Kristiansand, Norway

The last port of call...and guess what SUNSHINE!

Our excursion today left the ship at 7:15 AM. We had to get up pretty early to get ready, get breakfast, bathroom break and get to the bus. But we did it.

We were off to see Lillisand by land and by sea. I didn't really do any research on Lillisand so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It's a small town just out of Kristainsand that is quaint and cute. NONE of the shops were open because we were there so early, so it was a rather pointless stop. In fact, several people were grumbling that it wasn't worth it because it was all closed up.

I found it interesting in that I love the white houses and the small streets that make up small towns. Was it great? Nope. But it was something different and in Norway.

After that we hopped on a scooner to tour around the many, many islands in this area. It was 32F outside so being on an open boat was freezing. I am not sure I'll thaw before September. But it was a sunny day and the the area is beautiful. Tons of white houses dotted the coast line with their little red boat houses in front. All summer homes. All handed down in the families from generation to generation.

We were back at the ship by 11am. Janet and I needed a cup of something hot and lunch. We took a quick break then Janet headed out to see the town, and I opted for a lazy afternoon in the sun. I sat out on our deck in the sun and just soaked it all in.

Tomorrow is another sea day then we are back in Copenhagen. This trip has gone so fast that I can't believe it's almost over. Ah well, all good things my come to an end.  It just means we have to start planning our next trip.

Stavanger, Norway

Day 3 on the ports of call, Stavanger Norway. Stavanger is "famous" for its oil - oh yah and a few of the most amazing, and famous, fjords around.

It's the third largest city in Norway (behind Oslo and Bergen) and has about 150,000 people living here.

The tour today took us out on a boat in the rain, cold, and wind. We were to tour the Lysefjord - which is one of the most picturesque of them all...only we couldn't see most of it. The clouds hung low and wouldn't burn off today. My main point I wanted to see was the famous cliff Preikestolen or Pulpit rock.

Here's what it looks like from above - and do notice there is no fence around it. Nothing stopping you and gravity...

Or this...it's way the hell up there 1900 Feet from sea level...

Here's what you'd see if you were on the water and zoomed in slightly and there weren't any clouds.

Here's what we saw...

I guess we really didn't have it as bad as the people who paid to do a 4 hour hike to Pulpit Rock in the rain, wind and cold only to get there to see nothing.

We did see some beautiful scenery though, despite the low clouds and the frozen tundra. I'd love to do this particular tour again when it was sunny, I can just imagine how beautiful it is.

Lysefjord means light fjord, and is said to be derived from the lightly colored granite rocks along its sides. The fjord was carved by the action of glaciers in the ice ages and was flooded by the sea when the later glaciers retreated. End to end, it measures 26 mi with rocky walls falling nearly vertically over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) into the water. Not only is the fjord long and narrow, it is in places as deep as the mountains are high. Starting at a depth of only 43 ft deep where it meets the sea near Forsand village, the Lysefjord then heads inland and drops to a depth of over 1,300 ft below the Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock).

To say it was breathtaking really doesn't do it justice. It's like photos of the grand canyon, you really can't "see" how large it is in a photo.

Halfway through the trip we stopped a little house on the waterfront and had Norwegian waffles and hot coffee. So delicious and so warm. 

Tomorrow were off to our last port of call, Kristiansand. Hope for sun...I know it's up there somewhere.

Bergen, Norway

Who's bright idea was it to come to Norway in May? Wow...it's cold today. Rainy and windy.  If both of those stopped it'd be a beautiful day.

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway (Oslo being the largest). It has 250,000 people who live here. I really couldn't figure out what industry was here for the people to work, but their unemployment is super low so there must be something.

We got off the ship this morning around 10 and took a city tour and that tour would eventually stop at an Ice Bar.

It was raining so hard this morning we really couldn't get any good photos from the bus, plus Bergen isn't overly interesting. There's not a lot of history here. The one piece of history they do have is this is where the Black Plague started in Norway.

Some town folk saw this boat adrift and decided to bring it in. All on board were dead, but there was still food. Thinking they no longer needed said food, which was grain, they brought it into town. The grain, of course had rats in it who had fleas that were carrying the plague. The rest, as they say, is history. The plague wiped out 50% of Norway's population.

The best part of today was the stop at the Magic Ice Bar. An entire bar made of solid blocks of ice. It's sub-zero in the bar so they give you gloves and parkas to wear inside. Thank god they did or I would have froze. It was so cool (pardon the pun) inside. They poured us a welcome drink from a bottle called Frost - I'm still trying to find it on the Internet. Our tour guide said it was 20% alcohol but it really didn't taste that strong. Whatever it was, it certainly warmed us up.

Back on the boat, we're spending the afternoon just laying around and trying to keep warm. Did I mention it was cold today? When we got on the bus it was 45F. But the wind...sheesh...it was cold.

Geiranger, Norway

We arrived in beautiful Geiranger this morning at 7am. When we threw back the curtains we were stunned at the beauty all around us.

The geirangerfjord is one of the most spectacular sights I've ever seen. The fjord is 260 meters deep while surrounding mountains are 1600 to 1700 meters high. Yah, I didn't have a clue how high or deep that was either, so handy Google converted it for me.

1600 meters is 5249 feet. 1700 is 5577 feet. 260 meters deep is 853 feet deep.

The mountains that surrounds this fjord is covered in the most amazing waterfalls. Every time you turn around there's another waterfall.

We took a scenic view and fjord museum trip today. We stopped at two view points high in the mountains on different ends of this part of the fjord. The first they called Eagles Bent. The road to get up there was the most amazing switch back.

The view from the top looked back towards the village of Geiranger.  200 people live in Geirganger and they host 650,000 tourists a year. Most the town shuts down from Sept to May when no one can really get to Geiranger.

From this view point we headed to the Fjord center. They had a museum in it that showed how the early settlers lived and farmed this area. There's not much to farm here that's for sure. Most of the farms are deserted.

The Fjord Center

Following that we went up to our last view point, flydalsjuvet viewpoint. Don't even ask me how to pronounce it. Once we got to the top and hopped out of the bus...it started snowing. Not heavy or anything, but snow all the same. I looked at Janet and said, "I don't think we've ever had snow on one of our trips.".

Leaving Geiranger we sailed past one of the waterfalls I was hoping to see the Seven Sisters. It's 1370 ft tall, and is the 39th tallest waterfall in Norway. Let that sink in for a moment...it's the 39th...that means there are 38 that are taller and this one felt REALLY tall.

As I've been writing this I've been watching the majestic fjord pass by our window. We've just made it out of the fjord back to open sea and the boat is rocking a bit. WEEEEE...

Tomorrow we're in Bergen. We're doing a city tour and a stop at an Ice bar. Can't wait to see that.

Copenhagen - Part 1, 2 and 3...

Hello from Beautiful Copenhagen!

Well, technically we're no longer in Copenhagen but currently cruising up the Denmark coast on our way to Norway. I haven't had a reliable network connection, or a real trusting electricity converter so my computer died. But now on a US based ship I have our brand of electricity and everything...I mean EVERYTHING is charging.

We hopped on the ship today around noon and will be on the  Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas for 7 nights and 8 days. These cruise ships are very much floating cities. They're massive and this one is no difference. I'm not sure how many total on board, but we do know it's only 400 Americans. Which I noticed right away. It's very European, Asian and Indian. A nice diversity.

Before I get too far into the cruise, let's talk Copenhagen. We spent 3 lovely days there touring the city and hanging with my BFF from high School Claudia. It was such a riot to see her again. It's true what they say about good friends...no matter how much time passes, you pick up right where you left off. She's a delightful person I'm so glad we've remained friends all these years.

We got in VERY late on the 22nd after what felt like the world's longest flight. We left right on time on fancy Virgin Atlantic airlines (I'm so in love with this airline). When Janet and I got to the airport I discovered I had mistyped Janet's last name and missed the "p" in Wraspir. The ticket counter supervisor (John) and his pal Kay took care of us. John spent an hour calling all over hell's half acre to make sure the name change was corrected everywhere so we'd not run into trouble. And then he upgraded us for them taking so long. So I said to him, "Let me get this straight...I screwed up and you're upgrading me?" He just smiled and said he felt it took him too long to straighten out. Ok.

So we got premium seats which meant we had a TON of leg room. Nothing else special. But it's Virgin so everything was special.

That lovely flight followed with an 8 hour layover in Heathrow. We had to go to SAS - our next airline - to make sure the name change worked and there'd be no problems. It was in a completely different terminal. And after me hobbling over to it we only had about 5.5 hours before the flight and we figured it was probably safer to just wait it out. We went and grabbed some breakfast and coffee and just hung around the airport. I joked with Janet about feeling like we were living in the airport now.

The flight on SAS was only 2 hours, but a completely different experience. They charge for everything. You want a coke? It'll cost ya.

We landed and got in a cab and were at our hotel by 10pm. It was still VERY light out. I hadn't thought about being this far north and having it be daylight longer.

Our hotel was fantastic. Mrs. Landlord recommended it and we loved it. The Copenhagen Plaza is central, it's clean, it's old but nice. It was perfect. They put us in a top floor room (6th floor) overlooking the famous Tivoli gardens. So from our bed we could watch all the rides in Tivoli. Then our last night there, last night, they had a spectacular fireworks show that we watched snuggled in our own beds. I highly recommend this place. It was right next to one of the Tivoli gardens exits and the train station, but once we figured out closing the windows at night, it wasn't bad at all.

As is usual for us, we did the Hop on Hop off bus, with an added bonus of a canal cruise. So we got up and met Claudia bright and early on Thursday and off we went to ride the bus. It was a beautiful day in Copenhagen and we really lucked out with that weather. In fact, I laughed because I took my sunscreen off my packing list because I figured I was coming to Copenhagen and wouldn't need it. I got a bit burnt on Thursday. 

That afternoon Claudia had to leave to go pick up her kids and so Janet and I hopped on the canal cruise and we cruised through all the canals in Copenhagen. Fascinating. And in some areas some serious money on the water. Tons of nice boats and expensive looking house boats. It was just great.

On Friday morning, same thing. We met Claudia for breakfast and coffee, hopped on the bus and headed to the royal palace to watch the changing of the guards. I love stuff like this. All the tradition. All the pomp and circumstance that goes on. They certainly aren't as fancy as they would be if the queen was in town, but I loved it all the same. Claudia mentioned that if we left a bit early and found a cafe along this one road to sit and eat, we'd see the guard march down the street. By the time we got sat out side, had our beers and ordered lunch we had forgotten all about the guard. I happened to glance down the street and they were right there!

Before I go any further...let me tell you about the food. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had done some research and had read about all the seafood they have and I wasn't really looking forward to three days of fish. Turns out that is a part of the cuisine, but not the only part. They have these opened faced sandwiches called...Smørrebrød. There are so many options to choose from. You can have pickled herring or roast beef. Chicken Salad or shrimp. Everywhere we went for lunch that's what we had. I had fried fish on one. I had roast beef with these amazing sauces and small salads on the. I had Danish meatballs on one...the list goes on. I decided I think I'm going to do a Sunday dinner with these guys...The bread is almost always rye bread and as Claudia put it, just a holder for the good stuff. It's not necessarily something they "eat" all the time. We did. We couldn't shovel it in fast enough. 

For other meals I had fried fish... of course...I had a chicken coq au vin that was out of this world.

And the beer...oh boy. When we were in Ireland all I talked about was wanting to drink Guinness. What I found was a whole world of other Irish beers that I loved. Denmark was similar. I came over assuming Carlsberg was all there was...and it is delicious. But they also have this beer called Tuborg that was so much better than Carlsberg. I drank both...a couple of times. 

That's really Copenhagen in a nutshell. I couldn't possibly list all the things we saw and did. Heck, most of you are on FB and already see that I'm sure. 

I've been a bit bummed because my foot is acting up and it's slowing me down. Janet's a good sport about it and I've told her a couple of times to "leave me behind" and she won't. I was really hoping it would work itself out by now...but alas it did not. I feel like an old broken lady...now I know what Mom felt like. 

Tomorrow is a day at sea as we make our way up the coast of Denmark. We'll go up and over to Norway landing in Geiranger on Tuesday. So stay tuned.

Denmark / Norway or Bust....

And we're off...or just about.

Janet and I are headed out to see the world again. This time Denmark and Norway.  We booked this trip a year ago and it's come up so quickly I barely had time to research. To be fair, I've not done nearly the research I normally do, but I feel prepared all the same. I'll be pleasantly surprised on things I learn THERE instead of before.

The bags are packed and they've been thoroughly CAT scanned. These two have been suspicious for a

couple of days now...since the blue bag came out. They know. They've been down this road before and know it'll be a couple of weeks before they see me BUT really cool cat sitters come by and spoil them.

We are spending Wed - Saturday in Copenhagen seeing the sights and me getting a chance to see my high school BFF from TASIS who lives there. I'm so excited to see her. It's been about 10 years since we last saw each other. Funny thing about old friends, regardless of the time that passes between visits, you pick up right where you left off. Your past has bonded you together forever.

On Sunday May 26th, Janet and I will board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and head out to see Norway...well part of it. To be fair... just about a 1/3 of the coast and that's it. Norway is a long, huge country it seems.

We start in Copenhagen and cruise on up to Geiranger to see one of the majestic fjords there. Then we ping pong down the coast stopping at Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand. Once we do all that we land back in Copenhagen.

Norway wasn't originally on my bucket list, but so many friends have gone and I fell in love with the scenery and the beauty that I think Norway will be. One of my friends, who's a Seatlle girl through and through, said that she felt Norway more beautiful than the Seattle area...which is hard to do for those of us who live here. We shall see.

Stay tuned for more details on our trip.

Ohhh the burn....

I'm still riding that motivation wave. I'm going to do that as long as I can and try to remind myself that every day is another day towards feeling better, making a habit, and treating myself the way I deserve. 

Yesterday was the first official personal trainer session. I spent hours prior trying to think of an excuse to not "be able to make it". Even the idea of having paid for this wasn't really enough to keep my head in the game. As the day progressed I finally realized what I was doing and just stopped. It's amazing how YEARS of habit really is a dangerous thing. 

I got there and met up with Zohan the Great (that's what I'm calling him and he thinks it's hilarious). Our first task was to measure every single part of my body and *gasp* do a BMI test. I didn't even ask what my BMI was because I think I know it's AT LEAST in the 40%. At any rate, he wrote it down in his magical booklet about me and he'll tell me where I've improved. 

We measured all the normal stuff, chest, abdomen, hips and then we measured each limb - top and bottom of  the limb), my neck, and my shoulders.  All those measurements he gave me so we can track. We'll be measuring every 2 weeks...which seems like a lot, BUT that means I have to get my butt in gear to actually make changes. He's convinced in two weeks we'll see changes. I'm skeptical, but that's Negative Jenn talking. 

He put me on a resistance machine last night for upper strength. There were three different exercise for arms and each one was done in 45 second intervals. By the end of it I was shaking. My arms were so tired that they trembled. I get done with the last one and as we're walking away he says, "You know you can take it slower and break in between if you want." Now you tell me. I suspected it was a test but at least now I know it's about quality and not quantity. 

Our last adventure was on the elliptical. He had previously told me he didn't want me doing the elliptical - but what he meant was how I was doing the elliptical. He set up a High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for me that KICKED....MY....A$$. Oh Lord...and what's worse, I only did half of what he wants me to do. 

His motivation towards me is a welcome change to the inner dialog I have with myself all the time. How did I get here? How did I get so negative about myself? It's gradual I'll tell you that. I used to feel relatively carefree and positive about almost everything. Then something happened - when it started I don't know, but it did and now I have to dig myself out of it. 

Oh and by the way...you remember that homework of I mentioned a couple of days ago? One of them was to do a push up every time I open the fridge. Do you know how many times I open the fridge when I'm home? My water is in there...let's just say it's a lot and I'm behind in the number of Push Ups. 

Last thing...little win for me yesterday. After my work out (from 5-6) I was starving. My brain said to just swing by Jersey Mike's and grab a sandwich. I mean I'm right there. It would be simple. I'd be able to eat immediately when I got home, blah blah blah. Excuse Excuse Excuse...Then my other brain kicked in and told me that I had healthy stuff at home and it wouldn't take more than 30 minutes to cook it. I'd survive. And you know what, I'm glad I did. I did survive and I felt way better about what I ate than what I would have felt like. That's one in the "W" Column. 

Healthier Me - Part 2

Yesterday I told you all about my personal training Zohan. There's more to this healthier me story that I thought I'd mention.

Back in April when I challenged The Niece to exercising, I also signed up for a meal menu thingy. I signed up with this company called PlateJoy. The idea is weekly you create a menu for yourself based on your health goals (low carb, 1500 cal a day, etc). PlateJoy will provide you meal ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You decide how many you want for the whole week. For example, I have one breakfast, for 5 days, 1 lunch meals for 1 day and 4 dinners for 5 days - of which I use half for lunch the next day.

I use this in combination with my Cooking Light meals I have too.

I know that if I don't plan, I'm not going to make good choices. This I've proven time and again. So my goal this time is to cook/prep on Sunday's and have everything prepared and ready for the week.

I just finished the 4th week of this and I've gotta say this is working like a charm. In the last 4 weeks I've only gotten fast food for dinner once.

The weekends are a whole other problem. I need to figure out how to do better on weekends...it's getting better though. I think about it more, which is a good thing.

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo...the US holiday in which we all pretend to be Mexican. I am doing nothing related to Mexico, Mexican food, or Mexican beer. Instead the Sister In Law is coming over to scrapbook. Yesterday was International Scrapbook Day and I postponed any fun stuff until today.

Let me get you caught up a bit.

Back in December, when I came home from Hawaii I made a promise to myself. I hated how I felt in Hawaii. Tired, hot all the time, exhausted, and the weakest link. I just hated that I felt like this. So, I decided I wanted to do something about it.

Jan - Mar I pretended to be doing "something". I would go to the gym every now and then, but nothing serious. Then April happened and I realized my May trip with Janet is right around the corner and I needed to get my big butt in gear.

I challenged The Niece to 20 days of exercise in April. Our rule was we had to photograph while working out or after to prove we did it and send to each other. It's a great motivation for sure. She's competitive and so am I. I did 19 of the 20 (I counted wrong or I would have had 20). All the while I was thinking about how doing the elliptical wasn't really cutting it for me and yet I didn't have any confidence to try any weights.

Then I had a thought...maybe I should hire a personal trainer to teach me the weights and then I wouldn't feel as uncomfortable with them.

So yesterday I did just that. Meet Zohan. The Personal Trainer who promises to help me get more in shape and healthier. He's a great guy. Yesterday was all about assessing my strength. I was dreading this, and honestly, almost cancelled. I really didn't want to face down this demon and appear weak in front of a stranger. But I did it. And am glad I did.

We started the assessment on the treadmill. He walked on the one next to me as we assessed a one mile walk at a normal walking pace for me. Took me 22 minutes and my heart rate was at 152 when we were done. All the while he entertained me by playing 20 questions. It was great. We were done in no time. I shared with him some of my insecurities and he had an answer/suggestion for every single one...and not in an annoying way.

After the walking we went over to do some strength. He had me grab an 8lb dumb bell. Than with each arm I would do as many arm curls as I could. I told Zohan to not expect too many. Turns out I did 40 with each arm. Way more than I thought.

That followed a plank exercise...oh Lord. Again, I mentioned how unlikely it'd be I'd last 10 seconds. I lasted 40 seconds.

Then we did squats.  He had me get up and down from a chair to make sure that I didn't strain my back or my knees. He put some mats under my toes so when I stood it would put more emphasis on my heels and not my knees. Made a huge difference. By this time I was thinking I might be able to do more than planned. I did 30.

The last test was the most amusing to me. Zohan's family is from Jamaica and he happens to love flamingos. So the "stork test" he calls the "Flamingo test"...is he perfect for me or what? This is basically the sobriety test. Stand on one foot, the other bent at your knee. Hold your arms out and touch your nose. This checks your balance. Turns out my balance sucks. I only got 6 seconds on my right foot and 10 seconds on my left.

After all was said and done, Zohan had a plan for me. This plan includes homework to which I think is awesome...and how something as simple of this can make a big difference.

Since my "habit" at night is watching TV, he's making it worth my while. Here's my homework:
First what he calls the "Passive Three":

1. Walk as much as I can during the day, with a goal to 3,000 steps
2. Park far away in the parking lot
3. Take the stairs a couple times a day

Then when I'm at home:

1. For each commercial break I should do 5 squats. 
2. When cooking, every time I open the fridge, I do 1 push up
3. When a show ends, I am to do a 40 minute plank

I'm as sore as anything today, so we aren't starting this until tomorrow (which I'll probably be more sore). I'll start seeing Zohan on Wed and Friday's. This PT stuff is not cheap, but I am worth it. I figured I either spend the money now to help me or I spend it in medical bills later. 

Here's what I learned about myself yesterday, I'm WAY stronger than I think I am. And Zohan was right, my negative talk is holding me back. I need to work on that. Truthfully, I think one of my tasks for homework should be to do a plank, push up or squat every time I have a negative thought...I might be in shape in no time.