked like a room from Versailles, wallpaper like that from the old red room.

We then had taco night at Lena and Sverre's house (chicken instead of beef, good choice) and I learned about 40 Norwegian words today! The picture above is the sunset at 11PM.  I hope I don't forget my Norwegian but I think it's inevitable.

Thank you-takk    ceiling- tak    cousin- sis keen barn     pig- gris (grease)     pineapple- anandas
yarn- garn     house- huset      mom- mui      dad- far     grandma- muir muir/beste muir
grandpa- far far/beste far        ice cream- eese kreme      fat-fate        like- likken       I-yeah
yes-yah      no- nei        cake-kakke      best-bestes       town-beyen       teddy bear- bamski    
nose-nesse      lips- lepper       teeth- tetter       siblings- sis keen      children-barn         olives-oliven
mushrooms-champignon       cheese-ust (oust)       ham- skinke        salad- salut         waffle-vaffel

Back to Norway we go...

 Today we left London for the airport. It was quite an adventure. We left our hotel at 7:30 AM, went to Paddington, took the train to Victoria station, and from there we hopped on the Gatwick express. Gatwick airport has some of the most consistent security lines just so you know. I wish the USA would take note. When we arrived in Trondheim, we were picked up by Sverre and Thea who then took us to the grocery store and we got to peruse the expensive groceries. We had dinner that night at Christina's house (fish soup) and met Leonard and Rick. 

Everyone was in good spirits and the food was delicious. I don't even really like fish all that much and I ate it all. Leonard, Liev, and Lennert all posed for a picture. Since Freda is no longer with us, Liev is the eldest from our family (80 years old).

It was a nice night. From left to right, top row: Leonard, Liev, Lennert, Sverre, Thea (13), Joachim, Christina, Rick. bottom row: Stina, Lena, Aaron, Alexander (9).

Off to Court We Go

 We woke up this morning and hauled our butts to Paddington station to catch the Hampton Court express. Since I'm a huge Henry VIII fan/buff, we had to make a stop here. The castle was actually lived in by Henry but was updated and built on by William III. It was neat to see little bits of each queen somewhere in the palace. There was a stone crest for Anne Boleyn, a crested ceiling for Jane Seymour, etc. Supposedly, one of the hallways we walked through is haunted by Katherine Howard, though we didn't encounter any ghosts. We thought the audio tour here was painful, eventually ditching it and just zipping through. The castle was missing most of its furniture, and the furniture there was there for us to sit, so I knew that none of it was old. This made me sad. They also had men dressed up as Henry and Brandon. It felt like a cheesy theme park in a way. We saw the Tudor kitchens and it made us want pasties.

 Henry VIII was pretty rude to his wives, having this painted during his marriage to Catherine Parr. It's of Jane Seymour and Prince Edward. I love the whole story of how he believed Jane to be his true love since she was the only one to give him a son. After Hampton Court, we came back to London and went to the Old Operating Theater Museum. When I first read about the place, I thought it was an old working theater. Oh no, it was an OPERATING station. A place for amputations and the lot. It was pretty nauseating yet interesting. They had forceps for both the vagina and the anus. There was a station where you could learn how to make pills. We saw a picture of a broken shin bone which was reason enough for an amputation in the early days. This was all before anesthetic and ether mind you.

 You would not want to be sitting on that operating table 100 years ago. They had pictures (illustrations) of people being amputated on whilst being restrained. However, they were restrained by other people. How scary!

 Going to London is not complete without checking out King's Cross station and trying to go to Hogwarts. Aaron didn't want to pose, so I did it myself. It was a quick photo op and nothing more. After Hogwarts, we went to the British Library, home to the Magna Carta and other old pieces of literature. We saw a manuscript for Harry Potter and a copy of Sweeney Todd from 1850. I also saw Bernard Shaw's handwriting on a copy of Pygmalion. The particular page was when Eliza first asks for lessons and starts crying because "I haven't got 60 pounds! " Another piece of work there was the original Jekyll and Hyde. Oh, and the start of the lyrics for "All My Life" by John Lennon. It was amazing to see the lyrics while hearing the song and knowing that someone had to create that piece of work.

We finished off the night by doing the Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was interesting for me, not as much for Aaron. We didn't really see that much because much of London from 1888 was bombed and changed. It was raining and my shoes and pants were soaked by the end, but I'm glad we did it. The guide was very enthusiastic and treated the victims like victims, not referring to them as hookers, but rather mothers, sisters, etc. An interesting take on the unsolved crime.

Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered...

 We heard much about torture this morning since we went to the Tower of London. We took the hour long Beefeater tour and he had great pleasure scaring the snot out of the children in our tour group. We learned about how the Tower of London had an escape rate of 1 in 42, making it a pretty crappy jail. Speaking of crap, he gave us a funny little story about the moat being the toilet for the entire tower. Sounds like it would've smelled the WORST. We were afraid of long lines for the Crown Jewels, but once again we lucked out and there really weren't any queues. We didn't do any dungeons, so torture devices weren't seen by us, but we did see the burial site of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.

 After the Tower, we walked to the Tower Bridge and did the little museum inside. We zipped through it since time was really not on our side today, but we did get some nice views of the Thames. We also got to see the engine rooms (no longer operational today) which were quite massive.

 Next on our day's list was the Shakespeare Globe tour. I was saddened to learn that this was not in fact the real Globe. We did however pass the original site of both the Globe AND the Rose Theaters. Sad that neither is around anymore. I didn't like how the tour guides kept referring to the theater as Shakespeare's Globe when in fact, he was never around to see this one. It was amazing to sit inside. It really felt like we were seeing a show from back then. Of course it helped that there was a rehearsal going on for Richard the III. They were in tech rehearsals (opens in 3 days) so they were in Elizabethan costume and still calling for lines. Mark Rylance was performing the lead. I was bummed that we couldn't take pictures inside (due to the rehearsals).

 We walked over the Millennium bridge to St. Paul's. We were able to sneak in to hear the choir sing. Amazing acoustics inside that church. We're going to return on another day so we can actually do the tour. We weren't able to take pictures inside here either! What gives, London?!

We capped off the night with Matilda the Musical. I had been bugging Aaron to take me ever since we bought the London tickets. I know that he was a little skeptical at first but we were both loving it. The Trunchbull antics were spot on from the book. The first act was better than the first and towards the end, a piece of the set fell and the show had to be paused for about 5 minutes.

After the show, we went to some random Chinese restaurant and Aaron claims to have had some of the best dumplings in soup he's ever had. London has quite the night life. We walked into a casino and lost 10 pounds to roulette and slots. Aside from the crappy weather, I quite like it here. I know Trixie would thoroughly love the lower temps.

Speaking of Trixie, Aaron made a ridiculously stupid joke the other day.

What are Trixie's favorite foods in London? 1. Fish and Trix 2. Trix and Chips 3. Furry Curry.
What type of drink does Trixie like? T (tea)

On the other side of the pond...

 We took a red eye to London this morning. While we're pooped, we saw a lot. First stop for us after dropping off our bags was Big Ben, House of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I was sad to find out that you can't actually go see Big Ben. The faces of the clocks are 23 feet long and the minute hand is 13 feet. Already the weather was bothersome. It's all about overcast and rain, no joke. It's summer and the high is around 65. I also had no idea that Parliament was connected to Big Ben.

 Also nearby was the London Eye, but since it was a crummy day, we didn't want to not see a spectacular view in our bubble. Maybe we'll do it another day. We then headed down the street to Westminster hoping there wouldn't be much of a wait. Lucky for us, it was less than 10 minutes to get in. Westminster was amazing. Not only was it gorgeous and old, but I found it interesting just to see who's buried there. I was shocked that they would put Elizabeth I buried on top of Mary I and they hated each other. (They didn't even really mention Mary) Any room we walked into that didn't have a number for our audio guide tour, we'd turn to each other and say "it's nothing really" in a Grandma Freda voice. We couldn't take any photos inside (bollocks) which bummed me out since there really were some fascinating pieces of art on the crypts. One in particular was death in the form of a jawless skeleton coming out of a crypt that looked like Sweeney Todd's bakehouse!

 After Westminster, we found a pub for a quick bite of fish and chips. I can already tell that London is not the place for healthy eats. Not that you CAN'T eat healthily, but it's more fun to eat all the tasty bad stuff. After lunch, we headed to the Churchill War Rooms. When WWII ended, the bunkers were sealed and everything was left as is until they were reopened in the 70's. It was pretty fascinating because all the linens, furniture, and maps with pins were left as they were when Churchill was last there. We were very tired by this point so we didn't spend more than 45 minutes there, but it was very dark and claustrophobic feeling down there. Any Churchill buff would go nuts there.

After the museum, we went to dinner with Mogy and his wife Lisa, who is 4 months pregnant right now. We had a lovely time, but didn't stay out late since we need to adjust to London time.

I've never been more scared in a cave...

Today was no different than any other day on this vacation other than the locations. We spent a lot of time in the car. It was worth it though as we first went off to Epidvaros, home to one of the best preserved theaters in Greece. The acoustics were so good. I even tested it out, singing my 8 bar cut and then a whole song for all the other tourists sitting in the theater. It was nerve wracking! I was shaking!

After the theater and its museum (boring and only 2 rooms big) we drove to Mycenae, the oldest civilization found in Greece (1200 BC). I read the Rick Steves tour book out loud to Aaron and we were able to point out where the royalty had been buried, the royal palace, and the lion's gate. Look, no heads!

Towards the end of the adventure at Mycenae, we found the cistern, where all the citizens' water came from. It literally was a black hole down 99 steps. We went down to the bend in the tunnel and I couldn't see my own hand right in front of my face. Thank god for iPhones with flash otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see anything. I was not happy to be there.

Aaron was pretty psyched to be that far underground but I was scared. After the cistern of death, we drove down the hill to the Tomb of Agammemnon. Pretty standard tomb with nice acoustics. Not that a dead person would need good acoustics!

After Mycenae, we drove off to the airport. Yep, the trip is coming to an end. We fly out tomorrow. With the rest of the evening free, we drove to the mall and saw The Avengers for 7 euros a piece which comes out to $5.63 as of right now. That'e the price of a small popcorn in Manhattan.

 We woke up to this sight in Pylos. (Notice the private pools to the left...what do you do with a private pool?! Kids? Have sex? We can see everything in those pools. What's the point?!)

 We packed up and drove to Pyrgos where the famed Dirou caves are. Good thing neither of us are claustrophobic because it was a teeny tiny tunnel. Our boat captain didn't speak any English so we didn't get a guided tour, but it seemed pretty self explanatory; stalagmites, stalactites, water, dripping, limestone.

 I was freaking out about the depths in this cave. Most of the time, the water was very shallow, but there were a few caverns here and there that were up to 100 feet deep. I get very frightened of deep open water, or worse, water with rocks in it.

 No pictures that I took do justice to this cave. Granted, I turned the flash off for the boat portion because I didn't want to ruin the tour for the other 4 people on the tour. This was my first real cave (Injun Joe's cave at Disneyland and Eberle winery doesn't count)

When we emerged from the cave, this is what we saw. How can water even be this clear?! We drove off to Nafplio, another small sea town. It's not a destination for Americans I think. It felt more like a place that rich Europeans go to go on vacation rather than America. Fine by me as I was tired of hanging around annoying americans!

Ask the Oracle

 We woke up in Itea. It's a beautiful small sea side city that no one visits anymore. Why? We asked the local baker and he said that there once was a ferry from a larger city and business was booming, but they cut off the ferry service and now no one comes. Lucky for us, since restaurants were cheap and our hotel was only 40 euros. Can't beat that! This was the view from our room. Look at that water!!!

 Itea is only about 10 minutes from Delphi, a city of ruins. It was the city of the Oracle, a woman who knew all and saw all. (She also blabbed about it) These pillars are what's left of the temple of Apollo, where the Oracle sat. I find it interesting that they didn't make a temple just for her.

 Here's another theater. As an actor, there's nothing cooler than seeing a spacious theater like this. I wish I could perform for a venue this large.

 This chariot driver bronze statue was on a huge pillar in the middle of Delphi and this is all that's left of it. The pic in the back is what was supposed to be attached, but as you can see, they could only find a few pieces of the horses and an arm from the stable boy. I think the horses might have eaten the boy.

 After Delphi, we drove off the Olympia. We had to cross a large bridge to the Pelopponesian area of Greece. On the way to the other ruins, we saw a large herd of sheep being herded by a man in a car with a very loud horn. The babies were so white and fluffy looking. I don't have a picture, but Aaron took video. Unfortunately, you can hear me going "aaaw, look at the baby!" throughout out the whole thing.

When we arrived in Olympia, we realized we were too late. Gasp, they locked the gates. Being ruins though, they're outdoor and only separated from us by a gate, so at least we were able to see them. Behind Aaron is the starting line for the stadium. The first couple hundred Olympics took place right there! The torch for todays' Olympics are all lit at the temple of Hera about 500 yards from this spot. After sneaking a peek, we drove off for a couple more hours to Pylos and sprung for a very expensive hotel, the Westin. It was like a cruise ship on land. The front desk had a map for all the stores and restaurants.

Let's play the Monk game....

 AKA the vow of silence game. Today we drove from our hotel for 4 hours to get to Meteora, a set of 6 monasteries in the mountains. They were breathtaking, the views that is. Aaron's favorite part of the sight were the mountains themselves. I was a little tired from driving so much. The hikes to each of the actual monasteries were all tough. It started to rain between our second and third one, so we knew it was time to say goodbye.

 While at the monasteries, I was required to wear a wrap skirt (they provided) over my pants. Women were not permitted to wear pants of any kind. I was a little jealous that kids and teenage girls were still walking around in their jeans and shorts. Oh well, I'm an adult and have to obey adult rules.

The monks had their own ossuary. I felt like it gets looked over a lot since ossuary isn't a word you hear everyday and it was off to the side. Since I recognized it, we were able to enjoy looking through the door without crowds of people pushing us.

Aaron made me stop the car a couple of times so he could snap some more shots of the mountains. I spy a monastery!

After Meteora, we drove 4 more hours BACK in the original direction towards Itea, a small ocean city near Delphi. We spotted a hotel near the water and it was basically just us staying there. It cost 45 euros for our room....pretty nice seeing as it was right on the water and we got free internet in our room. I feel like we're really adventuring at this point. No real plans, no reservations....just a car and a tour book.

Black, Red, Blue, and White

Today the weather held up for us! YEAH! We hopped on the scooter and drove to Perissa, a black sand beach. It really was black. Aaron was so proud of himself for coming up with this picture. He kept trying to convince me that he had a hole in his hand. 

 After the black sand beach, we drove to Red Beach, named for its red cliffs. Yep, pretty red. Funny thing was that we almost missed seeing it. You had to hike around the cliffs to get here and we were like "this is a boring gray beach." Good thing we had our tour book.

 Then we did a LONG ride. We went from Red Beach all the way to Oia again. Since it was sunny, I knew I could get my dome shots! We had a nice lunch overlooking the caldera and I was even adventurous and ordered my first ever stuffed grape leaves. Honestly, it tasted like rice-a-roni. We did a big no-no though. We ordered too much food and when the waitress came to take the plates away, she scolded us a little for not cleaning our plates. Greece is not weight watcher friendly.

The sun truly makes Greece really beautiful. When it's gray, the colors don't really shine. I was so happy that we got to come back to Oia. I don't think I would stay there since it's so far away from everything else though.

After Oia, we went back to Fira and searched for a Donkey Station. Since we were at the top, we decided to give the donkeys  a break and go down. The man in charge took us down for 5 euros a piece (cheap) and had to then send his entire herd of donkeys down with us. We were tethered together so we wouldn't get lost. It was a LONG ways down, being 587 stone steps. Poor donkeys! They did a great job though.

We then walked back up by ourselves. As we walked we made donkey jokes the whole way. Aaron named his donkey "Donkey" while I named mine "Dr. Donkey." At least my donkey had a PhD!

We then left Santorini by plane and landed in Athens around 9 PM. Hungry, we went to McDonalds like bad American tourists, but fear not....Aaron was adventurous and ordered things not found in the USA; a shrimp wrap (he said it was definitely strange) and a shrimp burger which was an actual patty made with shrimp. After chowing down, we got our stick shift rental car, and I drove us 2 hours to our hotel in Kamena Vourla. Cute little town that was on the way to our next place.

A first for everything...

 We finally had a sleep in day on this trip. After breakfast and packing our bags, we took the scooter out for one last scoot. We drove all the way to the north where there was an abandoned lighthouse,  Armenistis. Super creepy. The wind was blowing the windows and the ply boards back and forth so it literally sounded like someone was spying on us. We were a little sad to see the scooter go....

Fun fact; there are a MILLION stray cats in Mykonos. In the winter, there's a program that feeds them. They also catch the kitties and "sterilize" them. Afterwards, they clip one of their ears. Not many of the kitties we encountered had clipped ears.

We then went back to town for lunch one last time. I had a slice of my first baklava. Tasty honey pastry! Will I order it again? Who knows.

We then took the Super Jet to Santorini, which I should mention was the rockiest boats I've ever been on. I nearly threw up. Thank god for my "Zero to Hero" husband (he keeps asking me if he's a hero now...) who had some medicine. It was a 3 hour boat ride to the island and the weather was complete crap. The snack bar guy was handing out barf bags to EVERYONE. I definitely heard some throwing up. Definitely not something for faint of stomach!

And of course, once we get to Santorini, the weather follows us. It was a disgusting looking place. We went to Oia by scooter which was probably the scariest scooter ride either of us have ever taken due to the 35 mph winds while driving at 35 mph. We did make it back  to the hotel in one piece though.