Spring Break: Part 3

This is ridiculous.  Spring Break has been over for 2 weeks and I am still writing about it.

Norway was great.  I spent just over 3 days there with my college roommate who is studying in Lillehammer.  It was really nice to have some down time in my travels to just relax.  The weather was gorgeous, easily the warmest and sunniest place I visited during my break - go figure.  We spent two of the afternoons just sitting in the sun.  Awesome.  Also, since she is there with a Luther program,  I was allowed to participate in their weekly family dinner.  Beef stew.  It was good.  It's always nice to go to a place and stay in a familial environment.  Plus, I got to do laundry which was definitely a plus.

One thing I decided was that I really don't like traveling in places where I do not no the language at all.  The day I left Norway to go to Belgium, I had to take a train to Oslo and then catch a bus to the airport.  In my travel schedule I had 45 minutes free in between these connections and had intended to do some souvenir shopping before searching out my bus.
However, after I got on the train in Lillehammer, it did not depart on time.  There was an announcement, but it was in Norwegian and no one else in the car spoke English.  The announcement was repeated a couple times.  Or perhaps more information was revealed.  But, either way I had no idea what was going on, and it was 25 minutes before the train decided to move.  I was only slightly panicky at this point.  I would still have 20 minutes in which to maybe buy a Norwegian hat or flag or shot glass and then book it to the bus.  But, then we were delayed on the tracks 3 times, totally 10 minutes.  Thus I arrived in the Oslo with 10 minutes to find the bus station and find my bus.  So, yet again I found myself running through an unfamiliar place to find an unknown location and found the bus that I absolutely could not miss exactly at the designated time of departure.  Once on the bus I managed the rest of my travels that day without a problem.  Made it to my hostel in Brussels and walked around a little to orient myself. I by chance shared a room with a girl who is studying in Pau with a high school friend of mine.  So wierd.

Didn't see any trolls in Norway, but I also didn't cross any bridges, so I don't really know what I was expecting.

Brussels is the kind of city where you either need to spend a day or a month.  I only had 2 days, so after one day in Brussels I decided spur of the moment to go to Bruges.  My favorite thing in Brussels was the Mannekin Pis, which is a fountain of a peeing toddler.  It's kind of a big deal.  It has a very rich history and several hundred specialized costumes.  He was much smaller than I was expecting, but still pretty neat to see.  Also, there were no less than Bruges was beautiful.

Bruges was really nice.  A small medieval city that is touristy, but not offensively so.  I of course got a picture of the belfry, which played a prominent role in the film, In Bruges.  Also, there is a Michelangelo statue of the Madonna with Child.  I accidentally stumbled into the church where it is on display, so that was neat.  I mostly just walked around and took in the beautiful day in a beautiful city.  Honestly, the best thing about Belgium is the food.  I'm pretty sure I could live on fries, waffles, and chocolate.  I may not live very long, but at least I would be happy.


That afternoon I went back to Brussels to catch my train to Paris.  Once in Paris I met up with Erik and we went for a drink at a Scottish pub of all places.  It is one of those rare places in France where I feel comfortable speaking English.  Afterwards we got some gelato.  Always a good decision.

The next day I had to wake up before the sun in order to meet my parents at the airport.  And that of course came with its own set of struggles.