All in All;

Abolishing false stereotypes and accepting true ones is something I deal with a lot. It always amazes me what I think I know, only to realize my knowledge is based on a stereotype.

Pairs has been featured in countless movies and television specials. For this reason, there is no way any city could live up to the expectations that have been placed upon it. I found my self a bit disappointed when I would gaze upon a monument or work of art, and realize how small it was.

I found Notre Dame not to be the dark gothic “sanctuary” I have seen in film, but a light colored beautifully decorated cathedral. Mona Lisa was smaller then her posters in the gift shop, and the Eiffel Tower was just not tall enough.

I expected a more romantic atmosphere like music playing, or people kissing everywhere. Part of me even realized I was disappointed that the air smelled like a city and not like perfume.

I know the difference between reality and fantasy; I just never realized how much of my “reality” was built by a fantasy. So all in all, Paris was a great trip with my husband. We spent lots of time together, and saw amazing things. It was relaxing yet tiring, as all vacations tend to be. I learned that Paris is just another city, and to check my expectations of what is real, and what is fantasy.

Food;

Like I have said before, we are not very experimental when it comes to the foods that we eat. While in Paris we did bow to the stereotypical experience of eating a croissant on a park bench, and we did share a flute of bread when we were at the airport. However as far as every day eating, we visited a grocery store and bought a few non-perishables to have in our hotel room. We got some snacks to keep in our backpacks, and some breakfast buns and rolls.

As far as dinner was concerned, we found a nice little restaurant that had a fantastic chicken dinner (Kentucky fired chicken). We also ate a little café that made great burgers (McDonalds). And we had pizza at busy lunchtime bistro (Pizza Hut). We know how bad it is to go to other country’s to obtain cultural experiences, but not try the food. It was our vacation and our decision how “cultural” we wanted to be. I do not regret not eating more French cuisine, and the chicken at KFC was the best we have had in a long time

Where we went and what we saw in Paris:

Eiffel Tower- Built in two years, the tower was the most important monument of the 1889 World fair.

We rode the trolley at the north end to the 2nd floor. From there we traveled by elevator to the 3rd and highest floor. We took many photos and visited the shops at the top of the tower. Since the Eiffel Tower can be seen from any other monument in Paris, by the end of the week we found ourselves saying, “there’s the tower again”.

Arc de triomphe- The Arc was built from 1806 to 1836 and its purpose was to commemorate the military exploits of France under the Revolution and the First Empire.

The Arc stands in the middle of a rotary. To reach the middle the city has built a tunnel that runs beneath the street, eliminating the need for pedestrian stoplights. The tunnel also diminishes the frequency of tourists being injured trying to cross the busy street. There were over 200 steps to climb to the top of the Arc. From the summit, there are amazing views or the entire city. Even more fun, was watching the traffic circling below you.

Notre Dame- The cathedral was under construction from 1163 till 1245. After the revolution the monumental and decorative statuary of the portals and towers were badly damaged. At the beginning of the 19th century, the towers, like the rest of the cathedral, were in very poor condition. After the success of Victor Hugo’s novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, a campaign was initiated to restore the cathedral to its original splendor. The renovations took place in 1845.

Inside the cathedral is as breath taken as the out side architecture. The stain glass images that line the church give a off a soft glow that bounces off the conclave ceilings. Standing outside on the bridge between the towers makes you appreciate the silent calm that comes from being high above the traffic and crowds.

The Louvre- The construction of the Louvre began under the reign of Philip Augustus in 1204. The construction took some seven centuries to complete. Originally used as a palace of the kings of France, it became a museum in 1793 and is now, one of the largest museums in the world.

While at the Louvre we saw many famous works, however we were surprised at how small most of them were. People seem to associate size with importance so I was surprised when I saw that the real Mona Lisa was smaller then the posters of her sold in the gift shop. We also saw “The Winged Victory of Samothrace”, the “Venus de Milo”, and masterpieces from all four teenage mutant ninja turtles.
Pantheon- Built from 1764 to1790, the Constituent Assembly decreed on April 4th, 1791, to turn the basilica into a temple destined to accommodate the remains of the great men of the Nation. Later the great women of the nation also found a final resting place within the Pantheon crypt.
Along the walls of the Pantheon are murals depicting French history. In the center of the room is the enormous Foucault’s pendulum guarded by a black cat. Ascending to the top of the dome, you have a 306-degree view of all Paris.

Boat Cruise-

After walking for four days, we took a boat cruise on the river. The cruise took about an hour and featured seating on a double decker, open top boat. The tour took us passed all the major sites that we had just spent hours walking to. I was a nice break for our feet, and the tour was given in English.

Moulin Rouge-

We did not sit in for a show at this famous landmark, but we did walk past it. As with so many other monuments and works in Paris, The Moulin Rouge did not seem to measure up to the size expectations Hollywood has placed upon it. Seeing the height of the windmill was a bit of a disappointment.
Cimetiere Montmarte-
During our walk to the Moulin Rouge we literally stumbled upon this famous cemetery. The graves and tombs are all above ground, and is the resting places of some well know celebrities including Jim Morrison, and Dumas.

Flee market-

As we were walking back to our hotel on the last day, we spotted flea market spanning the length of five blocks and two streets. We were hoping to find care bears only sold in Europe during the 1980’s, but to no avail.

Candid camera-

While we were walking down the street on our first day in Paris, a woman approached us and hit my spouse with the bouquet of flowers she was carrying. We kept walking, assuming it was a case of mistaking identity, when we heard clapping and laughing. A man came up to us explaining that we had just been filmed for a candid camera type of show. We gave him our information and consent for the footage, and they will be sending us a DVD of the show our segment in on.

Paris in general:

We did a lot of walking while we were in Paris. We could have just as easily taking a bus, subway, or joined a tour group. We felt that if you are going to see a city, you might as well walk it and see all its aspects. This approach allowed us to visit a few tourist traps we might have over looked from a bus window.

Not only did we walk a lot, but we also ascended around 1,000 stairs. When we visited the various monuments and structures, the only one that offered elevator service to all was the Eiffel Tower. The Arch of triumph and the Louvre had elevators for the disabled only, while Notre Dame did not have the space for an elevator. All of the stairs we climbed were constructed in and continues circling ascension, which created a high sense of vertigo.

All the buildings we entered had an amazing architecture inside and out.  Our favorite part of many of them were the ceilings. Every ceiling we saw was as ornately detailed as the walls. The passages and stair wells were from a different time. They were very narrow with only recently installed railings and safety measures. This was mostly evident at Notre Dame, where to cross the bridge between towers, only the ten year old did not have to round the corners by walking side ways.

The people were not the rude pencil thin creatures personified in art and print. They were very polite and helpful, especially in restaurants when we were a little lost. The one stereotype that seemed to be true was the amount of people carrying flutes (long thin loaves) of bread home for lunch and dinner. There were also many people sitting in out door cafes enjoying coffee and pastries at every corner.

Spring trip:

Last week we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. We decided to take a trip together to celebrate, and see a new country. For our anniversary where else could we go but Paris? I know it is cliché, but why not? When would we be able to take advantage of being a two-hour plane ride away from France?

So last Wednesday we got up very early and headed to the airport. We spent six days and five nights in Paris, and saw as much as we could. We were able to get to everything we really wanted to see, and a few things that happing to be in the direction we were walking. I will blog about everything we did and saw while in Paris in the next few days, but for right now……..time to sleep.

An “interesting” movie:

We went with some of the guys to a movie down town. The theater is presented as an “artsy” type theater. No food or drinks are allowed in order to preserve the appearance of the theater. They show a lot of older movies and unlike many other theaters, there is no assigned seating. We went to see “Zardoz”; a movie from 1974 that, stars Shawn Connery, and takes place in the future.

It was an interesting movie, but not what we expected. There was a lot of nudity and tons of sexual innuendoes. I am not very familiar with 70’s film so I was very surprised at the content. At the same time the movie was hilarious as a direct result of that same content. It was a good experience to not be disturbed by the graphic scenes, but to laugh them off in the humorous mood as it was intended to be.

God Paske! (Happy Easter)

Even though most people in Norway are not very religious, Easter is a very big deal. It kind of feels like an extended Thanksgiving because many people travel home to spend the week with their families. We are enjoying the time by going on walks, sleeping in, and spending time together.

Starting Wednesday afternoon, everything closes down because of the holiday, and they do not reopen again until the following Tuesday. The grocery stores open for a few hours on Saturday for those people that run out of food, but other then that they remain closed.

As a result of this I have a weeks worth of groceries in my kitchen for the first time in nearly ten months. It is strange when I realized how acclimated I have become to shopping for food every two days. On Thursday I was sure that half of the food I bought would spoil before we had a chance to eat it. It then occurred to me that I used to have this much food in the kitchen all the time back in the states. That realization showed me that I am integrated more in to this life then I had previously thought.

New place, again;

Well for the most part we are all moved in to our new apartment. After one more trip to Ikea, the apartment is no longer in need daily used items. All that remains is the spontaneous personal touches takes years to place, such as photos from travels, and sentimental items from experiences not yet had. The apartment is on the first floor which means no more “soft feet” out of respect for the down stairs neighbors.

We are enjoying the fireplace / stove in the living room, and have lots of wood stored in our basement storage room. We have used our attic storage room for out of season coats and clothes, and some under utilized computer equipment. The dryer in the laundry room dries the cloths in an hour, instead of the two days it used to take on the drying rack.

Besides the amenities, the apartment was recently updated for a clean and modern look. We are really enjoying this place and are relived to no longer have to worry about moving. We are still waiting for the Internet to turn on, so until then, we are doing all our Internet activities at Trolltech.

Moving;

We officially move to the new apartment on Friday. We have been staying at our new place, although we return to the last apartment to use the Internet. The connection at the new place has not yet been activated so this will be my last post for a little bit. Ha det bra! (Good-bye in Norwegian)

Ikea;

We have made two trips to Ikea so far to purchase items for the new apartment. The Ikea is about a twenty-minute ride from center of the city. Ikea has a wonderful bus service to bring customers with out cars to the store. Two special “Ikea buses” takes turns going to Oslo every half hour. The buses are fitted with lots of shelf space to accommodate all the boxes and bags.

The Ikeas here are just like the ones in the US. They are big and have everything from furniture to household needs. Ikea’s style is affordable, good looking modern furniture that you assemble your self. The items are also meant for setting up your first house, which means that they are not meant to last a lifetime. Since we were looking for items we can dispose of in four years, Ikea was a perfect fit.

We found everything we needed for the bedroom and the kitchen. The best item we found is called the “Ikea kitchen starter set”. Literally this set contained everything you need for cooking in your new kitchen. The set had pots, pans, casserole dishes, a timer, cutting boards, hot pads, potato peelers, scissors, a cheese grater, mixing bowls, Tupperware, every cooking utensils needed, and even a set of knives. Best of all, you got all this and more for about a quarter of the cost of buying the pieces separately.

Besides the obvious convenience of Ikea, the store is a nice destination for a day trip. It takes us about an hour to walk to the center, and then about fifteen minutes for the bus to take off. Walking around Ikea takes another hour at the very least, then the bus ride back to Oslo. After the half hour ride on the city bus and the walk home, we are pretty much done for the night. Just like in America, you never go to an Ikea on the weekends. This means that I go by myself during the day, or after  work.

Bread;

We have been doing a good job with the food. We have figured out almost all cooking instructions, and the words for most foods. There are times however when we feel extremely stupid. A great example of this is rolls. When we first arrived here I bought some pre made packaged rolls to go with dinner. When we tasted them, they were not quite right. They had a strong yeast taste, and were a little moist. We figured that it was a bad batch and fed them to the ducks. When we tried the rolls again later that month, we had the same problem. So we added them to the list of things we did not like.

Last month at lunch, Trolltech served hot rolls. Asking at Trolltech Marius explained that you can buy rolls that are ALMOST cooked, and you just put them the oven to finish cooking them. This way you can have fresh hot rolls whenever you want.

We quickly realized that these must have been the rolls we thought tasted like yeast. So we went to the store and found those funny tasting rolls. Now that we are able to read more, we clearly saw the cooking instructions for the “pre made” rolls. So we tried again and cooked the rolls. This time they tasted extremely good. I would choose these rolls over the “Pillsbury” instant rolls every time.

New Place;

We were really lucky and found a great place just down the street. We are subletting another fully furnished apartment from a young couple. This time the owners are sailing around the world, so they will not be returning before the end of the lease. The apartment is located right off the main street on a quiet side road. It is also just a half block from one of the many parks. There is a courtyard in the complex with a playground for the kids. There is also a laundry room complete with dryer! Which means that our clothes will be dry in an hour, and not in the two days it takes on the drying rack.

The apartment is a little smaller then our current one, but it is much nicer. It is an older building, however the apartment has been totally renovated. The original stove that was used to heat the apartment is still in working order and can still be used to heat the apartment. There are also electric heaters in every room including the bathroom. There is the same set up as our current apartment, of one room for the shower and another for the toilet. The best part is a huge storage area in the attic, which makes up for the lack of space in the apartment. Even though we have very little to store, it will be the perfect place for the bulky suitcases.

We are planning on buying a few things for the apartment to decorate it and add shelf space for books. We also have to buy new bedding and cook ware, which are not included with the apartment. Out of coincidence, we will have the new apartment the first of March, but do not have leave our current place until the first of April. So we are planning on taking our time moving in. It will be much more relaxing then trying to do it all in one day.

“Life happens when you are busy making other plans” J. Lennon

I do not expect life to be easy. I expect it to be full of hard choices and decisions you just do not want to face. I know the difference between fantasy and reality. That life is not a scene in a movie, and that “Seventh Heaven” is not a reflection of the world. When a negative event happens, people are tend to ask, “why me?” I try to keep the position of “why not me?” What makes me so great that I am above suffering, and that for some reason there is another soul that deserves this hardship over me?

When we made the decision to move to Norway, we knew it would be hard. We expected confusion and the frustration that is inevitable when trying to acclimate you self to a new culture. What we have encountered has been harder than we could have predicted. The biggest issue we face on a daily basis is the language. Even though every one we encounter speaks English, all documents we get in the mail or have to fill out, is in Norwegian. It is frustrating when you feel you cannot function in the world you are living in. Even though it takes time and effort, we are slowly able translate a lot of words using a dictionary. We are stating to recognize common words, and we get help from people at Trolltech.

We have been living here for about eight months now, and things are getting easer. We sorted out a lot of bank confusion, I can use the Celsius stove with out effort, and we can read enough to be sure of our purchases at the grocery store. We were settled in our apartment and were starting to personalize it. However just as one difficulty was conquered we were informed that the woman whom we sublets the apartment from, needs to move back herself. So we had to rekindle our search for an apartment. This is also more difficult then it would be in America because the listings are all in Norwegian. Thankfully it is a bit easer then the first time we searched for an apartment simply because we now know more of the area. We also know which “buzz words” to look for. Such as the Norwegian words for, furnished, stove, storage, laundry room, and bedroom.

Skating;

A small group of us took advantage of the “warmer” cold weather to go skating. I met the guys at Trolltech and to my delight, one of them had a car that we would be using to get down town. I realize how silly it sounds to be excited over a car ride but the last time I was in a car was a German taxi. Considering we use public transpiration about once a month, and walk everywhere else, a private car ride is indeed a treat.

Near the center of down town there is a very shallow square shaped man made pond. It has an “island” near one end that is inhabited with iron deer. There are little restaurants around the pond and little sculptures of children. It is a great place for the tourists to stop, have lunch and feed the ducks.

In the winter, the pond it turned into an outdoors skating rink. There is a little shop for skate rental, and a massive bench/light pole had been erected on the center of the rink. There were only six of in our group, and only half of us could stay vertical on the skates. Two of the guys had been skating twice before, but it was the first experience for the last guy.

There were only about ten other skaters on the rink so there was plenty of room to help the non-skaters, and for the rest of us to go at our own pace. The best part about the skate was that as soon as we got there it started to snow. It was the kind of snow that looks like feathers, a big flat slow snow. It made the skating a bit harder, but the ambiance was so peaceful, that is was worth a little trouble.

Dinner and a movie;

I walked up to Trolltech so that we could go on an outing with a few of the guys. The nine of us took the subway down town to an Indian restaurant. It was located in the middle of the main tourist street, just in front of the palace. We were able to ascertain most of the items on the menu, but the waitress brought us some English menus just incase. Even though we have been attending the Norwegian classes, and I know my numbers, I still felt uncertain when ordering “number 56”, so I resorted to English. Maybe next time I will feel more confident.

After dinner we walked about five blocks over to one of the theaters. We had ordered the tickets on line, so we only had to pick them up. In Norway you pick the seats that you want to sit in when you purchase the tickets. The seating is all assigned, so you have the ability to sit in just the place you like the best. One interesting “tid bit” about the seats I noticed was that there was no cup holders in the armrest. I have no idea why this is; I just found it an interesting fact.

It was nice to go to out to dinner and especially out to a movie. We have been watching the movies we have, in the living room on our laptop. At the theater we watched “King Kong”, which was a good movie to see in the theaters due to the nature of the film. It was fun to compare this new release to the original feature from 1933. On the walk home, we also had discussions about the graphics and the effects of the movie. We also learned from this movie that an enormous bug is always “scarier” then the large hungry dinosaur just out side your hiding place.

Classes:

We have finally been able to start Norwegian lessons at the new Trolltech office. There were a total of twelve people (employees and spouses) that wished to take a Norwegian class. Because there were so many of us, Trolltech decided to hire a private teacher to come to the office instead of sending us to a local college. Every Thursday we meet in one of the conference rooms, and have our private lesson.

Since we only meet for two hours once a week, most of our learning is done at home on our own. We were all supplied with a text book that included a CD, and a workbook. We have a lesson for homework, that we go over in class. The point is to work on the oral pronunciations, and have the grammar explained to us while we are together in class. We are then able to work on the translations at our own pace. The CD also allows us to listen to the pronunciations, to improve our speech.

Like any language class, it is hard and frustrating work. We are already seeing a difference in the amount of words we are able to pick up form television and the grocery store. At times we are even able to hear some spoken words, and understand the meaning. Of course we can only say simple sentences like “My name is” and “what?” but it feels good to know we will soon be able to get around in the verbal part of living in a foreign country.

Sledding;

Trolltech has internal mailing list dedicated to certain interests that the employees can interact together in. On the sports list a message was left for an outing to a near by sled renting lodge. The idea was to take the new employees out to experience a Norwegian winter “sport”.

It took about thirty minutes to travel by subway to the mountain sledding resort. We obtained our sleds at the rental office and preceded to carry/pull them to the start or the run. The sleds consisted of two wooden rails with a metal strip on the bottom. The rails were attached to wooden framed square that housed a nylon fabric square attached with rope laces. The result of the construction was a heavy, sturdy sled that cushioned the rider from the bumps of the run.

It took about ten minutes to reach the bottom of the sled run. In that time you tried in vain to control the path the sled would take. Even though in some places the edge of the run had a curved wooden wall to herd sleders on the path, at times there was nothing to keep you on the track. I found myself approaching turns with nothing to keep me from going over the side of the cliffs. Other times the lack of sled control produced my appearance beneath the bushes of the forest surrounding the route. It felt like a ski run that had been “let go”. It was several miles long of mostly un-maintained hills where you could get up to twenty miles an hour. Portions of the trail curved around the side of the hill where there was vistas views of Oslo to your left.

When we arrived at the bottom of the “hill”, there was a platform to wait for the city tram to stop and pick us up. It took the tram about twenty minutes to return the sledders to the lodge next to the run at the top. Two members of our group were Girish and his wife Tahara. They are originally from India, but came to Oslo from Texas. It is hardly surprising that this is the first year that they have seen snow. They have been making the effort to try winter activities such as ice skating. Tahara was a little nervous about the sledding, but quickly got the hang of it. I could hear Girishs’ excited yelps the entire way down the run.

After sledding down the hill twice, we were all wet and cold. Most of us could no longer feel out toes, and fingers. We went to the lodge for coco and snacks. We all sat by the fire talked and ate. We took a few group photos before we headed back to the subway station. When we got home, we quickly changed in to our warmest pajamas, and sat together drinking one last cup of coco before heading to bed.

New Years;

We were invited to Frank’s house for a new years party. Frank does not work for Trolltech, but is friends with many of the people who work there. When we arrived Marius, Simon and Jason had already arrived. Also present was another friend of Frank, his sister, and two of her friends. At about eight o’clock there was a buffet style dinner. There was an assortment of cold trays with pasta, shrimp, and meat entrées. We ate in the living room, talked and listened to music. Mostly we talked about our Christmas’s and the different cultural experiences that goes with every ones respective holiday. While talking the group broke up in to two sub groups. Those that can speak Norwegian, and those that cannot.

After dinner, a cheese and fruit platter was served to go with the wine that had been consumed all night. At this point Jason was a little tipsy, but was having more fun for it. An assortment of chips and sweets were also at hand to wait out the clock till midnight. At about ten till midnight we bundled up, retrieved some plastic glasses and champagne and headed out side.

There was no ball dropping on any of the buildings, and there was no count down to the moment of midnight. Instead the sky over Oslo was on fire. We walked to the closest park to watch the fire works. The displays were not put on by the government, but by hundreds of regular citizens. People were set up all over the park with all kids of fire works. They ranged from small sparklers to huge multi colored rockets. It looked like the types of displays you would see on the fourth of July in the US, only multiplied by ten. The rockets were going off about ten feet from where we were standing. A few rockets exploded on the ground and although we all new that it was dangerous; the effect was still pretty cool.

Our group each had a sparkler, and champagne as we watched the spectacle. We walked up the hill for a better view, and we could see more fire works in all the different parks through out the city. The noise was immense and reminiscence of thunder. The smoke in the air seemed to magnify the brightness of the explosions. The seen was amazing and can just not be described short of it was the most amazing thing we have yet seen.

On the walk home, the men in the group amused themselves with sliding down the hills, which were ice slicks. Back at the apartment, we continued to eat and talk. Then there was the “cheese shots”. One of the cheeses served had a funky taste so the boys decided to mix the cheese with alcohol and grapes in a blender to make shots. Simon and Frank had the idea and only they partook of the creation. Surprisingly Simon found the concoction palatable.

We had a fantastic time at our first Norwegian New Year. We are thinking that next year we will either join in the setting off of fireworks, or travel to the fordge to watch from the cliffs.

Christmas;

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year. Every year of our marriage we, have driving for many hours and spent a few day with our families in Boston Mass. Both sides of the family live with in a few minutes of each other, which makes visiting a little easer. On the flip side however, Christmas day has always felt rushed and hectic. It always seemed that as soon as we had settled at one house, opened gifts, and had a little conversation, we had to leave to travel to the next house. It is a lot of fun seeing everyone, but exhausting. We would wait until we returned home to open our gifts to one another.

Well this year we have our Christmas at home. We decided not to travel back to the states for the holiday. We have only been here for five months and we could just not justify the cost of the flight. We bought and sent all of the families gifts back in October, and they sent our gifts to Norway.

To get our tree we walked a few blocks down to a tree lot, and pick out a small tree. Together we carried the tree home, set it up, and decorated the tree with ornaments I have been collecting in the countries we have visited. We bought a few bulbs to fill in the extra spaces, as well as lights and a silver star.

On Christmas Eve, I prepared dough for us to make cookies, and for cinnamon buns in the morning. We filled the stockings and arranged all the gifts under the tree. We lit the tree, set a fire in the fireplace, snuggled under a blanket and watched a movie. At midnight we kissed and were blissful in the moment. The night was cozy, warm, and relaxing.

Christmas morning we got up about ten, made tea and cinnamon buns, and sat down to open stockings and gifts. We took our time and enjoyed exploring each gift as it was opened. When everything was opened, we cleaned up the wrapping paper, and organized the gifts back under the tree. The rest of the day was spent playing with all our new “toys”.  I got “Dance, Dance Revolution two”, so I spent most of the day with that.  Later in the day we both called our families to exchange thank yous for all the gifts.
I made a roast for dinner with all of our favorite side dishes. We spent some time baking sugar cookies together for dessert. After dinner we sat in the living room reading some of the new books. We played my game a little more. All and all the day was exactly what we wanted, relaxing and calm. It is very likely that we will be returning to the states for Christmas next year, so it was nice to have Christmas ourselves this year.

Germany

I was surprised last week by being told we were going some place for my birthday. All I was told was that we were going to another country and that they would give me a hint every day until Thursday. The clues included “We can uses our Euros there”, “we will be gone for three days and four nights”, “we have never been there before”, and “it is not France”.

Finally Thursday came and they revealed that we would be going to Germany. They had been invited to a company called “Frog logic” to discuss issues with a computer documentation system. They would be busy with that for two days, but we will be staying for an extra day to go sight seeing together on my birthday. They divulged that we would be leaving Friday night, and would return Tuesday morning. I ran around packing, getting together all the travel papers, and buying film.

The next night we were off. The flight only took about an hour and fifteen minutes, so before I knew it, we had landed. Simon and Harald, who come from Germany, had also been invited to join in the discussion. Having them with us was extremely convenient. They spoke to the cab driver, and the man at the hotel’s front desk.

While the boys went to the Frog logic offices, I explored the city of Hamburg. There were many churches and towers exemplifying a broad range of architectural design. My favorite was St. Nicholas, which had been bombed in the Second World War. The city never rebuilt the church, so only the tower and a bit of wall remains today. Even though the church was destroyed, the remaining bell tower an inspiring example of rococo design.

One of the popular churches to visit is St. Michaels, which offers an observation deck atop the bell tower. You have a choice of riding in an elevator, or climbing over three hundred steps to the summit of the church. For some reason I still cannot fathom, I chose to climb the stairs. The views were amazing from any point on the three hundred and sixty degree platform.

I visited a museum that was featuring the history of image entertainment. It began with original shadow puppets from the 17th century and continued to how television and 3D pictures work. The exhibit also showed an amazing collection of picture boxes from the 18th century. In the main gallery a man was creating siluets of the patrons, not with light, but by cutting the profiles directly in to back paper. It was amazing to watch him snip the paper with tiny scissors, never even sketching an outline.

Throughout Hamburg, the city was celebrating the holiday with a Christmas market. Booths were set up in all the squares selling merchandise, food, and glugg. Glugg is a traditional hot drink served at Christmas. It is a liquor based drink, mixed with orange and a plethora of spices. Christmas music was being played in many languages throughout the markets. There were lights and decorations everywhere including large nativity sets, hand carved out of logs.

On my birthday we wondered the city enjoying the sites I had located earlier. We took a boat tour of the harbor, and adjacent channels leading in to the city. We saw the “Queen Mary Two” as well as the old brick warehouse’s that line the city’s harbor. We were also able to go to some local malls to pick up a few things. We had a great time on our second trip to a new country. It was an amazing and wonderful birthday surprise!