These statues look angry!

Hello dear friends...

As I write this I am sitting in our hotel, which overlooks the heart of Göteborg. I can see the ferris wheel at Liseberg Amusement Park and the statue at the top of Avenyn and I’m relaxing after a glass of wine and a night stroll through the city. We passed a restaurant tonight called “El Corazon de la Noche”, and after saying the name aloud in my sexiest Spanish accent, I have discovered how much I like the name.  Therefore, I will now ask that you address me as such. It will be my nickname from this day forward. Please don’t forget

What a great day we had today. The troubles we experienced getting into Oslo last night were more than made up for today as we visited the city.  We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather for walking.  We began the day at the Vigeland Sculpture Park, which was amusing, beautiful and somewhat disturbing at the same time. The sculptures all seemed to have been done by an artist whose outlook on the human condition originated from a place of darkness, judging by the pained expressions on many of the sculpture’s faces.  I took over 100 photos today so you’re just getting the best of the best.

After spending a couple hours walking through Vigeland, and witnessing the social habits of many dogs in the dog area (don’t ask), we took the tram back to the heart of the city and spent the rest of the day wandering the waterfront, exploring the main pedestrian shopping area and generally just enjoying the cool but sunny weather. We did get to see a street performer who played numerous instruments at the same time. I was both fascinated and thoroughly entertained. However, if you open the picture keep an eye out for someone who had a slightly different opinion. For those of you who enjoy Mentos, you’ll be thrilled to find out that the USA is getting the short end of the stick with the varieties available.  I picked up two packages for my friend Dave while in Oslo: Rainbow (which includes flavors such as watermelon and pineapple), and Fresh Cola.  I’ll be sure not to eat them before I get home, Dave. It’s also incredibly refreshing to find pop here that isn’t made with that High Fructose Corn Syrup nonsense. It’s pure sugar all the way, and the soda is more refreshing because of it. I’ve particularly taken to Lemon sodas by Schweppes and Solo. Fanta makes one as well, but I’ve yet to try it.

Still no moose sightings, but we haven’t given up! Kate is doing her best to cure me of my fear of tall bridges over large bodies of water. We drove across one today between Oslo and Göteborg in preparation for the big one: Malmö’s Oresund, which is 2800 feet long (8000 meters), and connects Sweden to Denmark. Stay tuned for updates

We stopped just over the border between Norway and Sweden at a scenic lookout to find some beautiful views of a place that, according to the GPS in my camera, has no name - although it can pinpoint it on a map. We arrived here in Göteborg about an hour later just in time to see the sun set over the city, and it was stunning.  We walked the Avenyn to find a place for dinner and ended up at a pizza place, where we both witnesses something that neither of us had ever seen, nor could endorse:  A man putting ketchup on top of his pepperoni pizza!  That’s worse than the soda water that Kate keeps accidentally buying and/or filling her water bottles with. Her reaction: Soda water!!!  Apparently she’s not a fan. I can’t really blame her. It has to be a shock expecting a nice smooth drink and getting a bitter shock of fizz. Poor thing!

Tomorrow we start fresh in Göteborg, but for now our room has a huge tub, and it is calling my name.  So until later, I bid you “god natt!”