Thon Sandnes

I went to Stavanger in june to attend the beach volleyball world tour, but when I got there I 
fund so much else to do that I didnt find the time to watch the volleyball. Its was insane, and 
the best part is that everything is so close that you can do alot in one day. I spendt 10 days there 
and it is without doubt the best vacation I have ever been on.

I live in Amsterdam and ...

Another couple mad train rides from Bergen to Oslo and then over to Stavanger took us to small oil town, from where we would make our way to the beautiful lyseford. The fjord is quite deep, and we came to take the hike up to the Preikestolen, high above the fjord. The hike was great, and though we were soaked by rain upon arriving in Stavanger, it wasn't too bad during the 2 hour trek up.

... selling seal fur, and what’s even better is that there wasn’t a dim-witted PETA protestor in sight. Not that I’m completely for the seal fur trade, but still – better them than “animals are greater than humans group” PETA any day of the week.

Had a bit of a walk around Bryggen – the old UNESCO listed dock buildings – they’re nice, but it’s all tourist and gift shops now. Also had a ...

My final European stop was in Stravanger Norway, to visit Kelley. Stravanger is on the western coast and pretty termperate compared to the rest of the country. They don't get much snow, only rain. Just like London! I felt very at home.

Stravanger has a freakishly adorable downtown with old white wood buildings and curvy narrow cobblestoned streets. In town there are lots of cute little shops that almost (only almost) make you ...

... per o un Volvo C30 no es lo que me imaginaba... qué gozada!!! Es chulísimo, y he conducido de Kristiansand a Stavanger.... 250 kms y cuatro horas. Las carreteras de Noruega, aunque están bien asfaltadas y eso, son difíciles, curvas, montañas, y carreteras de un sólo carril, nada de autovías.... ¡¡y encima te cobran peaje!! En fin, ha sido un viaje de lluvia intensa, pero precioso: Noruega, en la costa sur al menos, está llena de lagos, fiordos más grandes y pequeños ...

... city on the fjords and it takes something like 5 hours to get there from Bergen, 4 ferries 3 underground tunnels 3 bridges and a lot of 60 kmh highways with tolls (funny when you think about it, paying money to drive slow) any way, we left to get to the pullpit rock (perkistolen), scary stuff

... the hard-core Viking fans with their Viking outfits. It was fun! It was actually the first time I have ever been to a live soccer game. When I realized that they played for over 90 minutes, I wasn't sure if my attention span would last through the whole match. However, since there are never any times that they stop the clock in soccer I was able to survive the whole game. The Viking team won, we had fun and we got to take the boat to the game!

... to the suburb of Tasta to a larger supermarket and purchased some of the kitchen staples that we needed. The meat in Norway is very expensive and the selection is very different from home. There is lots of lamb, pork, and some chicken. The most common form of beef is ground beef and there are about five different varieties. Last week when we wanted to purchase ground beef we couldn't tell the difference between the packages, so we just went with the mid-priced ...

... by Asle's sister's family cabin and watched a bit of one of the soccer matches (US vs somebody). Then we buzzed back to the dock and headed back up to the cabin - a very relaxing start to our trip. The next day, the weather had changed - rain, rain, rain. We were borrowing one of the cars to head up to Sandnes, and it was a wet trip. For some reason, it always rains when I'm in Sandnes/Stavanger, but maybe it just plain always ...

Today, we headed over to Kjell and Wenche's house for a dinner with the whole Ravnaas clan. It was wonderful to have everyone at one (very long) table. And we were all relieved when Wenche annouced that they were going to skip the "middle" dessert course. Whew! After dinner, we headed downstairs to watch a DVD of the local school production of Grease (in norwegian), with Ola playing Vince Fontaine. His pompadour hairdo was simply magnificent. And then it was off ...