May is full of holidays in Germany. So many, in fact, that there is only one full week in the entire month. We make sure to take advantage of these holidays by traveling (we did the exact same thing last year by traveling to Iceland, Austria, and Paris). A while ago, Aaron had discovered a dive resort near Bergen, Norway that offered both reef and shipwreck diving in the fjords. We kept it filed away, something that we might want to do once I was back in the water after Evelyn was born. And then my sister said she wanted to come visit. Since she had already visited us in Germany, we decided to meet somewhere else - to explore more of Europe. She and I had always wanted to visit Norway, and combined with the diving Aaron found, Norway was an easy decision. 

Now here is where the complicated timing, and severe lack of attention to the blog, comes in. Between the German holidays and the time my sister could get off, I ended up being there for over two weeks. Aaron and I flew to Bergen on May 5 and spent a few days in Norway's second largest city before hopping on a ferry to head to the dive resort for a week. Midweek, my sister flew in from the US and met up with us. All of us then spent the next few days in the Norwegian wilderness (at least it felt like it!), before returning to the real world. My sister and I spent a few more days in Bergen before taking the train to Oslo and poor Aaron had to return to work. I ended up spending a whopping 16 days in Norway!

Norway (Land of My Ancestors), is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, except for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The UP will always hold a special place in my heart. Anywho, if you ever get the chance to visit, I would highly recommend it. I would also recommend to rent a car and get out of the cities and away from the hordes of tourists - this is where Norway is at it's best. There are glacier-capped mountains, fjords bounded by cliffs that plunge into the water thousands of feet deep, farm fields planted with crops, waterfalls that plummet hundreds of feet, and some of the most incredibly scenery you could ever imagine. In Europe, where the population density is high, it's pretty amazing that wide expanses of relatively untouched wilderness still exist.

All three of us agreed that our favorite part of the whole time was when we stayed at the dive resort. This place feels like the end of the earth. When Aaron and I first traveled up there, it took us three hours and two different ferries to get there.

So all this to say, you should keep an eye out here for lots more posts about Norway. And to apologize for posting less than 5 posts in the entire month of May. We were a little busy :)