The countryside was pretty. There is lots of trees and you go through many areas where you don't see a town or gas station for long stretches of time. Their highways here are more like we would consider routes. Some four lane roads, but mostly two lanes with passing allowed for faster vehicles in the oncoming lane.
We stopped on the way at a place called Max's. It was right next to a McDonalds which we almost chose, but Alex's friend Samuel told us the chain Max's had Sweden's best burgers (I think it's from a commercial) and he was right. It was great! 
Three lanes in one direction in an underground tunnel highway in Norway.
Here are Thomas's parents Edgar and Kari with the boys.
He gave us a neat tour complete with houses he had actually helped build in the neighborhood himself!
The restaurant was on the water. 
Here is Thomas's niece Ida. Notice her bracelet on her wrist...it's from the Justin Beiber concert in April and it gave her access to the diamond circle (I'm guessing VIP seats) and she is wearing it until next April although all the writing is washed off. She is Norway's biggest Belieber!!!
Indoors at the restaurant...
Then veal with veggies and potatoes au gratin...yummy!
In the restaurant I took a picture of this sign because Sandviken is our town in Sweden we live in so we thought it was funny to see it at the restaurant.
Nina and Ida in Nina's new kitchen. 
Marius showed us his movie projector screen in his theater room. It's pretty cool!
We had a typical lunch with bread, meats and cheeses on the table and Nina made a delicious focaccia bread from scratch, mmmmm!
After the adults walked off some lunch and took a tour of the part of Oslo they live in. There were threatening skies all around, but the weather worked out...
We walked by this street/bridge with a view of the city Oslo, and this sign said that the view from this street/bridge was the view Edvard Munch used for his famous painting Scream...
Nina is standing on the site where the Scream guy would have been:) should have made her grab her face:)
It is common to spread strawberry jam and something similar to a whip cream/sour cream mix. Then fold and eat...yummy!
I see apple pie in my future....
A burger meal was about $12 and the funny thing to me was the refills on the drink fountain was about $1.25. No free refills at restaurants in general either here because most restaurants serve bottle of soda not fountain.
Anyway, we made our way to Norway and both Ben and I commented immediately that we had arrived in Norway because the landscape to us looks differently. From the parts of Sweden that we have driven (now its been a lot because we took one way there and a different way back to try different roads and figure out what is faster), most of Sweden is beautiful, but pretty flat and as soon as you get to Norway, there are tons of hills and the roads seem to have been made by blasting rock. There are even great lengths of tunnels in Norway where you drive highway systems under mountains as a faster route. Plus many house are built onto the rock ledges with fantastic views below. And it was beautiful to see.
We stayed with Thomas's parents and the next day we took a walk to get ice cream at their local golf course. The boys commented that the course was "crooked" because it was built on a mountain. Most people walk the course there and it's great exercise. I tried to take a picture of this woman walking her two dogs while golfing, but didn't get the pic in time.
After walking there for the ice cream (about 40 minutes while Ben complained a little:)), we had a quick tour of Thomas's fathers home he was born in which sits up on a hillside...
The purpose for going to Norway on this trip was to celebrate Thomas's uncles 60th birthday and on Friday night all the family met at a restaurant for a nice dinner. In fact this restaurant was the same one Thomas and I had both receptions after both of our boy's baptism so it was so nice to go back and eat there.
Delicious mussels as an appetizer...Ben loved it...
The next day we were invited for lunch at Thomas's brother, Marius and his fiancé, Nina's house. They live in Oslo and it was the first time we got to see their house and it was so nice.
A sign by their doorbell:)
The view in the background is of Oslo. It's an amazing view. They live at the top of the city and Nina says in the summer she rides her bike straight downhill into the city for work with hardly no pedaling so she isn't sweaty:) then after work she has her workout back up the mountain! She works for the company Tine in the business department. Tine produces all the Jarlsberg cheese in the whole world I believe. If you buy it in the US, it says imported from Norway and the brand Tine is on it.
Then Marius ate blue cheese and walnuts and honey on crackers and Alex had to try...
We thought it was delicious!
Dark skies but not where we were walking. Felt like Florida:)
After our wall Nina made traditional Norwegian waffles. They are delicious!
The entire trip driving 12+ hours and we never had to refuel once!!! We started with a full tank and it is pretty low now, but wow diesel lasts a long time!
We made a long drive back today and were so excited to see the apples on our tree have appeared to double in size and ripen...the kids picked one each and had a snack!
Also I got a surprise in the mail:) I got a news letter from the Tioga neighborhood!!! It was so nice of Rhonda to send it to me:) her family (including their dog Joe) was featured in it!
I had a great weekend!
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