Two Curious Souls

Our next stop on the journey is Molde. Our hotel looked like a sail and is actually named the Scandic Seilet. Regardless of the name, the view was 180 degrees of beautiful snowcapped peaks. We have to confess that before we were planning our Norway venture, neither of us had heard of the Atlantic Ocean Road much less the James Bond bridge. Yesterday, we rented a car and drove the road and over the bridge a few times. An unbelievable engineering achievement. Not just the main bridge, but the entire string of roads and bridges that is only 21 feet wide and 8.3 kilometers long. Connecting an archipelago of islands at the edge of the ocean, it is said to be the most beautiful drive in the world. We were not disappointed. Hearty souls on bicycles in the snow and rain. The "James Bond Bridge." It's called that because it is in the James Bond movie "No Time to Die." There's a chase scene that start on the bridge and ends somewhere else that looks nothing like Norwa...

Several people asked us why we choose to travel to Norway. Today we found the answer. Page 291 of the guidebook says,   “You’ll never forget your first approach to the Lofoten Islands. The islands spread their tall, craggy physique against the sky like some spiny sea dragon. The beauty of this place is simply staggering.”   After four days in the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam, we are now starting to realize that we had just landed in a different world. Our trip from Amsterdam to the islands was a day of its own filled with missed flights, lost baggage, and tests of our ability to hold up under stress. Whether we passed the test is not known but we promised to do better next time. We arrived around 9 PM with the sun still in the sky but covered by clouds and a breezy, chilly gust hanging in the air. We stayed in the town of Svolvaer at a beautiful hotel called the Thon sitting right on edge of the Norwegian Sea. Being above the Arctic Circle we expected longer periods ...

Our second full day we had originally planned a bus trip out to the city of Bruges. After thinking about the 7 hours in a chartered bus, we changed our plans. The word for the beginning of the day was adaptive. We used our newly mastered navigation skills to take a metro to the South train station (Zuid), a train to the Airport and a bus to Kuekenhof Gardens in the town of Lisse.  Lisse is in the heart of the tulip growing region and Kuekenhof is the location of the Tulip Festival. When initially designed the thought was to create a garden of all spring flowers with tulips being the dominate flower.  Every year from late March to early May, Kuekenhof is transformed to host this festival as it bursts into a mesmerizing display of color and patterns.  Imagine over 7 million tulip bulbs planted across 80 acres. Surrounding the Kuekenhof are hundreds of acres of tulip farms and tulips that are still commercial farms. Sites to behold. Tulips of all shapes, sizes, varieties and...