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Soongies' Great Adventure
Waking up this morning to a bright and sunny day in Drammen was a good start. The clocks on our phones said 8:30 am when we woke up but Kate still felt a little tired after 8.5 hours of sleep. It turns out that daylight saving had just commenced that night so we actually only had 7.5 hours of sleep. Filip and Emil were up already after their night out - they didn't actually get into any bars as they got there at 2 am but they were about to shut because of the clocks moving forward. Filip was busy making omelettes and home made bread, salad and blueberry muffin tea! Such an amazing spread for breakfast. There were more good conversations this morning and it was almost midday by the time we said goodbye to Filip and Emil and left the house to head into to Drammen city. The first stop was the Drammen Spiral - a long tunnel carved inside a hill that spiralled up to a height of 180 m. It was a little dizzy driving up! At the top, we had great views of the city, mountains to the west and the Drammensfjorden to the east. The sun was out and it was actually hot! Perhaps hot was a bit of an overstatement, but it was suitable t-shirt weather. The next activity was a stroll around Drammen city along the river past Ypsilon Bridge and the River Harp (speakers tuned to the frequency of the Ypsilon Bridge) to the centre. A cafe in the square was selling ice cream so Kate and Calvin made the best use of this opportunity to have some salted caramel gelato and mango sorbet. Tim, on his preseason cricket diet, bought a banana. The rest of the walk involved crossing the river using the Bybrua Bridge, walking up alongside the river and back to the other side on the Ypsilon Bridge and back to the car. From Drammen, it was a 3 hour drive to Arendal, our next stop. Our Airbnb was a cute old house up on a hill from where you could see the water. The rooms were upstairs in the loft and it was a challenge for even people of average height to walk around safely - Kate bumped her head on a lintel. The host was really nice - she had a wood fire going in the fireplace for us and had strung out the hammock in the garden as it was such a beautiful day. It was a 15 minute walk into Arendal town. The town is small and quaint, particularly the Tyholmen area with its many old wooden buildings all in different colours, the harbour and the many restaurants around it. It was fortunate arriving on this Sunday as it was the last day of Arendal's event of eating for NOK 100. Several restaurants were involved in this event - Møs Biffhaus had a sirloin with vegetables, chips and pepper sauce. Too good to pass up - particularly for Scandinavian prices. The drinks hiked up for the price though - $6 for a glass of sparkling water! On the walk home, there was a little park with a permanent slackline. This was challenging fun and Tim, Kate and Calvin all had a go or two. Calvin made it across, Tim got four steps on it and Kate managed two steps before freaking out! According to a familial source - Sarah Young - Norwegian skiers use slacklining for rehabilitation! Then it was home for a few rounds of Backpacker before bed.
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