Here's Florø, north of Bergen, in Norway

 

Vandita, Linda, Janne and I had a girls' weekend in Florø over May 13 to 15. We are friends from WesternGeco. That was the company I worked for when I first came to Norway. It was a place for making friends - and keeping friends after the factory closed. Vandita invited us up there, since she sometimes works there. She flew over from Oslo. I hopped on the fast boat in Bergen. Linda and Janne hopped on the same boat an hour up the coast.

Naturally, it was raining! This is Bergen, after all. 
Here comes Janne, with Linda following.

It's been years since we've seen each other. We had so much catching up to do. So comfortable to be able to hug and talk again after COVID.

I introduced the "girls" to a new word - brunch. We had Prosecco and orange juice mixed together. That's a Mimosa for you Americans! Also an omelet and breads and lots of talk. 


The forecast was for rain, rain and more rain, but the skies surprised us and we got some beautiful moments. 
The airport
Here is South Beach, or Sør Strand.

The beach has nicely kept sand

Linda and Vandita immersed in beauty

The water along the northern coast in Norway always looks so tropical to me. The greens and blues can't be real!


Saturday evening, one of Vandita's colleagues had us over for an absolutely fabulous barbecue. Marius is Norwegian, Saana is Finnish, and Senni is adorable. She gave us each a hand-drawn picture. We couldn't stop eating all the delicious food. 


The evening was topped off with the Eurovision Song Contest on Marius and Saana's TV. We liked Norway's entry, a silly song about giving the wolf a banana so he won't eat grandma. Do you remember the song, "What Does the Fox Say?" It was in that vein. The pop band is called Subwoolfer and the song is "Give That Wolf a Banana". The winning team was, because of the popular vote, Ukraine. Of course! They had a good folk-rap song, "Stephania". I voted for Serbia's "Incorpore sano", a song featuring lots of hand-washing. Everyone there made fun of me for that, but then Serbia got lots of votes from everyone else in Europe. They came in fifth. So there!

Sunday, we started off with a spicy red lentil stew that Janne made on Saturday. It has quinoa, red lentils, coconut milk, red curry, red onion, chili, carrots, zucchini and mushrooms. Do you see a trend here, with food, food, and food on my mind? 

The big thrill for the day was provided by Evoy, Vandita's company, with an electric boat ride all around the area. Our driver set us up with full-body life-vest suits. Don't we look great?

The water was as smooth as a mirror. I was totally geeking out on the electric boat. 


Sten told us the human stories of the islands and houses we saw. He's lived here forever. 


Imagine living out on this lonely lighthouse before they automated it! A family used to live here. But nowadays, there are lighthouses around Norway that are set up for overnight stays.

STeW has been here, as well as at my neighbor's house

I will close with a lovely mural by STeW (@stewearth on Instagram).




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