Day 177: Goodbye Denmark — Hello Norway — Renting a Car in Bergen and Driving to Hotel Solstrand
Hard to believe it’s July 1. It’s the midway point in the calendar year but actually next Saturday, July 6th is the mid-way point for our trip — we left on Jan 7 and are scheduled to return on Jan 4, 2020.
We’re not even halfway done!
(Speaking of next weekend: we’ll be in Stockholm and if the USWNT beats England tomorrow and Sweden beats The Netherlands in the other semi-final we’ll watch the World Cup Final on enemy territory.)
We savored one last breakfast buffet at the D’Angleterre, shipped a package home to Washington and headed to the airport.
In the taxi Willa asked Margaret, “Can you just say you are going to be a princess when you grow up?” Margaret explained how royal families work but I assured her she would always be my princess.
Margaret and just learned that Norway isn’t in the EU. Hmph. We exchanged all of our Danish Kroner and Euros for Norwegian Kroner in the airport.
The Copenhagen airport had several stores that sucked you in.
Margaret and I are loving the Danish / Scandinavian design. We have both always appreciated a brilliant combination of form and function (even though I raz her saying she only cares about form). But after five days in Copenhagen we want to declare kitchen bankruptcy and start from scratch with all new appliances, plates, glasses, mugs, etc.
Our SAS flight from Copenhagen, Denmark to Bergen, Norway was number 44 on the year.
We landed on a foggy drizzly day, rented a car from Hertz and drove the 35 minutes or so to the Solstrand Hotel.
It’s a 19th century property with water views right on the Bjørnefjorden. It’s a little outdated but definitely cozy.
We have a junior suite with a queen and two bunked beds for the kids.
We unpacked and headed for the pool / spa area which features two jacuzzis, a couple saunas, a big indoor pool and an “Icy Pool.” I took a dip and thought my heart was going to stop.
We showered up then had an early dinner. Willa, Margaret and I shared mussels. Then we made our way towards bed — which was a bit of a struggle because they both napped in the ride from the airport.
The kids were pretty annoying and poorly behaved which was grinding on our patience. It was the normal program: James was irritating Willa, Willa was playing along until she wasn’t, Margaret and I tried to ignore / let it go but it eventually would cross a line, then we would try to discipline and the kids would either not listen or decide it was time to get really upset — “you’re so mean to me!.” Grrrrr. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day on this front.
