Interlude Post 5 from Svartisen, Norway

We've been off the grid for a bit - sorry for the delay in posting.

After leaving Ireland, we spent about a week crossing through Wales and England to get to our next ferry.  Along the way, we saw Snowdonia National Park and the White Cliffs of Dover. Very neat to think of all the people who began or ended their journeys with the sight of those cliffs.

After arriving to the mainland in France, we quickly crossed the border into Belgium, and spent the next week moving north to Norway.

Along the way, we stopped in Brugge, Gent, and Brussels in Belgium, but Brugge was our favorite, because of it's beautiful cityscape, the central square, and the delicious hand-made chocolates and dessert waffles.  Yes, we think with our stomachs.

After 3 days in Belgium, we took a quick detour to visit the enormous cathedral in Cologne, Germany, before crossing another border and spending a few days in the Netherlands.  Seeing the old-school windmills and the sights of Amsterdam (including the Van Gogh Museum) was really fun, but the best part had to be the miles and miles of dedicated bike paths - we were able to ride without fear for our lives!

Continuing our northward migration, we crossed back into Germany, and then into Denmark for a short visit to Copenhagen, which was also beautiful and bike-friendly.  The coolest part of Denmark had to be the huge bridges they have between islands, including the bridge to Sweden.

We passed through western Sweden and arrived in Norway a few days ago.  After a visit to Oslo and an awesome stop at the museum of the Fram (a Polar oceanographic research vessel), we drove 15 hours north, to the Arctic Circle, where we did some backpacking and glacier watching.  That brings us up to date - our next couple weeks will be spent hiking in Norway as we move our way back south, and begin the trek to Italy!

PS. The best part of the drive to the Arctic Circle was a brief stop at Lillehammer, Norway (home of the 1994 Winter Olympics).  They still use their bobsled run for winter training, but in the summer, one of the athletes will take you on a bobsled run in a special wheeled-sled.  It was the most ridiculous experience of my life - 100km/hour down a bobsled run, pulling 3.5 G forces.  You have to wear a helmet and a back brace to avoid throwing your spine out of alignment.  We made the run in 67 seconds.  In the olympics, the 15th place finisher made the run in 53 seconds.  I don't know how they managed to live through the experience!  Here's a video showing about half the run, before the motion got too violent for me to record without being killed.