We learned today. (We've come to Norway, part 2)

We had a harder time sleeping last night than we expected, being so tired and all. At the beginning, I think it was just your typical in-a-new-place-it's-hard-to-get-to-sleepies. Then, our bodies woke us up at a normalish (in America) time, which would have been about 2am here. In any case, we did sleep and then after waking and dressing we went to breakfast downstairs in the hotel (this was very yummy and interesting, but I have no photos, so maybe I'll tell you more about it tomorrow) and then were picked up by our hosts to attend a worship service.

This was our second Norwegian worship service - last night we attended a youth service and this morning was a for-everyone service. It was nice, and we're getting much better at pronouncing Norwegian words because of their praise songs. During the sermons, we get headphones so that we can listen to a translator.

After the service, we got coffee and waffles. Apparently, "church waffles" are common. We decided that this tradition should travel to the States as a healthy (maybe?) alternative to doughnuts.

After church waffles, we went to an outdoor/indoor Norwegian history museum called FOLKEMUSEUM. (Spoiler alert: there were none of Bob Dylan's old guitars.)

Inside, we learned a lot about clothing. Did you know that each district in Norway has its own costume that people still wear on special occasions? Fun fact. We also saw lots of beautifully made wooden things, like this piano.

Outside, it was slightly rainy and quite chilly, that's why I look like someone's grandmother in the old country.

We saw some very old things, like this church, built circa 1100 AD. It's in the style of the vikings, but they put a cross on it to make it Christian-like. It's made of wood and very impressive.

We also saw some less-old things, like the recreation of a Norwegian city only about 50-100 years old.

After all that learning, we were pretty hungry. Our hosts took us to this really lovely restaurant up on a hill that overlooked the city. We passed not one, but two gigantic ski jumps. Also, as if we somehow forgot that we were in Scandinavia, it started snowing. Being North Carolina residents, we were delighted. Inside, we ate Norwegian meatballs and game soup.

The taste of our post-dinner coffee still in our mouths, we braved the snow to catch the last open hour at the Munch Museum. 

Yes, that is me, standing in front of The Scream. Nice camera work, Kleinbeck.

Lots of learning under our belts, we rested in the hotel for a couple of hours before being picked up to  for a delicious Italian meal at a place called Eataly with five of our new Norwegian friends. Eataly. Get it? So clever.

Here we are at the end of our day and the thing that I've come away with most is that it's a shame that when people started creating things with their brains via modern technology, they began to make things with their hands less, like awesome viking churches.