Another lazy morning. Another decision-challenging breakfast buffet. Pack our bags and head out into the cool sunshine to catch a bus for the aquarium – but wait! my eyes come to rest on the cute bikes with woven baskets that are stationed right out in front of our hotel. A quick inquiry at the front desk and before you can say “jack be nimble” we alight our sykklen (that’s bicycles to you foreigners) and are giggling as we pedal over the cobblestone streets.
The delightfully cool breeze certainly helps as I am standing and pedaling up a big hill, flying down and around the corner and up another steep hill. This time, I just kinnot due it cap’n and I’m walking the cycle up and around the final hill. We arrive at the aquarium, and read and see all about local fish (halibut! cod! crabs! lobsters! lots of floundery dudes!). We take a seat in the indoor amphitheater and I laugh, watching the 3 – 7 year-old boys run after each other (and I am particularly taken with the 3 year-old who is chasing his buddy with a juice box in hand and squirting it at his friend whenever he gets close enough and then starts squealing with laughter. reminds me of some other mischievous boys i used to hang out with). Promptly at 1, an employee comes out to chat about the fish, and all of a sudden, the really large fish all swim to the same spot, and a diver appears, food bag in hand. He is pretty much camouflaged by the gathering, but you might be able to deduce his location by following the stream of bubbles down to their source. Kind of a lame program, but still fun to be in the milieu.
Back on our bikes (which have the really cool locking system, Valerie) and a snapshot taken:
and we’re back on our way to the hotel. We fly down the street, and a downhill cobblestone finish is shaped rather wavy and I squeal with surprise and delight as my bike takes a leap in the air.
We leave the bikes, and head over to Bocca, a cafe by the water (see left side of picture on yesterday’s post), for beer, a cleverly crafted home-made iced tea, and a bit of blogging. A very strange man stops at the table as I’m laughing out loud, and then launches into his long-winded life story, which Lance patiently listens to until Bjorn (he wanted to be sure I spelled it correctly) asks Lance if he could purchase a Nikon for him and then ship over to Norway. Standing up, we say “toodle-oo” and we were out of there. On the hunt for an open giftie shop, but to no avail. Back to the hotel, oh! speaking of hotel, here’s a picture of it along the quaint canal (we’re the pale green building about midway down, directly to the left of the pale yellow Clarion hotel):
and our cute, boat-sized, mod room:
where we ask about a place to get a snack, and the front desk woman sends us to Lutpunken, which she says doesn’t serve alcohol because they’re Christian, and then in the same breathe “but they’re open on Sundays”. Don’t ask me.
Back to the main drag, it soon becomes obvious which is the restaurant. A real crowd outside and in, and the food turns out to be really wonderful, as is, of course, the accompanying home-made bread. Vegetable soup! No cream! Who’d have thought?
Sated, we return to the hotel and inquire from a dockside old wooden boat whether we might be able to rent a kayak for a short paddle. Were told to wait for return of man who knows the answer, but no one shows up. Time to pack and prepare for our 5 am wake-up call and 5:35 am shuttle ride. 7 am flight to Oslo, then we await different flights back to the states. Thanks for joining me on my journey, and I will be adding more pictures and my usual “look-back” impressions in just a few days. XOXO