Powered by Nature: Alaska

 

 

By the time I was back from my run in the morning and we were getting down to breakfast, it was already way past 8:15am that they offered us yesterday. Considering yesterday's disappointing dinner, our expectations were not remarkably high, but the counters were loaded - four types of eggs, pancakes, maple syrup, bacon, various fresh fruits, watery oatmeal without milk and salt, crispy croissants, hams and cheeses, and the list goes on. We just wished that they would offer the same choice in the evenings.

 
Scott had booked us a Lysefjord cruise and by 10am  we were already on the boat. We sailed between the little islands around Stavanger and finally reached the fjord, which is one of the most beautiful in the world. It really was - we saw Preachers Point, where we also have a trip planned tomorrow, lots of waterfalls, three goats, a vagabond cave and a lot of mountains.

 
At half past two, we returned to the hotel and then headed out again around the corner to have a light lunch at the taco bar. We entered an empty bar, where only one table was occupied by one man. We asked the young man behind the counter whether the order should be placed at the counter or at the table, and he confirmed us that both options are perfectly suitable. We took the menu and chose the table. We also chose some tacos, hoping that the beef taco is still beef, not vegan like the menu claimed it to be. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Until I finally marched to the counter and placed our order. And then back to the table, because it turned out that you have to pay right away... The tacos were very good.

 
But in order not to lose out on any calories, we moved on from the tacobar to look for the Donought Worry donut bar. As any decent donut bar should, they had two types of donuts on the counter for testing, and after trying both of them, Scott thought that it was enough. Well, his wife didn’t agree, so we took one apple fritter and one raspberry sprinkles donut.

 
The hotel’s evening gourmet featured a pepper beef and three tasteless salads. Regardless, the beef that made it to my plate came from the leftovers of the chicken wings yesterday, and the fried rice had probably lived its first life as porridge. Fortunately, we weren’t hungry either: D

Powered by Nature: How we ended up in the Formula 1

 

 

In the breakfast room, all the tables were covered with name tags and Gaili Holda +1 was right next to the entrance. Clearly the tourists were not satisfied with this and asked to change their table to a window one. This meant not only moving the labels but also changing the corresponding entries in the logbook. But the waitress girl was up to the tasks and able to pull it through. It can as well be that her hospitality may have been due to poorer-than-average English, and it could have seem easier for her to change tables than to explain to those demanding tourists that what was being given had to be taken.

 
As the property meets all the restrictions to avoid Covid, basically every breakfast item was packed separately. Small plastic cups contained portions of fruit salad, jams, pâtés and all other spreads in either mini-packs or mini-tubes, each bun and crisp-bread was in a separate paper bag. And the Norwegian brown cheese was film-coated each slice separately. Each. Slice. Only hot meals could be served from the marmites themselves, probably the covid does not spread there.

 
Scott asked, if we wanted to climb up the hill that was cut short yesterday, but I thought we still had a long drive ahead and it was getting more and more mountainous and I really wanted to get to Stavanger for dinner.
We took off and for the first third of the road we enjoyed the breathtaking views and made a stop to enjoy them more thoroughly. Then we reached the second third, when cats and dogs were pouring down, the road had narrowed down significantly and a whole bunch of Lewis Hamiltons and German camper vans all of the sudden appeared. Since one of those vans or Alonso’s car easily takes up more than the width of the whole road, the person driving to the other direction had to park vertically on the side of the mountain or just hope for the best. In addition, we shared the road with sheep who had not yet realised the dangers of motor vehicles and walked on the road like sacred cows in India.

 
The hillsides were increasingly full of small cottages, probably to accommodate skiers in the winter. Who would be voluntarily driving on such roads remains a mystery to me.

 
In the last third, the road widened slightly again, and now the cars could get past each other again so that only half of the car had to be driving in the ditch.
 

In Stavanger, we had a hotel with a dinner included right next to the harbor. When doing the booking, I remembered how I once chose the All-Inclusive hotel in Michigan to have breakfast, lunch and dinner included, but in reality it just meant a huge amount of inedible food and an enormous freezer where you could take your preferred food item and then reheat them in the microwave… I assured Scott that "here in Europe" we don't do such nonsense, and that he can already see from the pictures that one can get a delicious real meal.
 

But let's go back to the beginning - the girl at check-in asked if we would prefer to have breakfast tomorrow, on Sunday, in the middle of the vacation, at 7:30 or 8:15, because all other times are booked. I said I'd talk to my husband and let him know. We then went to the room, opened the door, and were greeted by a 17-degree Alaska. Since by then at was 6pm, we turned the temperature to 24 and went down to the eatery. Chicken wings, potatoes, warmed frozen vegetables, creamy sauce and four types of tasteless salads were offered. It didn't take us too long to eat all this gourmet, and in no-time we were already in the reception again to inform the girl what time we wanted to eat breakfast. It turned out that in the half an hour all possible slots were given out, and our only option now is to go at a time that suits you, load the plates full and then eat either in the lobby or in your room…
 

Since it wasn't late yet, we took a walk in the party and bar area behind the hotel as well as in the old town with 170 wooden white houses. And we bought a Starbucks coffee mug for me.
 

The temperature in the room had risen to 18 degrees. Probably because I closed the window.

Powered by Nature: Two new countries in one day

 

 

Saturday's plan was simple - drive through Sweden, reach Norway and spend the night on the other side of Oslo.

 
We started the day with a luxury breakfast at Baltic Queen, with a selection from eggs and bacon to unsalted oatmeal and macaroons. We managed to do a few laps on the ferry before arrival in Stockholm, and before long we were already in Sweden.

 
We started our drive to Oslo and, with the exception of a few toilet stops, drove until it was time to eat. For lunch, I had chosen a beautiful beach by the lake, which, as it turned out, was right next to a hydroelectric power plant, but nevertheless away from the highway and visually very enjoyable. As a bonus, wild raspberries grew right next to the car.

 
At the Norwegian border, we only had to present our documents and the vaccine certificates, and already we were sent on our way with wishes to enjoy the trip. A few hours later we turned into the parking lot of our hotel.

 
Ever the frugal tourist, I had chosen a room with a "garden view" (read: car park view) for us, but we asked and got a room with a balcony directly overlooking the fjord. First thing we set our dinner table on the balcony, ate and enjoyed the view.

 
After dinner we planned to take another short walk and the first stop on our walk was the goose beach. With some frustration I remembered a beach in Northern Michigan, where there was no place to put your feet down in-between all the goose shit. Instead of continuing the minefield, we turned around and headed to the hill. A lady on her evening walk suggested that we march to the top of the mountain and enjoy the beautiful views from there, but ever the skeptical me thought that after the sunset it was probably not the best idea to go on a couple of hours hike through an unknown forest. Instead, we went back to the room and got to bed.

Powered by Nature: Off to Scandinavia!

 

On Thursday evening, we packed our bags and headed to the harbor to start the long-awaited vacation. At half past six we got into the ferry and got ourselves settled in the cabin. Scott looked around the cabin a little confused and asked "I wonder if all the cabins are so small" and learned that our Premium cabin is one of the largest on the boat :)

Since the ship's dinners cost half of our travel budget, we had equipped ourselves with a Grenka take-away and ate duck, crayfish salad and curd pancakes for dinner. We watched Tallinn move further and further away, and although we had booked a cabin with a window to watch the sunset, we both were asleep long before that.

Fried Zucchini Flowers

 

With this pile of veggies from her garden, my mom sent us back to Tallinn today. And as you can see, there were a bunch of freshly picked zucchini flowers among other veggies. I put some parmesan in the flowers, dipped them in the dough and fried quickly. Absolutely delicious with a glass of cold white wine.