HOME SWEET HOME!!!

This past week was a very busy one. I spent a few days with my cousin Barry in Wales after 3 weeks in Europe for business. Then on Dec 23rd I was scheduled to head home. The weather reports for the US were not very encouraging with airport closures and flight delays. I left Barry's home early on Tues morning. I drove to Manchester Airport where I discovered my flight was delayed by 2 hours due to a medical emergency that had diverted the flight coming from the US to Boston to off load the ill person. We were scheduled to leave Manchester at 1035 am with a connection in New York for home at 4 pm. The delay to my flight would surely cause me to miss the 4 pm connection due to having to go through immigration, baggage claim then customs before rechecking bags and passing through security. The only upside to the morning was that I was upgraded to Business elite class which virtually never happens on overseas flights.
Needless to say I missed the connecting flight and was rescheduled on the 730 pm flight to Salt Lake. I wasn't able to board the plane until every passenger with a confirmed seat had boarded...it was nerve-racking to wait to see if I was going home or spending the night in New York.
Finally I asked the gate agent if I was going to get a seat...I mentioned to him I was the first name on the standby list....he said well I guess you can get on then...the only seat I have is an exit row and aisle seat....I was ecstatic....I didn't want to get stuck in an center seat for 5 hrs.
Anyway, I was able to get home before Christmas which was a blessing.
Rich and Cadee picked me up at the airport and we arrived back at home just after 12AM which put me home on Christmas eve!
It was very snowy and cold when we arrived home....
Christmas Eve morning after a good lay in I headed to visit my parents since I hadn't seen them for nearly a month. Dad greeted me at the door!

A visit with my cousin in Rhyl Wales

Yesterday I was finished with work and I headed to Rhyl, Wales to visit my cousin Barry. It was a very nice and very long drive from Aberystwyth to Rhyl.




I arrived just after 4pm...the sun was nearly set. Barry walked down the lane to help me find the cottage on the sea front. I can look out his window and watch the tide come in. It's literally across the street from his cottage.

Today Barry, Maggie and I went to Llandudno across the way from Rhyl. We drove up to the top of a mountain where there was a lovely view of the sea and the towns around.

Aberystwyth Wales

Yesterday I left Bergen Norway and flew to Manchester, England. When I arrived in England 5 hrs later than expected I still had to drive to Aberystwyth which is on the coast of Wales and more south. It's about 3 hrs drive. I left the airport in my hire car about 11 pm, it was pouring rain. I don't know why but I seem to get to do a lot of driving in the pouring rain late at night.
As I was driving I was trying to follow the directions I had acquired on Google maps. The first part of the trip was uneventful as it was on the dual carriageway (freeway to you Americans). I soon found myself on winding country roads and very little signage. I got lost a time or two and then I'd stop and regroup. As I was driving through one of the many small villages along the route I saw a drunken Santa in a black plastic suit walking down the street...a very interesting site at 1 in the morning. I finally arrived in Aberystwyth around 3 am.
My room wasn't much bigger than the 'cell' in Norway!
This morning I had a lay in(slept in) as you can imagine. This picture was the view from my bedroom window.

When I was finally ready to get out of bed I headed downstairs for a proper English breakfast....I ended up having fried eggs, toast and yogurt.
After breakfast I ventured out to find a shop to get laundry detergent and change so I could have clean clothes for the week. I didn't have my laundry done in Norway because it would have cost me close to $200. Down the street at the Laundrette (Laundromat) I did my laundry for about $10. This is a view from the laundry window.

After I got my laundry done I was finally able to get a shower and a change of clothes. Then I went out for Fish & Chips. Finally normal food! Back to the hotel for a rest~

Another interesting travel day

Today I am scheduled to fly to Manchester the drive to Aberystwyth, Wales. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time this morning to take care of my VAT refund then check in and find my gate. I couldn't find the VAT refund counter so I went to the Visitor Informasion in the airport. They told me I needed to wait til I got through security so I went to check in for my flight. That was pretty uneventful. I went through security which also went unusually smoothly. I found the VAT refund counter and got my VAT refund in US Dollars. Then I went to the gate to wait...We boarded on time which was also very good. We sat on the plane for a few minutes and I dozed off...when I awakened we were still sitting on the tarmack. I didn't think anything of it until I realized we had been sitting on the tarmack for nearly an hour....we were supposed to depart at 12:10 and it was now 12:55. A few minutes later the captain came on the PA system to announce that one of the engines was having sand in it and the engineers were going to have to take the plane back to the hangar and have it repaired before we could depart. This wouldn't be a big deal I guess except for the fact that our 12:10 departure now became a 4:00 pm departure. I am going through Amersterdam to Manchester and my flight is scheduled to depart Amsterdam at 4pm. We were told we would need to deplane then they would announce to the whole flight what the procedure would be. We were given vouchers for our troubles and told we would not be booked on other flights but would wait for the plane to be repaired and once we were in the air our connecting flights would then be rebooked. Those having connections that would be missed would be put in hotels in Amsterdam for the night. When I finally got to the counter (it was a very long line) The agent informed me there was a connecting flight to Manchester at 9 pm so I would be fine....I seriously doubt I will be fine. I've only traveled KLM a few times but I can tell you that nothing has gone right on this airline yet~!!

I get it now....I'm on a cruise ship!

When I got back to my hotel tonight I realized why my room was so small....I'm on a cruise ship! I figured it out when I found the towel dog on my bed....


After I got back to the hotel I decided to take a walk up toward the mall near the big pond with the Christmas tree. As I passed the tree I noticed that the pond was now ice and the lights of the tree were reflecting off the ice very nicely.
I just had to take a picture...As I was walking back toward the hotel I passed a shop that had a very interesting suit in the window. I just had to take a picture of it as well. I had passed it before but hadn't really paid attention until tonight.....
I couldn't imagine any man I know wearing the thing!!
Tonight is my last night in Bergen Norway...tomorrow I head to Aberystwyth Wales for a week. I'll spend a few days with my cousin Barry before heading home on December 23rd, just in times for Christmas!

There really is daylight in Norway

For the entire 2 weeks I've been in Norway we've been going to and coming back from the newspaper in the dark. The sun comes up at about 930 or 10 am then it's dark by 4 at the latest.

Every now and again we have been able to see the sun at lunch time as we sit in the cafeteria. The last two days we have had pouring rain to walk in to and from the paper. Then snow and sleet....Well this morning the sky was clear of rain or snow and it was still dark but when we headed back to the hotel from the paper it was still daylight of a sort! We couldn't believe it....330 and dusk was started but we could still see daylight...we had to have a picture!
Notice how high the moon had gotten from the first picture to the last....these pictures were taken within a few seconds of each other.

Norway in a Nutshell

Today Lee and I took the Norway in a Nutshell train tour around part of Norway.

This was my first train ride...at least that I can remember. (I went on a train across the US when I was 3 but don't really remember it).

The tour takes you by train from Bergen to a town call Myrdal where you pick up a very famous train called the Flåm Railway. The interior of the train is like an old pullman car...It was all decorated for Christmas. It takes you through the mountain and does a 180 degree turn inside the mountain as it takes you from Myrdal down to the coast at Flåm to one of the tributaries of the longest fjord in Norway.

The Flåm Railway (Flåmsbana) train stops at a mid point where you can get off at the base of a very beautiful waterfall.
All along the way there are spectacular views of mountain and canyon scenery.

The only disappointment of the trip was by the time we got to Flåm to get on the fjord ferry boat it was nearly dusk....3pm. I did get one or two pictures before dark and then my camera decided to die on me on top of it.
When the boat docked at the town of Gundangen where we were to pick up the buss we were late causing us to be late getting back to the town of Voss. This meant that we would probably miss the train from Voss back to Bergen.....fortunately the bus driver was a very fast driver and got us there 1 min before the train was to depart. We had to run from the bus stop to the train and we barely made it.
The train was filled with teenagers returning from a day of skiing. They were very noisy so the trip back to Bergen was a lively one...all in all we have a VERY nice day!
One small detail I forgot...when we got of the train it was raining and we had to walk back to the hotel in the rain....which is not a short distance at all!

A night of site-seeing

Last night Laura and I went site-seeing. Laura is one of the students over from London.
We decided to take the tram that runs up the side of the mountain. It was still light outside even though it was getting near dusk...it was only 4 pm. The side of the mountain is a very steep grade and it was cool to look out because the tram was all glass...(more of a train that a tram). We could see the whole city from the top. In the city center there's a pond with a huge Christmas tree sitting on a cement pad in the middle.The view was very pretty with all the city lights and the sunset glowing on the clouds and the water.

My Cell and my first day

I spent my first night in Bergen last night. I'm in a hotel called Thon Bergen Brygge. My room is about 6' x 10'. I have a twin bed, a small table and a closet sized bathroom. The picture with the bed was taken with my back to the door into my room...

This morning when we walked to the newspaper office it was still dark at half past 8.
When we left the paper around 4 it was already dusk.
Ken and I walked around the city for a bit of site-seeing before it got too dark. In the town center there is a very tall Christmas tree.
After we walked around we found a Chinese restaurant closer to the hotel that was pretty good.