Last Night in Stavanger

Ms. Cindy used to always say she worried about the "last Thursday night of an audit" especially when I was with Pete. Somehow we managed to always get into some shenanigans, never mind that I came home with a black-eye from New Orleans one Friday. Thank God my dear sweet Mother is not around to hear about this. Nevertheless tonight is the last night (Thursday) of my Stavanager Audit and this time Ms. Cindy is here to participate. Somehow she didn't seem to mind at all. We had a great evening...nice pre-dinner, nice cocktails, nice dinner even though service was extra slow - at a historic restaurant called Sorensens down by the waterfront. And when we came outside...the weather was ASS-FREEZING COLD!!! The temp is 45 with a wind chill of 39. We went seeking a cab and paid 25 US Dollars to go about a half a mile up hill against the wind. YOU WOULD TOO! Oh my gosh. At any rate. Another "last Thursday night of an audit" is in the books.

Tomorrow we head to Oslo for the weekend. It's great that I'm finally fully dedicated to vacation and greatly looking forward to it. What follows are pictures from tonight. Photos of bartender, bar menu, outdoor view of boats, food menu, shared salad before & after, and entrees. As always...I continue to be enamored by all things that are food. Can you say Porky Pig.

One P.S.: Today Ms. Cindy was in a local museum and a lady came up and asked her for directions in Norwegian. When Ms. Cindy began speaking English, the lady responded in kind and Cindy pulled out her Museum Map and showed her where she needed to go. I'm telling you...she may be a Choctaw from Oklahoma, but she's got some Scandinavia in her!(And people need to give Elizabeth Warren a break - who amongst us hasn't used Indian heritage for gain?)

Animal Farm

I've been reminded by my oldest younger sister that I seem to run into pregnant animals alot. I'm sure Dr. Freud would have some observation of that...not of me but of her. At any rate, thought I would compile some from this trip. ESPECIALLY, since Mama Swan has provided such a treat, seeing the evolution of her from her nest until the little darlings appeared. There's actually one picture where one of them is shown on her left side.

I have a cool movie of her and her babies but I would have to buy Google in order to have enough bandwidth to post it here. So, we'll see how many pictures we can load. The only other mama on here is the cow from yesterday who appears to be about "8 1/2 months." There's enough sheep on here that at least one of them has to be great with child - maybe one of those with all that hair covering up their tummy...and everything else. The ducks, the billy goats and the other cows are thrown in free of charge.

Road Trip

Took a road trip north today and went up into some mountains close to snow with lots of waterfalls as the snow melts down the countryside. Continuously drove alongside clear rushing mountain creeks with steep rocky mountains on both sides. Some houses with grass sod roofs. Beautiful countryside. Hard to believe that people live in these little secluded villages along the way…but, once again, proves what a vast large world we live in.

Stopped at a café where we experienced “reindeer” steak which is actually elk and served traditionally with boiled potatoes, Brussels sprouts and ligonberry jam (I had been told by one of my Houston colleagues to be on the look out for this and eat it. Okay. Now I have). With the meal drank water that was directly out of the well that receives the melting water from the snow outdoors. Tasted refreshing, though one leg seems to be growing shorter than the other. Next door candle shop was built as an extension of the rock mountainside as one of the walls. Lots of stuffed animals (killed in these parts, I am pretty sure) and wooden sculptures, including one huge one that was made into a chair that allows tourist geeks to sit in. And finally, back at the hotel…can you tell which of the 3 are NOT Norwegian? Later.

Cruising to Preikestolen

That would be Pulpit Rock to you. Fitting trip for a religious holiday weekend, not to mention experiencing the beauty and magnificence represented in nature. Pulpit Rock is a massive cliff 2,000 feet above the fjord, and has a square top of 80 feet by 80 feet. People actually hike to the top and can hangout and picnic and sun on top of the rock with one of the Top 10 spectacular views. Needless to say, we enjoyed its beauty by observing it from the bottom up while in a comfortable boat.

I'll attach a few pictures complete with billy goats and waterfall. There are seals and sheep also but only the goats came out to see the boat. There's a feeding trough on the land that the boat staff replenishes and the goats were excited to see the boat arrive. The winters are too harsh for the animals since there's minimal food (aka grass for the goats/sheep). As a result, the locals come and gather the animals (seals and all) and take them home (or to some location) and provide for them during the winter. Each family color code tags their own animals so as to gather the same ones the next year. Hard to picture how this always works, but I'll dismiss my Auditor brain at this point and accept the idyllic image of all this!

The cruise was a great way to spend 3 hours out thru the fjords. We enjoyed a nice dinner of white fish and mussels on the rooftop of a café to cap off the day. Wonder what tomorrow will bring!

Nice Saturday

Drop-dead gorgeous. People out enjoying it - sunning, pubbing, parking, Harleying, shopping...I think Stavanger has 200 dress shops and the womens-folk are out checking out the 'bargains.' More later.

Went to see “Festen” tonight. A comedy/drama about a birthday party that goes bad. Luckily 2 good things happened for me. There was an entry into the play by a guy speaking English – that helped me catch up to some extent. But then at intermission the guy sitting next to me took it upon himself to ‘splain what was going on. Was a tremendous help. Play was very dark – the core issue was inappropriate behavior many years earlier…and I’ll leave it at that. It ended with the bad guy excommunicated from the family and everyone happy and united again. The lady next to me was wiping tears away.

Okay. Enough of this being a damn culture-vulture. Back to my normal slobbery.

Summertime Arrives with a Gusto!

You may think 95 is hot in Texas...but it's 79 today in Stavanger...and the natives are dancing in the streets. What a difference from last week. I think I'm working on my tan just walking a few blocks down the street. But, not as bad as the Tanning Mom. Will post a few pictures - one looking out the hotel lobby window this morning, one of the local flowers, one looking into the hotel with not one but two electric doors open (I"m sure it has been a while since that happened), one of a mom sitting on her nest down at the local pond, and the office building - with nary a cloud in the sky.

Going to the theater - or theatuh to you - tonight. Will let you know what it's like to watch a play in a language you don't understand.

Cheers!