Probably the last post ...

Hey all who check here ...

We're in Stavanger, in southern Norway, with 5 days to go. We've got one more night here, then an overnight train to Oslo, another overnight to Copenhagen airport, a flight to London, two nights there, and then home ...

It will certainly be interesting going to London for 2 nights. By all accounts the atmosphere in the city is very tense. Despite all logical reassurances about probability, etc. I'm sure our rides on the tube will be at least somewhat frightening. But what do you do?

Anyways, that's occupying a small portion of our collective minds, but mostly we're just enjoying Norway. We went on a brilliant hike yesterday to a giant piece of granite called Preikestolen, or The Pulpit Rock. You can see a picture of it (not one that I took or anything) over on the side there ... it was absolutely unreal. 604m (approx. 2000 ft.) high, with sheer cliffs on three sides down to the Fjord below. When we were up there we were actually above the clouds, giving us a very interesting cloudscape to look over. Wow.

It's a little chilly today so we're just kind of hanging out ... have a couple points of interest to look into today and tomorrow - unfortunately Norway absolutely shuts down on Sundays ... no stores of any kind are open, and even many restaurants are closed.

Anyways, it's been amazing ... see you all soon.

Dane

Norway: Live for the moment!

I saw that slogan on a postcard yesterday and thought "if only I knew how!" - but today, after para-gliding, I think I've got it figured out.

So we're here in Voss (the extreme sports capital of Norway), and today (as I mentioned above) we took advantage and went paragliding (no more comments in parantheses after this).

So, for those who are unsure of what this entails, here goes:
1) You and your instructor strap yourselves to a thin, stylized parachute that is joined to a boat, sitting in the nearby lake
2) The boat takes off and you run as fast as you can after it until your parachute fills and you are lifted into flight
3) The boat tows you, slowly letting out cable until you are 3000 (!!!) feet above the earth
4) The instructor pulls the rip cord and you are gliding free

So after this is takes about 15-20 minutes to glide down to earth, and you get to steer the rig, the instructor takes you through a couple easy turns, some harder ones, and finally a death spiral (during which I almost blacked out) before you hit the ground running and end it.

It was amazing ... the scenery in Norway (Fjords, snow-covered mountains, lakes, etc.) is mind-blowing from the ground, nevermind 3000 feet up. Definitely an experience to remember.

Okay!

Home in 11!

Dane

Sandy and I in Helsinki

Sandy and I in Helsinki
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Here's a pic of my and Sandy during our walk around Helsinki.

The Secret of Hilary's Eternal Beautry

The Secret of Hilary's Eternal Beautry
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Another from the Isle of Skye

Hil and I on the Isle of Skye

Hil and I on the Isle of Skye
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

A beauty shot from our hike on The Isle of Skye .. you can see 'The Old Man of the Storr' in the background - it's the rock spire - where we finished our hike.

Hil on Isle of Skye

Hil on Isle of Skye
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

This pic is a bit dark, but the figure there is indeed Hilary, this is actually on the way down from our hike on the Isle of Skye, probably the most beautiful bit of scenery I've ever seen.

Danish palace with Palace Guards

Danish palace with Palace Guards
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

This is part of the palace where Queen Margaret II lives in Denmark. My grandfather on my Dad's side was a palace guard when he was young, so it was very cool to see them marching around as he would have done 80 years ago.

Radhus (town hall) in Copenhagen.

Radhus (town hall) in Copenhagen.
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Most of the Radhus was covered in scaffolding, so I took this picture of the clocktower ... I just liked the sky behind it more than anything.

The Gold Hall

The Gold Hall
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Stockholm city hall, like Stockholm istelf, was insanely beautiful - there's two pictures from it that I'm posting.

Church/Alien Landing Pad in Helsinki

Church/Alien Landing Pad in Helsinki
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Sandy and Satu took us to this pod shaped church in Helsinki - probably the oddest church I've ever seen - but very cool.

Fort in Helsinki

Fort in Helsinki
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

A couple hours prior to this photo we were exploring the fort and we saw a boat go by, then two ours later there we were on the BOAT, watching the FORT go by - irony?

Stave Church

Stave Church
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

13th century wooden church in Norway.

Our Ship

Our Ship
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

This ship gave us two phenomenal nights of great food, english movies on TV, and bright midnights.

The Blue Hall

The Blue Hall
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Called the blue hall because it was supposed to be blue, but the architect changed his mind and left it brick. Crazy architects, what will they think of next.

Loch Ness

Loch Ness
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

A view down Loch Ness - no monster sightings, but we learned that the current theory is that the monster is actually a Sturgeon - a fresh-water fish that can grow up to 27 feet, and lives for over 300 years.

A View of Stockholm

A View of Stockholm
Originally uploaded by djsquared.

Here's a view of Stockholm from up high in the city hall - I built this interactive map so you can see what some of the buildings in the city are, so if you click the pic and move your mouse over the big version of the picture, some notes will pop up.

Hold tight London.

Just in case Hilary's mom wasn't the only one wondering - we flew out of London yesterday, and are in Copenhagen so we were totally unaffected by the bombings - aside from my own feelings of sadness and anger.

Dane.