As the weather has been good, we have spent a little time at the beach this week. Sidney and I went to the beach at Randaberg on Wednesday. This particular beach has a very nice stretch of sand and pleasant, gentle waves. It wasn't very crowded, but there were some entertaining aspects to the visit. If you look really closely in the center of this picture, you can see a horse. The kids that had the horse rode it to the beach, then swam (allowing the horse to swim as well), then went home with the horse in tow. There were also a lot of baby carriages and strollers on the beach. You must understand Norwegian strollers - these aren't the typical little mall shopping buggies you see back in the States. These things have fat, knobby tires and serious suspension. Add an engine to one and you might be able to compete in a Jeep competition. They also cost about as much as a small car!
Sidney enjoyed building sand castles and playing in the water. She was a little leery of the water, as there are jellyfish of various types in it, but she did get about waist deep. The water is pretty cool, but you get used to it (or at least your legs go numb and you don't feel anything after a while.)
Kimber also spent some time in the water this week, though hers was no "day at the beach." She had survival training for her offshore helicopter rides. She will post a separate entry about it later this week.
On Saturday, we took our bikes and went on the ferry to Kvitsoy, which is a small island in the bay leading out to sea from Stavanger. We originally intended to do this a few weeks ago, but I didn't check the ferry schedule and the ferries only run every three hours on Saturday to Kvitsoy. I didn't do a very good job checking it this time, and we arrived at the terminal an hour and a half early, so we rode around on our bikes a little to pass the time.
We met a friendly German couple on the ferry who are spending their holiday biking all over Norway. Their bikes were filly loaded with equipment, but they were just taking their time and enjoying themselves, so it didn't seem too bad. They have apparently done this in the States, Canada and other places in Europe as well.
Kvitsoy is a small, very quaint little island best known for its lighthouse and its seafood. Most of the best seafood sold in Stavanger apparently comes from Kvitsoy. We didn't sample any, as we had our normal picnic with us, but it might be worth a return trip. In this picture, you can see why it might be big business there - there are little channels everywhere. Actually, Kvitsoy is not just one bug island, but over 300 islands (many of them just big enough to throw a ball across - underhanded).
The lighthouse is also quite nice. I is a concrete structure built in the 1860's. The first picture shows the type of "lighthouse" it replaced. There was a very kind gentleman that gave us a tour and showed us all the inner workings of the light itself. It is exactly what one would think of when thinking of a lighthouse. It even had steep spiraling stairs leading to the top. When we left, the guide gave Sidney a cookie, which of course made the lighthouse her favorite part of the visit to Kvitsoy.
Kvitsoy also has a few other sites to see, but none as funny as this. There was a wedding going on at the church on the island, and this tandem bike was a wedding gift. Two lucky young members of the wedding party were volunteered to ride it down the hill from the church to the reception.
Another place we visited on the island is an ancient Viking/Christian site from the 11th century. There is a carved stone cross still standing at the site where an early church was. The cross is original to the site, and is quite impressive. Also impressive are the neighboring radio towers, which enable the BBC to send their shortwave broadcasts all over the world. They can be seen from the mainland, and are an easy way to identify the island on the horizon (though the lighthouse is a pretty nice beacon.)
We biked back to the ferry terminal after visiting the stone cross, and came across this sign along the way. Let's just say it would not be good if you didn't heed the warning.
After returning to the mainland, we made another visit to the beach at Randaberg, which is quickly becoming one of Sidney's favorite places to visit in Norway. She played just long enough to get completely covered in sand and for us to cool off in the water and relax while listening to the waves. Again, it was surprisingly not very crowded.
We came home, cooked sausages on the grill, and listened to a concert taking place just across the water at Vaulen Beach. One of the acts was Rick Astley, known for his song "Never Gonna Give You Up" from 1987. He sang it three times during his performance. I personally like his song "Cry for Help" better, and "Together Forever" is also memorable, but I only heard them once. There were also some Norwegian bands performing. Though I didn't recognize any of the names, I did recognize one of the songs one band played as being a jingle for a commercial here. It is actually a pretty catchy tune, though I don't understand the words.
Kimber will post later on the survival training (with pictures included!) so stay tuned!
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