Arne and Hildegund Kittang came to Vista in 1981 to study Anisa in the same way that Liv and Michael had several months earlier.   On Sunday, we visited their home outside of Oslo and caught up on the last 30 years.  Because the Norway discovered oil in the 1960s they have the highest % of foreign aid per capita of any country in the world.  The Baha’is of Norway have combined with the govt.  to do several projects around the world.  Arne has done a lot of work in India and Uganda.   He’s anxious to spend some of the year in Uganda.   This kind of work gets in your blood as some of us know.

The next morning we board the train from Oslo to Bergen.  (east to west)  It passes through some gorgeous countryside even to a glacier.

At Myrdal we board another train that takes us on steep ride down to the sea full of spectacular waterfalls and Norwegian countryside. I am trying a high tech option here with one of the waterfalls.   Enjoy the power.

The end of the line is Flam, which takes on a two hour cruise in a few fjords.    I think this is what makes Norway, Norway.

After the trip along the fjords we took a bus and train to  Bergen.  Here are a couple of

pics of that trip.

So we arrived in the evening around 9 pm in Bergen staying at a self-service hotel called the Citybox.  Of course we couldn’t to do the self service part.  After living in SE Asia and Brazil where self service is a non-concept,  we just couldn’t figure it out.  Thank God for telephones.

Debby went to bed so I took an evening walk in the city.  This photo was taken at 10:45 pm. Sunset

The next day we did a huge amount of tourist-like things including going up the mountain to get great shots of the city, visiting the fort that once protected the city which at one time was the capital of Norway, the Bryggen, which is a world heritage site of some early houses where a lot of trade happened.  We even spent part of the day with Pablo,  Picasso that is and some other artists like Edvard Munch.

In the evening we had a fantastic treat because we found that the Paul Taylor Dance Company was in town performing right across from our hotel in the performing arts center.

Today we took a 5 hour boat ride from Bergen to Stavanger.  It was a total adventure trying to find the hostel we are staying in because although Norwegians speak English well, hostel to them is more like a hotel.  Anyway, we are here and there is a nice lake in front us where I took a shot of the local wildlife.

One of the nice things about staying in a hostel is that you meet a lot of travelers and get a lot of info on what to do.   We have met some Germans, Spaniards, Aussies,  Algerians,  Swedes,  Chinese, and Dutch here.