Easter week

So today is the beginning of the holiday week. Norwegians take Easter seriously. And not in the religious sense, in the vacation sense.

Many take off the entire week beforehand, all the way through Easter Monday, which is the day after Easter. At the very very least, pretty much the entire country shuts down from Thursday until Monday, which means that, with some exceptions, there are no grocery stores, restaurants, movies or businesses open. The public transport runs on weird schedules and the towns empty out.

So we are as well. On Sunday morning we're going to Husband's friends hytte (pronounced heee-tah), which means mountain cabin. In the traditional sense, it's the place Norwegians to commune with nature and to have family time. And in the older ones, it was rustic. And by rustic, I mean lacking indoor plumbing and heating.

Husband promised that is not the kind of hytte where we will be spending our time. We will be in the other kind of hytte. The kind with five bedrooms and two and 1/2 baths, running water, heat and enough room to lounge about.

His longtime close friend who owns the hytte will be bringing his sons and their three friends and there will also be another couple and their baby. During the days I will be skiing and Husband will be snowboarding Røldal.

We'll come back on Tuesday night. And on Wednesday, we'll head to the airport to fly to Aberdeen, then take a train down to Edinburgh. Sadly, we will not have time to visit Nessie on this trip. But next time.

When we arrive back on Monday night, Easter will be almost over. I just hope we can get a cab from the airport...

Happy Easter

Norway, along with many European countries, shuts down over the Easter holidays. Stores are closed. No one goes to work. I'm pretty sure that the mail doesn't come as well.

The entire country just stops, packs up and heads out of town.

So we are too.

For the first half of the week, we're going to a friend's ski cabin. The we'll be back in Stavanger for a night.

On Wednesday of that week, we're leaving for Scotland and will spend about a day or so driving around the Highlands and then to Edinburgh for four days.

Husband wants to see the Highlands for the landscape and history.

Me, I am dying to go to Loch Ness. Yep, it will be touristy and perhaps even cheesy, but I grew up on a diet of monster stories and folklore. I soaked up everything about the Yeti and the vampires and the Frankensteins. And really for all their creepiness (and occasional murders and blood-drinking), they always seemed a little bit lonely.

One of my absolute favorites was the Loch Ness monster, Nessie, for those in the know...

Who is Nessie, you wonder???

The thought of taking a boat tour of the loch with the (yes, I know it's slim to none, but humor me for a moment, please) possibility of a sighting is too scary and delicious to even fathom.

I don't care a bit if every shop for kilometers will be hawking Nessie goods or if it's like the Disneyland of mythical creatures.

I'm lobbying to stay at the B&B overlooking the lake.

Loch Ness Clansman Hotel

Then we'll head south to spend a few days sipping on whiskey and shopping in Edinburgh.

Though, I also saw a note that Scotland may shut down for Easter as well. If so, we'll just keep driving to England.