Norway Day 11: Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium

 After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the Atlanterhavsparken Aquarium. Actually, U first left to charge the car and the rest of us walked to join him.

First up at the aquarium were the otters on Otter Island. There were four of them and they were quite active when we arrived. Here are some pictures of their cuteness.

Otter Island is completely natural, as it was before the aquarium was built, with the exception of the lighthouse.

This one was curious about Matthew's shoe.

The keeper came to feed them and told us about each of the otters who are all between 1.5-2 years old. They have two girls and two boys. One of the girls is named Sarah. She was found in the area and is adventurous and whimsical. She is also picky--she did not like some of the fish she was given so would drop it and go get more fish. Otters have thick hair: 70,000-100,000 hair strands per square cm!

Enjoying some fish.

Next up were the penguins. It was fun to watch them swim around in the water.

Feeding time! A few penguins did not come over which we thought was odd. However, we later learned that it was because they were staying by the nesting boxes that had babies in them. Most of the animals in the aquarium are native to the area. The penguins, however, are from Chile.

Cool outside crab fountain

Watching the rays swim around their tank

Me with a curly octupus

Matthew and Megan at an interactive station

 A diver got in the huge Atlantic Tank to feed the fish.

It was cool to see the fish swarming around him, especially some of the big fish like halibut that tend to hang out on the bottom of the tank.

Hungry fish!

Me touching a sea star.

Megan and Matthew feeding the crabs.

Closer up shot of one crab.

We enjoyed watching the 10 seals get fed. One of them jumped quite high.

Megan's take on the seals: The way they moved on land was interesting. And they can move really fast in water.

Me testing out her reflexes. She did not do as well as the others.

Me, Megan and Matthew enjoying carrot cake.

U with our Norway car. It was a nice car even if it did have its idiosyncrasies (like braking on its own). 

Croissant sandwiches and croissants for dinner.

Yummy ice cream!
Me had seabuckthorn/strawberry which was an interesting combo.

U Step Count: 10.5k

Norway Day 10: Alnes, Ålesund

 After a big, yummy breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Alnes to see the lighthouse.

U, Me, Matthew and Megan at the top of the lighthouse.

View of Alnes from the lighthouse.

Lots of birds!

Matthew, Me, Megan with Alnes Fyr (lighthouse) behind us.

We walked down by the water.

This shows the color profile of the lighthouse. It was interesting to see and learn about. There are 8 lighthouses in the area each with their own color profile.

There was an art show in the museum by the lighthouse. We all really liked this piece.

Close up of the poem:
It is not my job to fix or save people, but to love them
It is not my job to be liked, but to be authentic
It is not my job to do it all, but to take the next step
It is not my job to please everyone, but speak my truth
It is not my job to hold it together, but to breathe
It is your job to live & enjoy you loved ones, yourself & life
And that is mine too

An end is always a new beginning/In the unknown awaits magic.

Taking the plunge!

Megan really liked this painting.

Me thought this represented motherhood quite well.

There is a tunnel that is one car width wide going to/from Alnes with frequent pullouts. It was a bit strange to see cars coming straight at us. (The close car seen in the photo is in a pullout.)

Megan, Matthew and Me on the "culture hike."

Me, Matthew and U at the entrance to a cave that used to be at sea level. They have found lots of animal bones in there.

The cave entrance

Pretty flowers.

On the way down from the cave, Matthew asked U why he was going so slow. U said it was because he was old and not as flexible as Matthew. Matthew said that his knees hurt, to which Megan replied, "Matthew! You're too young to die! The knees are the first thing to go. First the knees, then the back, then the eyes, then the ears."

We went to a Duke Ellington jazz concert at our hotel. We got free admission since we were staying at the hotel which was awesome!

The group: pianist, bass player, trumpet, alto sax. Favorite songs included The African Flower and Caravan. After the concert, they had a jam session with members of the audience.

Matthew enjoying chips and a movie.

We hiked/climbed up Mount Aksla. Lots of stairs!

Megan and Me with the theatre. They even rolled out the red carpet for us!

Interesting tree

Megan and Me with the classic view of Ålesund.

U, Megan, Matthew, Me

We found this abandoned green gummy person at the top of Aksla. I hope he is ok.

Cool tree person.

Matthew, Me, Megan, U

Grumpy faces: U, Megan, Me, Matthew

U and Me

U, Matthew, Megan, Me on our way back down.

U with the Genes sculpture.

Megan and U playing shut the box. We also played table shuffleboard and pinball. For pinball, Megan wanted to get all the balls in the 100 and she eventually did!

Dinner. We also got some sweet potato fries.

U Step Count: 15.9k