June 9, 2006

this is norway

moutains n stuff! waterrr little houses
whoa

I'm too lazy to write anything very extensive, so I'll post photos and descriptions. But here's an overall description.

Obviously, Bergen is freakishly beautiful. Seriously...holy shizz. Cobblestone streets are adorable. Just about everything is clean and neat, aside from the other people who live in this building (if I didn't know what cat pee smelled like before, I do now!). My knees suck and I'm not good at walking down moutains. Brown cheese is tasty. Norway is nicer than anything I could imagine. I have amazing friends. I think I spent a few bucks attempting to use the payphone at the airport. Bergen is beautiful. I think I said that already.

walkin to ICE CREAM pretty buildings old buildings garbage room
walkin around

...Actually, I'm too lazy to describe photos. Just click on them. HOORAH. Diana and I spent most of the day with Morten and Kåre. They are both very, very awesome.

I need a larger vocabluary, man.

Seriously though, do you think I would travel to Norway if I didn't think Morten and his friends were awesome? I knew they were. Some people find it hard to believe that you can sense this kind of awesomeness only though the Internet. YOU CAN. I wasn't kidding when I said Morten was a good friend. When I find people that I feel comfortable around, it's a big deal. For me.

IMG_0187 from inside IMG_0195 IMG_0188
wooden planky stuff

There were all these wooden sculpture thingies around Håkonshallen, which is an old...place. Morten talked about its history and I nodded and went, "Mmhm." That's what I do.

goin up
goin up

We went up the side of this mountain on the Floibanen (or the cable car of awesomness) that was so quiet it made more noise when it was stopping than when it was moving. ...Yeah. And after we reached the top and I had taken those photos looking over the city...

walkin shortcut
goin down

...We walked back down. Taking many shortcuts. Involving carefully stepping on rocks at steep angles so that you don't kill yourself. As you can see due to my typing of this entry, I didn't kill myself, but my knees felt like they were under more pressure than normally, since normally they're...not. I'M FROM SURBURBIAAAA! My body is a noodle.

Diana! IMG_0225
vegetation

Diana is chewing on this plant that Morten said tasted like lemon. ...Yup, it does. IT IS NOT TASTY. LIIIESS!! I chewed it and went, "Blechch ahhhdhdmuhflfuhf I see jesus". (Alright, it wasn't that bad.) We passed a ginormous patch of wild rhubarb, so Morten pulled one up to demonstrate the plant's hugeness.

tube bacon cheese shake milk pizza sauce egg carton
scenes from the grocery store

Of course, I was excited to take photos of various things at the grocery store. LIKE TUBE BACON. I'm not sure what the pizza sauce is about.

makin bread
makin bread

Morten made rolls for a midnight snack (which means he started making it houuurrrs before). I did nothing to help since, as you may recall, my bread making skills involve killing yeast, resulting in brick-like slabs of bread. Which we didn't want.

I didn't take photos of the finish product. [gasp] We ate the bread at around midnight while watching "The 40 Year Old Virgin", which we rented from 7-11 (because...you can rent DVDs there). It was delicious. Really. Damn. Tasty. We ate it with butter, brown cheese (which is sweet, like caramel mixed with cheese, and thus Robyn-approved) and strawberry-rhubarb jam.

Through the skylight in the wee hours of the morning I could see the faintly lit sky from the sun that refuses to go down. It's. Awesome. To always have some light.

pretty street
walkin around

I really like it here. And it's only been one day.

Posted by roboppy at 4:01 AM

Comments (22)

Awesome blog, awesome pictures. Make sure you have some "polser" (hot dogs) while your in Norway. They're awesome too.

Posted by: Hoyt Pollard at June 9, 2006 9:51 AM [#]

Robyn, great photos, and such wonderful friends to find. I'm looking forward to the rest of your discoveries- and MORE ON TUBE BACON, please!

Posted by: s'kat at June 9, 2006 9:52 AM [#]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Robyn! It's looks amazing! God, I wish I was there with you! The video of that river/lake thing was stunning. And tube bacon? WTF man? EW. As a lover of bacon and all things swine, that is nasty as all get out. But I'm so happy that your hosts are wonderful, and that you have Diana to share your journey with. Can't wait until your next post! Take care, be safe, talk to you when you get back! (PLEASE CALL EVEN. PLEASE. JUST DO IT. FOR ME......)

Posted by: Honey at June 9, 2006 10:16 AM [#]

Thanks for your travelogue. Gorgeous photos. Glad you're really enjoying your trip. Your legs will feel better in a couple of days. :D

Looking forward to your next installment!

Posted by: Deb at June 9, 2006 11:02 AM [#]

the tube bacon is actually cream cheese with bacon. or, you know, "bacon". ick.

errrrrr, robyn. you didn't happen to go to a suburban shopping center today, did you? could have sworn i saw you.

Posted by: anne at June 9, 2006 12:51 PM [#]

Wow- you finally got there! Did I miss the part in between you deciding NOT to go (coz Moms didn't want you to) and now actually being there? I must have- so fill me in! How long are you there for? Take lots of food photos!

Posted by: Anne at June 9, 2006 12:53 PM [#]

scandinavian splendiferousness! everything does look so beautiful! i wish ny had more cobblestones and buildings painted in primary colors. grmmph.

Posted by: janet at June 9, 2006 1:09 PM [#]

Norway has always been associated with goat turds in my brain due to Roald Dahl writing about Norway and goat turds in his autobiography. That man is a child brainwasher, I tell you.

Also, those wooden thingies? Are they built without nails? They look like Lego buildings.

Posted by: Adalmin at June 9, 2006 1:41 PM [#]

Hoyt: HOT DOOOGS! I haven't had any yet! So far I've eaten a few kinds of candy though. I'll get to the hot dogs. :D

s'kat: I'm not finding much more "weird" food! How disappointing. ;)

Honey: Hey, that's the same reaction I had! ;)

It's actually bacon cheese, which might make it worse!

I CAN'T CALL HIM! I dunno his number! Haha.

Deb: Now my arm feels weird...OH MY GOD I'M SO WEAK! Legs don't feel so bad though. :D I think we're going hiking on Sunday, uhoh.

Anne: AH yes, I forgot it was...cheeese. Morten said that he wouldn't even make his enemies eat that.

Errr, I actually was in a suburban (ish?) shopping center today. :O What are the chances that you saw me?! We bought groceries at Safari.

Anne: Yes, you missed it! ;D I convinced a friend to come with me, sooo..here I am! I've only been here for two days so far. Eek, it's gonna fly by.

Janet: Me tooo. I still love NYC, but it's not a very charming place compared to here. And the colors aren't cute.

Adalmin: Wow, I had no idea! I loooved Roald Dahl as a kid (and now I'd still like him, hehe), but I missed the turd thing.

Oh no, they have nails. :) Somewhere. I think.

Posted by: roboppy at June 9, 2006 2:07 PM [#]

HOORAY FOR YOU!

I'm glad you are having a good time and keeping us informed as you do.

Picture suggestions:

1) money/currency

2) hot women

3)bathroom/kitchens

4)hot women

5)car/bus

6) and don't forget HOT WOMEN.

;7) Stay safe and enjoy yourself

rEd

Posted by: redrhino at June 9, 2006 2:17 PM [#]

That's so awsome that you're in Norway! I work with someone who's from Norway, and I went with her not to long ago to the Norway Day Festival they had here in SF. I had the "vaffle," which was, um, a lot like a waffle, except thinner. But apparently it's a specialty that they eat with goat cheese and jam. I also have a good friend from Sweden, I think it's time for me to check out these Scandinavian countries for myself. Have fun on your trip!

Posted by: shara at June 9, 2006 2:39 PM [#]

heh.

robyn, i came across your blog a couple of days ago, randomly surfing food blogs. then noticed that you were going to bergen. thought that was a bit of a weird coincidence, as i live there.

it got weirder, though.

shopping center. escalator; you were going up, i was going down.
"hey, could that be...? nah, freakish coincidence like that does not exist."

in line at safari.
"there they are again. hmmmmmm. no. no way. that is so an american accent, though. must ask when i get home."

so, yeah. small world much?

Posted by: anne at June 9, 2006 3:03 PM [#]

I want to go to norway...
how much can I pay you for bacon in a tube?
well, maybe not.

Posted by: nick at June 9, 2006 5:05 PM [#]

Can you ask these Norwegians to figure out this Sri Lanka thing so I can go there on my honeymoon without risk of being murdered?

Posted by: timelas at June 9, 2006 6:04 PM [#]

I really want to go to norway now. I would go for an extended stay if it werent for that "we have the highest rate of suicide in the world" thing. The pictures are beautiful, have a great time.

Posted by: Cat at June 9, 2006 9:00 PM [#]

Smuggle home some tube bacon. Also brown cheese. I'll pay you back at the library.

Also take a pic at midnight so we can see how bright it is! Your camera (and photo skills) are awesome!

Posted by: Annie at June 9, 2006 9:42 PM [#]

when are you gunna be back? you're missin out on the big apple BBQ this weekend!

Posted by: Gordon at June 10, 2006 12:26 AM [#]

I'm so happy for you. It sounds like you're having an awesome. *Reminices about Germany* Going abroad to a foreign country is so much fun. And it's always easier when there's good friends and food involved. :D

Posted by: Kristin at June 10, 2006 3:06 PM [#]

redrhino: Are you saying that I should take photos of hot women? I'm not sure, your message is kind of cryptic.

shara: HOLY CRAP, WAFFLE DAY! I mean Norway Day! ...I mean WAFFLES!!!!! I haven't had waffles here yet, but I need to try em. There's so much jam...it needs to go on something.

nick: Hehe, you really want the cheese bacon goo? I dunno how well that'll travel back home. ;) There are quite a few types of meat cheese in squeezy tubes. Yey!

timelas: Hm...I'm not sure if they'll all be able to figure it out. Maybe you should pick a new vacation spot? :) DON'T GET MURDERED.

Cat: Go for a short time in the nice summer months and you won't wanna die! Yeey.

Annie: Haha, you want tube bacon too? And cheese? I wonder how much I can smuggle (or what I can safely bring back).

Oo yeah, a midnight shot! I'll do that later.

Gordon: I missed that last year too, hehe. Turns out I'm not nearly meat-happy enough to wait for that thing. I think the first time I have awesome BBQ will probably be when I go to the south/midwest or something.

Kristin: Oo, Germany...I'd like to check that place out! If I had good friends who lived there. This trip definitely wouldn't be as much fun without local friends!

Posted by: roboppy at June 10, 2006 4:26 PM [#]

Glad you are able to visit. It looks lovely!

Posted by: Ani at June 11, 2006 4:33 PM [#]

Yaaaay! Finally. I've been looking forward to the details of your view on Norway with much delight.

I was hoping you would be introduced to the brown cheese because at least that's something very unique and amazingly delicious we have hear. HINT: Eat a "knekkebrød" with brown cheese and the standard norwegian red kaviar. Don't let anyone stop you. It's an amazingly strange taste. Not something you'd eat every day, but must be tried once. Then eat a knekkebrød with brown cheese and strawberry jam. It's amazingly delicious.

Haha, tube bacon. Not until you mentioned it did I notice how silly it is. I'm gonna laugh and point at it every time I see it in the stores. :)

*runs over to entry #2*

Posted by: Tomas at June 11, 2006 5:52 PM [#]

Need help finding a girl from Norway, I met her 11 years ago in Philadelphia, P.A. She was a exchange student from Oslo. How or who can I contact to find her.

Thanks for any assistance:
Scott

Posted by: Mourphyis at June 21, 2006 3:16 AM [#]

Post a comment

I'll probably reply to your comment on this page. If you have something to ask me that's unrelated to this entry, please email me instead.

After you post a comment, please wait a while before checking if it has been posted. People frequently post the same comment twice by accident. I know that this has to do with the way my site sluggishly handles comments; Dreamhost probably put me on a pooptastic server. If you have any idea how to make MT speed things up, please let me know!




Remember Me?

(you may use HTML tags for style)


stuff here

Search

previous entries

» 08/10/08: Virginia, Day 2: Part 2, with Korean Food and Gelato

» 08/10/08: Virginia, Day 2: Part 1, with a Rock Slide

» 08/06/08: Virginia Trip, Day 1: Touchdown in Louisa

» 07/31/08: Going Away + Check Out This Fat

» 07/27/08: Eating a Lot at Otto is Awesome

» 07/25/08: Gelato and Spicy Rizzak, In That Order

» 07/20/08: Ice Cream and Fried Fish, In That Order

» 07/16/08: Pizza and a Sweet Calzone at Toby's Public House

» 07/14/08: Fiore: For Pasta and A Giant Plate of Fried

» 07/09/08: Peking Duck House: The Duck, It Satisfies

Forum

forum

Help out roboppy?

If you do want to help me out monetarily, here are some easy non-obtrusive ways to give back:

- Buy stuff through my amazon ID!: This is the BEST WAY to help me out without throwing money at my feet. I buy most of my material goods from amazon.com, and it would help me shittons if you bought stuff through my link. I don't get much per order, but the referral fees can add up.
- buy t-shirts through my Threadless Street Team thinger!
- Get webhosting with Dreamhost.com and enter roboppy@gmail.com as the referral

You need stuff from amazon.com and you should buy t-shirts from threadless (I've been somewhat loyal to them for the past five years). Thank you for making sure I don't resort to pan-handling and robbery!

Site feeds galore

 Subscribe in a reader

Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

My Latest Posts on Serious Eats

photo info!

another camera
Canon 20D

The Canon 20D with a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 EX DC macro lens is my main camera as of August 2007, although I used to use the Rebel XT before that...and the SD 450 before the summer of 2006. You should also know that I "post process" all my photos in Photoshop to make them suck less. Of course, you need a camera to take semi-decent photos first (it has a good macro mode), but without photoshop, I am nothing.

You can has social network?

facebook
The power of Facebook compels you

where the hell are you from?!

mappie
I'm the red splodge!

Add yourself to my pointless map! I won't stalk you, I just want to know where my readers are. IS THAT NOT OKAY? Alrighty. If you add yourself, thank you for being awesome.

another map?

Locations of visitors to this page
yes.

give hydration!

Visit charityis.org. PEOPLE NEEDZ TEH H2OZ.

links

Please don’t hate me if I haven’t included you. I tried to whittle this down to a manageable list, but there are just too many food blogs out there that I like! I shall update this list every so often.

Blogs

A Full Belly
A Hamburger Today
A Passion for Food
The Amateur Gourmet
Adelyn's Kitchen
Annie’s New York Eats
Beef Aficionado
Boots in the Oven
Candy Addict
Cha Xiu Bao
Cheap Eats
Chocolate Obsession
Chubby Hubby
David Lebovitz
Deep End Dining
Dessert Comes First
Eating In Translation
Eating Asia
Foodbeam
Foodstruck
Food In Mouth
Grab Your Fork
Goldilocks Finds Manhattan
The Hungry Cabbie
The Impulsive Buy
Just Hungry
The Kitchen Pantry
Lovescool
LUNCH
Ms Adventures in Italy
No Recipes
NYC Nosh
Off The Broiler
Ono Kine Grindz
The Paupered Chef
Paris Breakfasts
Salli Vates
The Scent of Green Bananas
Slice
Smitten Kitchen
So Good
Steamy Kitchen
Sui Mai
Suicide Food
Sustainable Table
Swirl and Scramble
Tamarind and Thyme
The Tasty Island
Thursday Night Smackdown
Tommy Eats
Twenty Bucks a Day
umami
U.S. Food Policy
The Wandering Eater
We All Go Poopie

Non-Blogs

Blogsoop
Cheap Ass Food
Savory New York
Serious Eats

Recurring Eating Companions

These friends have lent me their stomach acids on numerous occasions.

Alice
Allen
Diana
Ian
Jeremiah
Kathy
Lauren and Jones
Morten
Nathan
Olia
Olivia
Sara
Tina
Tristan