Chronicles of Norway (Part 2) Museums and Operation "Save the Jellyfish"

Well it is hard to believe we have already spent two full days in Norway. Yesterday, being Sunday, we went to church. We only went to sacrament meeting since we woke up so late and the rest was definitley needed.

After church we decided to take a bit of a drive. We drove into Drammen and went through the Spiralen Tunnel. The spiralen Tunnel is an amazing tunneling project. The road actually spirals up inside the mountain to the view area on top. It is a total of 1650 meters long. From above there is a beautiful view of the city below.

Here is the entrance to the Spiralen Tunnel.

Here is a picture of all of us at the top of the Spiralen Tunnel.

This is the view from the top.

After Spiralen we toured the mission office where David and Bjorg spend their days and came back to the apartment for dinner.

We had a rough night with the kids. Jacob could not get to sleep until about midnight and Though Kyle went to bed well at about 8:30 he was then awake from about midnight til 4 am. Mike and I finally got to sleep around 4 and woke about 9:30.

Today we spent the day sightseeing. We started off at the Kon Tiki Museum which tells the story of a Norwegian that sailed from South America to Polynesia on a reed boat to prove that the polynesian people could possibly have originated in South America. It was a cool museum of boats and Easter Island exhibits.

This is a replica of the reed boat that was used to sail from South America to Polynesia.

When we went to leave the museum, it was POURING rain. So we decided to hit the museum across the street too. This was the Fram Museum. This was a museum dedicated to Norwegian explorers that explored Antartica. Here we were actually able to tour the boat on all levels. The kids thoroughly enjoyed this experience. After our museums we headed back to the apartment for lunch. Then we left again to see the world renowned Vigeland Statue Park. I don't know how many times the kids said the word "naked" while we walked through the park. (giggle giggle) But EVERY statue in this park was nude. There were some really great pieces and the park was beautiful. We also took the chance to play at the playground there which was AMAZING!!

I think this is what Mike must feel like when he is wrestling with our kids. HE HE!

After the park we went back home to get Grandma and Grandpa and then we went to the beach. It was only about 60 degrees outside but the kids were determined to play in the water. What a surprise it was when we got to the beach and found it covered with Jellyfish. A nice man who was there informed us that these jellyfish were not dangerous so the kids had a blast picking them up and putting them back in the water. We called it our operation "Save the Jellyfish." They had a great time playing in the water despite the cold. Then we came back and had a great dinner.

Even I got my feet wet.

This is us as we arrived in Norway. We look pretty good for having been traveling for 16 hours.
Allright I am off to bed. It is 11:00 PM and it is still completely light outside. I am amazed.

We have a fun day planned tomorrow with a trip down to Horten, a ferry ride across to Moss, perhaps a quick trip into Sweden, and then a drive in to Halden to visit with some family.