Week 29--Bergen, day 1 & 2

WE LOVED BERGEN!

(recap video at the end of this post) 

Saturday, Aug. 18th

Our car service (2 minivans) arrived promptly at 4:30am.  I cannot tell you what troopers everyone was throughout the entirety of the trip.  We were a situation!  Eight adults (one pregnant mama!), two teenagers, one toddler, one infant, 2 strollers, a whole lotta luggage.  Not a word of complaint, no arguing.  Even the 2 littles were just the most fantastic travelers!  It was amazing!  Lots of flexibility and grace.  And mostly, everyone was just grateful to be together, excited to explore new-to-us places, and up for the adventure of it all!

We were off to Bergen, Norway on a friend's recommendation.  A <2 hour hop across the Baltic Sea and a one-hour time change.

Our car service came right on time, this time one big luxury van / party bus we all fit in.  

We landed at 8:30a, but our AirBnB wasn't available until 4:00p, so we found a place that we could pay to securely store our luggage.  A little sketch at first but turned out to work great!  We walked a few steps down the street to find a coffee shop to kill some time in.  We went into the first one we came to and wouldn't you know it!  It had the perfect spot for our situation.  The little loft area had a few tables and room for us to spread out in.  The staff kindly looked the other way and we ended up posting up there all day!  Pairs would go out to explore and then return.  Groups would go to find food.  Ezra would play in the perfect-for-her play area (!!!), people would steal a nap as needed.  We knew that day that we had "stumbled" upon the perfect spot, but it really wasn't until after a few days of exploring the city, that we realized we had truly accidentally struck gold that morning!  

You have NO IDEA how tiny mini Battleship is!

Our precious little haven for the day up on that 2nd floor!

Finally at 4:00, we collected our luggage from storage and walked just a block down to our apartment.  We were pleasantly surprised by the space.  Seven bedrooms and three bathrooms.  Not as glamorous as that may sound, but super functional and completely what we needed.  We were thrilled by the location- walkable to everything, but once again, didn't realize until a few days in that it truly was the PERFECT spot in city center.  Quiet, safe, easy.  

Exploring and looking for food.  ....and always missing our Trevor.  There was definitely a hole without him there.

We landed at a burger and fries spot, and everyone agreed we were likely going to eat better in Bergen than we did Riga.  

My sweet path to the market that I visited daily to pick up fresh fruit, eggs, water, etc for the day.

Trevor requested a family FT so he could say hi to everyone and introduce us to "Sara", his lovely, new girlfriend.  She was such a good sport and answered everyone's questions!

Sunday, Aug. 19th

My morning walk- the view from our front door.

Morning snuggles.  Most mornings, Colombo would make breakfast sandwiches throughout the morning as people woke.

Off to the coffee shop!  

My cousin taught me the difference between travel and vacation.  We tried to strike the balance of down time and just hanging together, playing games, taking naps, sipping coffee, slow mornings, etc AND seeing some of what the precious city had to offer.  Traveling with two littles and teens was interesting because it felt like at any given point in the day, somebody was sleeping!  

This day was an excursion day.

We walked to the tram that zips right up the side of the mountain and displays the whole port town and all the surrounding beauty.

The top rendered a "choose your own adventure".  A snack shack, playground, and bathrooms were right there.  Then a 1-K path led to a lake and then a 14-K hike across the ridge ended at the cable car for descent.  The whole group did the 1K, which had Maine vibes.

Then we split...some going back to the palyground and then back to the house and four brave guys taking on the big hike.

The time change worked for afternoon service to watch Grandpa preach and Littles to nap.

Scenes from the hike:

We all gathered and readied ourselves for tacos on Sunday.  We were split into two tables, and Ezra chose to hang with us which meant our table laughed the most!

Renna taught her "cut the pickle, tickle-tickle.

We took the long way "home" around the lake.  Madison at 30 weeks pregnant:

Our apartment was directly to the left of the fountain.

This temporary situation was set up for World Cup viewing.  Saturday night was the semi-finals.  There were MANY goals scored and each time we could feel pulse and hear the roar of the crowd at the AirBnB late into the night.  Sunday night was fewer goals for the finals between Spain and France, which the guys watched on tv; then the whole thing was dismantled.  Super fun way for the community to come together and watch.  Imagine if Norway had made it!  We were close to having that happen!

Bath time then bed.

***** BERGEN, day 1&2 recap video HERE *****