SPRING BREAK: LONDON, NORWAY, BARCELONA
On March 27th, which was my godfather/favorite uncle's birthday, I celebrated by taking a flight to London! After my arrival, I navigated through the Tube with a heavy wheeling-suitcase and lots of bags of food and a camera bag (not recommended on hindsight), to finally reach my hostel after leaving Oviedo 7hrs earlier. Though I was tired (particularly after the 25 flights of stairs to my room-- okay it was 5 or something, the view from my 
window is shown here) I was so excited about being in London I went exploring by myself and had a scary/exhilarating time jumping on and off buses/subways until 1am. 
The next morning I somehow managed to wake up at 7am to go running in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which was also amazing. The air was chilly, yet the view was well worth it. Lakes full of an assortment of birds, riders in the horse corrals, and feeling like I was seeing the real London, not the tourist side (which is what I experienced later).
window is shown here) I was so excited about being in London I went exploring by myself and had a scary/exhilarating time jumping on and off buses/subways until 1am. The next morning I somehow managed to wake up at 7am to go running in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which was also amazing. The air was chilly, yet the view was well worth it. Lakes full of an assortment of birds, riders in the horse corrals, and feeling like I was seeing the real London, not the tourist side (which is what I experienced later).After being the first one to breakfast when I returned, I then met the rest of my hostel roommates-- Owen, Morgan, and Craig-- two were brothers from Michigan and one was from somewhere in England. They were heading to Cambridge that morning after checkout, so I got to chat with them for a while during our wait. 
Upon saying goodbye I took the Tube back to Victoria Station, in order to meet my dad for our adventures in London. However, neither of us felt like doing much tourist stuff (or at least I didn't) so we really didn't get much sight-seeing done. 
It was more enjoying the city itself and riding double-decker buses! I did see the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street and had a nice picnic lunch in gorgeous Regents Park, after a quick glance through the National Portrait Gallery.
Upon saying goodbye I took the Tube back to Victoria Station, in order to meet my dad for our adventures in London. However, neither of us felt like doing much tourist stuff (or at least I didn't) so we really didn't get much sight-seeing done. 
It was more enjoying the city itself and riding double-decker buses! I did see the Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street and had a nice picnic lunch in gorgeous Regents Park, after a quick glance through the National Portrait Gallery.Then back to the hotel to collect our luggage and off to Norway! For anyone travelling to London though, please realize the high costs of getting between the airport and the city. It is absolutely ridiculous. And Europe now has a 'one carry-on bag' policy, unlike the U.S. who allow a laptop bag, purse, etc in addition to the actual carry-on. Would have been good to realize that one, too.
Anyway, we headed to Norway without knowing more than a few words of Norwegian, though 
some of us--Dad-- liked to pretend he knew how to say lots of things. His Norwegian included a lot more vocab words, but I'd like to think my pronunciation was significantly better. . . We arrived at the airport at almost midnight, without a clue of what to do. I was tired, Dad had jetlag, but had slept (aka snored) on the way there (and anywhere else we were too. . .), so let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable evening. 
However, we did manage to reach our boat/B&B and got into our cabin/room and off to bed around 2am.
some of us--Dad-- liked to pretend he knew how to say lots of things. His Norwegian included a lot more vocab words, but I'd like to think my pronunciation was significantly better. . . We arrived at the airport at almost midnight, without a clue of what to do. I was tired, Dad had jetlag, but had slept (aka snored) on the way there (and anywhere else we were too. . .), so let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable evening. 
However, we did manage to reach our boat/B&B and got into our cabin/room and off to bed around 2am.
The buffet table, Dad, and my waffle maker!
From that point, Norway was just a crazy ride that I had a hard time keeping up with at times. Had a great breakfast at the MS Innvik in Oslo (our B&B), packed, got to the train station in time to figure out a railpass of sorts, get a ticket to Bergen, grab some groceries, and leave! It makes me tired even thinking about that morning. . . 
I slept on the way there a bit, tried taking pictures on the 'most scenic train ride in Norway,' and made some lefsa. I love lefsa. Mmm, lefsa.
I slept on the way there a bit, tried taking pictures on the 'most scenic train ride in Norway,' and made some lefsa. I love lefsa. Mmm, lefsa.
Arrived in Bergen, hoping to meet some relatives that wanted to take us in for a few nights, and finally had to walk to their house after waiting an hour because of a miscommunication problem. But after meeting Alvhilda, my dad's second cousin, things seemed to get more under control. We had some crazy experiences and lots of fun with her and her husband and their three kids, and even did some fjord sightseeing and some more touristy-stuff in Bergen, an equally gorgeous city. I started sort of picking up/being able to understand Norwegian too! Awesome. Then it was off to Stavanger on the bus/ferry, but that is another story to be saved until I get some pictures on here!
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hWe rode the bus which was carried over the fjords by boat. Arrivied in Stavanger to the B&B. Sunday morning has another tremendous breakfast buffet and finally met Uncle Egle and Elsie (actually my Grandmothers cousins). We just loved those two. They drove us everywhere to meet everyone that was related. We went to the the canning factory that my Grandmother worked in as a young girl. Egle even drove us to visit my Grandpa Lar's relatives. I wish we had planned more than one day there. But we were booked on the midnight train to Oslo, woh whoo!
Arrived back at our previous sleeping vessel. And we visited a Computer Science Professor at the University of Norway named Torleif. Toured Oslo all day and got on the bus to the Airport the next morning at 5 AM. Landed in London to stay overnight before Dad flew to US and Alexa flew to Spain.
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