a little deja vu in Norway

We just got back from a little over a week on the road. First stop: Göteborg, Sweden, for the Accelerator music festival, where we saw Modest Mouse, Jose Gonzales, Danielson and O'Death (cool band we'd never heard of). Next stop: Oslo, Norway, which was an absolutely beautiful city. We spent the afternoon walking around the tree-lined streets, eating bagels and good Indian food and just getting a bit of urban life. Then it was onto the fjords, where we rented a cottage for a week near Bergen.

The 8-hour drive from Oslo to Bergen was tons of fun... cows on the road, a goat herder who waved hello as we drove by, a 24-km long tunnel through a mountain (the longest in the world) and an overwhelming sense of deja vu from the scenery. It totally reminded us of home. (Except for all the water.)

The scenery and seafood turned out to be the highlights of the trip. Also, we appreciated the more laid-back attitude in Norway. More of a "mountain town" culture I guess. The cottage was nothing to write home about, but gave us a nice base to explore all the nearby fjords: Sogneford, Hardangerfjord and Nærøyfjord. One day we took a cruise down the Naeroyfjord (including Tilly!). It was stunning despite the cold rain.

The Bergen fish market was our source for dinner on two nights. We picked up a kilo of crabs plus another pound of crab legs. I was in absolute heaven. The crabs are different than blue claws from the U.S. More like stone crabs. The leg meat was absolutely to die for. So, on our last night, I got a pound of crab legs for myself, and Lewis got a kilo of mussels. Oh, and we got some fresh bread from a nearby bakery. It was better than anything we could have gotten in a restaurant.

(Then on the ride home, I fell in love with a McFish sandwich from McDonalds. But that's another story I'll get into a bit later.)

Too many pics to post here... so you can see more on my Norwegian slideshow.