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Gwyn and I spent a week+ with Markus in Norway in May 2000, then drove with Markus to Germany for a short visit with some of our other "host children".

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What a beautiful country, and such beautiful people! We arrived in Bergen, Norway on May 13, and were met at the airport by Markus, his sister Nicole, and her fiancé, Michael. Nicole and Michael had driven up from Germany to (1) spend a long weekend seeing Norway, and (2) to bring us their father's Mercedes stationwagon, and drive Markus' BMW FULL of clothes back to Germany, leaving us with a car large enough (just barely) to carry our clothes and the rest of Markus' belongings back to Germany. She must really love her older brother!

This time of year the sun rises about 4:30 in the morning, and it is still light at 11:00 in the evening. We thought it cool enough for sweaters and jackets, but Markus had apparently grown use to the cold? From the front of Markus' dorm room you looked out over the fjord. This picture was taken in the early evening.

One of the highlights was a day trip called "Norway in a Nutshell". We left early one morning, boarded a train, and went inland (Bergen is on the West Coast of Norway). For three hours we slowly climbed upward viewing scenery like this! Beautiful lush green valleys with snow covered mountains. The further and higher we went, the more snow! I think we were glad when we finally arrived at the small town where we caught a smaller train to take us

down the mountain to the fjord. The small train wound its way down the mountain where we saw beautiful waterfalls like this due to the spring rains. The terrain was so steep a 360-degree corkscrew tunnel had been carved inside the mountain!

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The views from the train as we lowered into the valley below were magnificent. At the base of this mountain, we boarded a tour boat and enjoyed a two and a half hour boat ride through the valleys,

heading west, back toward open water. The water was unbelievably clear, clean, and dark blue. We learned on the tour that one section of the fjord is around 4,500 feet deep! All along this beautiful ride we saw waterfall after waterfall, some of them seemingly coming out of nowhere. Very little of the land along this route was inhabited, and then only small villages along the shoreline. On some parts of the trip the villages we saw were only accessible by boat! Beautiful country and obviously rugged people in parts of the country.

Another highlight was a "short hike" Markus wanted to make to a place called Preikestolen. He had heard about this place and wanted to keep the ending a surprise. Information said it was about a two-hour hike to the "top". This folks, was not a North Carolina hiking trail as you can see from this picture.

Yes, that is the trail in the background! The rain wasn't too bad, it was more of a heavy mist or light drizzle, making one a little more careful about their footing. We would go up "trails" like this, only to have to go down rocks like this on the other side. After 1-1/2 hours we started looking for the "end", only to learn that at the over 40 pace it takes 2-1/2 hours to reach the top.

Every now and then we would come to a meadow, where a long foot bridge had been erected to keep hikers on the trail. Other times you would walk for 100+ yards on a solid rock surface, spotted by an occasional small stand of little rocks, where hikers had erected what looked like a crude monument. But, WOW, what a view when we finally got to the top! From the edge you could look straight down, 1800 feet to the water below! No Jumping Allowed, however, there were NO safety chains, ropes, or fences.

Although I have some decent pictures of us standing on the edge (or laying on the edge looking down at the water) this post card captures it better.

One evening on our drive through Norway, headed toward Sweden, we spent the night in a lovely three-bedroom cabin on a hill overlooking the pford. This was the view across the pford from our cabin. Rough life - wouldn't you agree!

Our three-day drive to Germany took us down the west coast of Norway, across the southern end, and then northeast toward Sweden. A beautiful drive with lots of snow in places and many tunnels. Norway has one tunnel 10 kilometers (6 miles) long! We spent the nights in cabins, and with the sun not setting until 10:30, we could enjoy long evening walks. We visited Oslo and saw the Kings Palace, Parliament, the University, a castle, and other sights downtown. Next we saw Holmencullen, the ski jump area used in several past Olympics before having our last evening in Sarpsbord, Norway, celebrating with a "last meal" of grilled salmon!

Our time in Sweden was short, just driving down the western coast to catch another ferry (7 in all). We did stop in Goteborg and spent a few hours walking in the pedestrian shopping area. Then on to Helsigor where we caught our last ferry to Putgarden, Germany.

The next evening (Tuesday, 5/23) we were in Niederstetten (yea!) (Markus' home town) where the "Welcome Home" party began. Markus' parents (Friedemann and Sigrid) had a big cookout in their garden and as the picture shows, Markus sat there and smiled, waiting for more people, food and beverage to arrive (looks like Gwyn thinks she is special also!). More than a dozen friends showed up to see Markus and celebrate! We got to bed around 1:00 a.m., and according to Markus, he wasn't too far behind us :-)

Since Markus was starting a three month summer internship with Deutsche Telecom in New York on Monday, we decided to give him some time to visit with his family, wash and repack!

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This page last updated July, 2002.