...if you bring Swiss chocolate

"Sure you can come, if you bring some Swiss chocolate and coffee." These were the words the Family Barnes wrote me in an email. So I showed  it to my parents and we looked for a flight. Just a few weeks later, we flew to Norway. By the way "we" are the Bergers (Swiss): Jeannette, Rolf and Florentin (me). We met the Family Barnes in the Caribbean in the BVI. We started to talk because I was wearing a University of Colorado t-shirt. So we are now in Norway sailing around for one week with Sila. 

What I imagined Norway to be like is almost the same as it really is. The reality is even better. For example, yesterday we did a 7 km walk up to the famous hole in the mountain "Torghatten." 

Porter will tell you about the mountain: There is a myth about how the hole was formed in the mountain. One day the beautiful Lekamøya was walking in the forest. A troll, admiring her, sought to tempt her into his home. Lekamøya wanted nothing to do with the troll and turned away. All through the day, the troll followed her, asking in every way he could, but Lekamøya thought the troll a horrid creature and ignored him. She turned and began walking home. The troll, realizing that she was ignoring him was furious. He tried to grab her arm but she was too quick. She ran with such speed and grace that the troll could never hope to catch her. The troll was overcome with fury at how he had been treated and that his love was escaping. He strung his bow, knocked an arrow, and shot. The arrow flew true and would have killed Lekamøya, but the troll king saw the arrow flying toward her. In a desperate attempt to save the beautiful woman, the king threw his hat to block the deadly arrow. The arrow went through the hat and struck the ground. The hat fell and is now the mountain, with the arrow hole going straight through it. The troll, in his anger at not getting his revenge, struck the ground and shattered it into hundreds of pieces, creating the islands by the mountain.

Norway has just an unbelievable nature with these deserted Islands and beautiful little villages. There are all these red houses with the Norwegian Flag in front of them. But also the "cities" are lovely, you don't have to search for WiFi, there's access almost everywhere. 

So my perspective: Norway is just beautiful and it was a perfect decision to visit Family Barnes on Sila. Hopefully they will come visit us in Switzerland. - Florentin Berger

ed. note: Our visiting blogger is Flor, the 15 year old son of Rolf and Jeannette. The three of them have spent the last week cruising in Norway with us, which has been a real pleasure. This blog is especially impressive because English is Flor's third language, after German and French.