Scandinavian S-cape

So, for those of you who don't know...I just got back from 13 days in Scandinavia, mostly Norway but one unscheduled day in Denmark. I went to Norway because my friends Victor and Gwen were getting married. (Gwen is Norwegian, but they currently live in London, England.)

Norway is a beautiful country nature-wise: fjords, valleys, waterfalls, mountains. All things that I love. Even the cities are pretty. Their biggest city, Oslo, only has a population of about 600,000. Tiny! I also didn't meet a single Norwegian that wasn't friendly, welcoming, helpful and well-educated. They all have very good English too (which is not necessary, just easier). However, one drawback of Norway is that it is very expensive. To give you an idea, their smallest unit of currency is the half kroner, worth about 10 cents. Not that you could buy anything with half a croner. A pack of gum cost 14 kroner, and don't even get me started about alcohol prices. The alcohol tax is 40%...yikes! Despite the cost of living, Norwegians seem to be pretty happy. They have no crime, no homelessness, public health care, and the government also gives them a whopping 7 years of paid post-secondary education! It goes without saying that Norway also has high income taxes! All in all, this doesn't seem like such a bad deal...

I have posted photos on Facebook. Because it took me so long to organise and describe these, I am not going to bother posting them elsewhere. So, if you want to see them, maybe you should sign up for Facebook...(Dad, Jimmy).

On the way out of Oslo, the people at the SAS check-in counter asked me if I would be willing to "volunteer" take a later flight from Copenhagen to Seattle since they had overbooked my flight. Since they were offering me a 600 euro travel voucher, a nights stay at the Radisson, upgrade to business class, and free meals, I agreed! I also got an extra day of vacation, and a day in Copenhagen!

Copenhagen is nice, but considerably flatter and less clean than Norway. Slightly less expensive. And more smokers (there was a smoking area in the airport!) Maybe I will post photos of Copenhagen tonight if I have time...

Hope everyone is having a great summer...I sure am! I heart Seattle in the summertime! You can actually see the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges. Sooooo beautiful!