A bit of New Mexico in small town Norway

 

As we start our journey from Molde, we’ll be heading down through the fjords and ending up in Bergen. For us, the travel for longer distances via buses and ferries is a new experience. We set out from Molde on the ferry across the fjord to the town of Vestnes. When we disembarked, we were outside of town at the ferry dock and had to wait 45 minutes for the next ferry which had a bus on it that transported us to into the town of Vestnes.

In the USA, when we think of a bus station, we think of a building where people can congregate and wait for their bus. In this part of the world, the station or terminal refers to a place where buses start or terminate but almost always without a building. The waiting is outside, and on this day, the elements of mixed rain, snow, and wind were testing us. There are small, covered shelters that allow you to get out of the rain, but the blowing winds rendered them ineffective as shelter.

After the 45 minutes of waiting at the ferry dock, we had an 8-minute warm bus ride into sentrum (city center) where we were dropped back off outside to wait another 55 minutes for our bus which would take us to Alesund.

It was Sunday morning and everything was closed, or so we thought. Susanne managed to find the King Restaurant two blocks away and we settled in for some warm coffee and a snack.  A small place with maybe eight tables, but there was something familiar about it. There were posters covering the walls of Harley Davidson motorcycles, Jack Daniels, Corvettes, and the ones we found most intriguing were the posters of Route 66. There was a bar that actually had Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. We felt like we were in a bar in Albuquerque. As we were gathering our stuff to go, we were talking with the man behind the counter. He asks where we’re traveling from. When we told him we lived on Route 66, his eyes lit up and he started talking of his dream of going to the United States and traveling on Route 66. As we headed out that door, we realized we should not take for granted the blessings of where we live. Unbelievable, but we’re really living in another person’s dream.

I hope some day that man can fulfill his dream and visit Route 66. The word of the morning was synchronicity.