Saturday Aug 07     The morning started with breakfast and cabin cleanup. Lizzie finds the most ingenious places to hide things, so careful checking is required. Everyone was packed up and ready to go by 10:45, except for my dad who had disappeared on some mission for his brother involving goat cheese. Dad turned up a little after 11, and we stopped at the farmhouse to drop off the cabin key and then continued for a couple of final sightseeing excursions. Since just about everything in the Bergen area is no more than 15 minutes apart, this was easily done. We went to -    Fana church, where some of the family are buried. -    Lysekloster, the ruins of an old Cistercian monastery on an estate where my grandpa worked during WWII when the Norwegian shipping industry was shut down. -    Bergen’s stavkirke, a big wooden church built in a traditional Viking style. -    Tante Lillian’s house; she’s a living monument, life-long friend of my grandma, who offered fresh-baked rolls with butter and fresh-brewed coffee on her garden terrace. The girls made themselves at home, Emma eating three rolls and Lizzie repeatedly trying to venture into the house with all of its fragile old furnishings. We were sent on our way with hugs, and made it to the airport about 15 minutes later, returned the cars, checked in, had some hot dogs, the contest continues, went through security, found our gate, and settled in. It was warm. No, it was airless. No, it was warm-and-airless. Based on our experiences this trip, Scandinavian airports in general don’t consider air-conditioning a necessity, possibly because it’s only required when Aaron is in the country. -K Our flight was delayed an hour, so we waited some more, but eventually the plane arrived from Copenhagen, was offloaded and cleaned, and we were allowed to board. This time Aaron pre-empted almost all of Lizzie’s anti-seatbelt outbursts by talking quietly and firmly. I’m really impressed that she listens so well. Emma, old pro, found her seat, fastened her belt, looked out the window, and played a bit with her light and the tray. Stunning views over Bergen as we flew out. It’s like a Mandelbrott curve; intricate coastline broken with islands that in turn have convoluted shores, broken with smaller islands . . . . And the sky was blue. -K   The flight was unevenfull, Lizzie and I slept most of the way, we landed and were greatred by Karen's cousin Sine. It was great to see her again, she has been over to vist the states a couple of times and we've visited her every time we come over. We went to get our rental cars and low and behold a coupon that I got with my credit card for a free up grade worked. So we had a great big(by Danish standards) toyota station wagon. Good thing to because there would have been no way to fit all the luggage that we all had and us in to two small cars. We drove the hour and a half down to Maribo and Telsa and Carston's house. Where, as always, we were greated by a great meal and then gratefully went over to Karen's other cousin's house to crash. Ida and Lars, Ida is Karen's cousin, had been out to the opera and were happy to see us. We chatted for a little then went to bed. -A