Rock N Brews @ El Segundo, CA

Went here for lunch today.  Great casual atmosphere and a good place for a beer, but food not so good. 

I had the Bratwurst and my husband had the Italian Sausage.  We were pretty sure that the cook switched the sausages by mistake, because mine was clearly NOT a bratwurst.  The bartender said that was the kind of bratwurst they used -- 'maybe it wasn't my standard'.  

Hmmm....   I don't think there is a standard; there is just a bratwurst and what is not a bratwurst.  But either way, even if the correct sausage was used, food was just OK.

All in all,  go for beers outside, but eat before.

Seal Beach

Went to Seal Beach today to see a friend in town.  What a cute town -- very surfer feel.  Lots of antique shops.  Had an awesome Italian Deli Sandwich that had what the owner called "smelly cheese"

There was some sort of concert tonight so apparently everyone had saved their spot!

My Nephew is a genius!

I have a lot of nieces & nephews on my side of the family, so I leave the 2 on my husband's side to him for gifts, etc.  Well my nephew graduated from high school and my husband sent nothing (I did remind him).

So my nephew sent a thank you card that read:

I can't remember if you gave me a gift but thank you anyway.  I really appreciate the gift and whatever it was I will use it wisely

Genius!  The guilt alone will likely get him a bigger check.  I love the "whatever it was, I will use it wisely"

Awesome

Helsinki, Finland

Spent just 2 days here, nice town, great city center.  A bit cheaper than Norway.  I went to 3 different churches -- huge white church high on a hill and the most famous for Helsinki (Cathedral), a Russian style church near the wharf (Uspenski Cathedral), and a church which is built into a side of natural rockbed, very cool (Temppeliaukio Kirkko).  Also made it to Suomenlinna (Finland's castle) that was built by Sweden.  The island is now more of a large park and nice to visit; make sure you make it to the brewery.

Also made it to the National Museum of Finland and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, both just OK.  The contemporary art museum had an exhibition on Africa, somewhat interesting but not really sure most of it was art as much as someone's documented experience living in or visiting Africa.

Had one good meal of note, at Juuri.  A modern take on Finnish food.  

Most shocking in this part of the trip, not one person looked at my passport from Oslo to Helsinki.  Not even checking any identity, so the borders are wide open.  I didn't even go through any sort of customs when I entered Helsinki, odd.

All in all, I would go back here as it is a central point to go to St Petersburg and Estonia, both within a day's ferry ride away.

Temppeliaukio Kirkko -- church in rockbed

Finnish Fish Pasty, Smoked Pike tartar, Potato bread, and Roasted Swede with Cauliflower Puree @ Juuri

Uspenski Cathedral

Helsinki Cathedral

Oslo, Norway

Much larger city obviously, but shockingly food just OK.  Extremely expensive given location and bad dollar exchange -- beers were $10+!  Only one restaurant had decent food -- Rust Restaurant.

Saw the Opera House (cool building design, like a glacier), Viking Ship Museum (3 big boats, kind of lame), Polarship Fram Museum (very good, depicting Amundsen's South Pole discovery), Nobel Peace Center Museum (I think the worse museum I've been to, very difficult to actually get information vs. the high tech displays), the Fortress (OK, but it has been majorly re-constructed as place is used for State events, so not entirely old anymore), and the Frognerparken Sculpture garden (as a collection, pretty cool; as any 1 piece of sculpture, not impressive).

I think the best day was the lazy lunch I had at the Wharf and then the nap on these beach chairs by the water (see view from my 'cabana').

All in all, likely wouldn't go back to Oslo as I think I saw all there was of interest to me.  If I did, I'd definitely go to ski jump which is outside town limits.

pistachio coated white fish & great salty potatoes

Opera House

Viking Ship

View from my 'cabana' napping spot

One of many sculptures at garden

Norway Backroads Hiking Trip & Bergen, Norway

Ok, here is first of a series of posts about the awesome trip I just got back from.

Backroads Norway trip was good.  Good group of people, but hikes not as hard as I hoped.  Scenery was as picturesque as you can imagine and it basically never got dark out. Food just OK.

Best parts of trip: 
1)  Ferry ride through the Sognefjorden, beautiful.
2)  Sitting on the veranda looking out over the Fjords
3)  View on top of Flattebrehytta

I would recommend it if you want just a medium hiking experience and more of a cultural experience.

Bergen was a nice little city, more of a 2 day weekend getaway.  It rains a lot there, but it is more of a drizzle.  There are a few museums but not that great.  The art museum has a lot of art from local artists, but it isn't necessarily good.

All in all, I would come back to this area to explore other parts of the western & northern side of Norway.

View from Stalheim hotel -- valley of a fjord

First night's dinner - reindeer pelts for cushions

Awesome ferry ride through a fjord -- you gotta have a beer

Second Hotel's veranda

View from the veranda

Glacier hike

Hut at top of Flattebrehytta

View from Flattebrehytta

Hiking Trip

Finished the group hiking portion of my trip.  amazing sights, yet hiking was much easier than i had hoped.  only 1 hike was hard and some of that was due to trail was washed out by massive rain over last month.  the last day's hike was at least long.  given how slippery it was and how much of a klutz i am, i now have matching bruises and scratches on both legs.  Left leg was Wednesday, right leg was Thursday.  
Got to Bergen Friday at noon and it is really a cute town, but a 2 day max stay, unless you are a museum nut.  My good weather genes kept rain away for hiking trip but yesterday it rained most of day, not hard, just drizzling.  Today, hike to top of hill vs. paying for a funicular ride.  then leave for Oslo tonight.  There will be more to do there.

I'll post more details and pictures when i can upload them next week

in Norway!!

meant to post this before i left, but am now in Norway.   pretty uneventful flight.  saw a fellow employee from my old employer, odd.  my eyes still hadn't cleared when i saw him & his wife but stared long enough to focus and recognize him.  quite fun.  now in picturesque Bergen.  nice, already met a fellow backpacker and will join my hiking group tomorrow


awesome!