We Love Norway's Pristine Beauty!

We stopped in Bergen, Norway on September 5th.  The weather was brisk and drizzly but that later became a healthy downpour.

Having been in Bergen previously, we opted to walk around and do a lot of exploring. Across the plaza, you can see the tents of locals selling their knitted wares and souvenirs.

 The fish market across the street is always interesting.  We may have sampled some cooked fish or meat if we had exchanged any money, but the raw food didn't look that tempting.

We discovered little cobbled streets and paths throughout the city.

 This home/hospital for lepers was interesting but closed.  Bergen hosted the largest population of individuals inflicted with the disease in Europe and had 3 hospitals.  It was a Norwegian doctor, Gerhard Armauer Hansen who discovered the leprosy bacillus in Bergen in 1873.

 We loved this beautiful train station that is still very much in use.

 And the gorgeous old library across the park in the background is still open for local patrons.

We eventually walked back to the ship for lunch and a break from the rain.

 Geiranger Fjord is our favorite Norweigian fjord and community so far.  We absolutely love it.

This time around we took a bus excursion to the top of Dalsnibba Mountain.

The roads were closed the day before for snow.  It was snowing for us also but we made it to the visitor's viewpoint.

However, this was all we could see so we couldn't focus on the views from the mountain top.

Fortunately when we got below the snow level, we saw gorgeous views.

That is our ship down there in the bay.

The waterfall that runs down through the small town is amazing!

We enjoy cruising back out of the fjord as we say goodbye to beautiful Norway!

Historic Belgium and Netherlands...

 We arrived at Zeebrugge Port in Belgium on the morning of September 2nd.  We had signed up for a tour which took us an hour's drive through the beautiful Belgium countryside to the picturesque, medieval city of Ghent.  We were grateful the expected rainy weather held off for us as we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our time in Ghent. The architecture was gorgeous!

 We sampled a local treat from the oldest bakery in Ghent, located in the old market area.

 This bicycle garage was near the public restroom which our guide was kind enough to show us right away.

 One of the most delightful parts of the tour was this stop at a Belgium chocolate shop to witness a demonstration of the signature, handmade chocolates.

 We were not disappointed.  When they gave us samples of the chocolates, we were thoroughly impressed.  They were lip smacking, out of this world, delicious!

 Another highlight was running into our missionaries representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.  We were only sorry we couldn't stop and talk with them longer but our group was moving on quickly.

Ghent, Belgium ranks high on our list of favorite places!  We loved it!

The next day as we ported in Ijumiden, Netherlands and walked to the local bus stop, we kept passing these concrete structures in the side of the hills.  Steve said they look like bunkers and later we confirmed that is exactly what they were--bunkers from WW II.  It was sobering to walk past them.

 We changed plans at the last minute and decided to catch the bus to Haarlem which was about 12 miles east of the port area.  We had briefly visited there in 2016 and liked it.  There were more things we wanted to see in this city that is like a miniature, more manageable version of Amsterdam.

 We love the ancient buildings, cobbled streets and winding waterways of Haarlem.  It is so quaint.

 We were also very hopeful that even though we hadn't reserved a ticket in advance, we might be able to see inside of Corrie Ten Boom's house made famous in her book and movie, "The Hiding Place."  It is one of my favorite books!

 We found out that the afternoon tours, were first come first serve, so Steve got lunch while I staked out a place in line.  We were the 2nd group there.  There is only room inside for 20 people at a time.

 We were able to enter with the first afternoon group.  The story of how this family protected and help so many Jewish people during WWII is inspiring.  Corrie is the only member of her family to survive the concentration camp and she dedicated her life to Jesus Christ and her testimony of the Bible.  She traveled the world sharing her message of Christ and forgiveness.

 I am standing in front of the fake wall they put up to hide up to 8 people at a time.  The entrance was less than 2 feet square and the people had only 70 seconds to climb 6 flights of stairs and hide behind the fake wall.

Below Steve is standing in the famous Grote Markt, the historic center of the city.

 We did a lot of walking in Haarlem.  We walked to the Church of St. Bavo.  The original church at this site was built in 1245.  The current structure was build in 1895 and dedicated in 1898 for the Catholic Diocese.  The two tours weren't built until 1927.

 We climbed over at least 300 stairs to get to the bridge between the towers and I don't think that counted the stairs in the attic areas.

 The view from the towers and bridge was spectacular and we could see Amsterdam, the airport, the port and all around the city.  Of course, we had to carefully climb back down the other side on the winding staircases but not through the attic trusses.

When we finished at the church, we were grateful our daily bus pass allowed us to board another bus back to the central station.  Our feet were very tired.

 One of the other interesting historical sites of the city were the public Hofjes (houses) constructed for the poor unmarried women of the city.  This one is the oldest still standing which was built in 1395.

All in all, it was a great day for us.  While we were at our last bus stop, we met a wonderful couple from Toronto, Canada,  Daniel and Anita Wong.  Originally from Hong Kong, they raised their two daughters in Canada.  Their daughters are married and now live in London and Singapore.

We became friends and we have invited them to visit us in Utah.  We hope they come soon.