here we are, me and owen hanging out in alesund on some crazy barge outside of our new favorite cafe -- simply "espresso cafe" written with a fat sharpie on the glass window. it's connected to a designer gallery--swanky eggplant coloured couches and as owen calls it "people art". brie sandwiches and the best chocolate chunk brownies. perfectly decadent.which you know, i love in an everyday kind of way. our hotel is just one building beyond that white one on the left side along the water. michael took this picture last saturday when we went out exploring--but the two of us went back today and this entire deck was full of sunning teenagers and delightful old men in sweaters. and i say delightful because as i was trying to carry our tray down the stairs and instruct owen to sit on the top step until i came back to hold his hand one of the sweater men simply took owen's hand and hummed some kind of rhyme while helping him hop down the stairs.

and i'm finding that norwegians are either take-your-hand kind of friendly--yesterday we followed a lovely lady named gerta to the playground after chatting with her four month old at the "let's eat deli" because it was much easier than trying to give us directions. or they're-- scowl at you for trying to maneuver a stroller on cobblestone and cut in front of you at the vestland bakery while you dig through your purse and hold a toddler still at the same time--kind of people.

every day we do a bit more exploring and i've started to get a sense of how the town is laid out. there's water on all sides and this little bit of land that we're on is basically an island connected by "the bridge" which i'm always directed to cross and then turn left or right at "the light." maps are worse than useless and i must seem quite ridiculous standing on the corner turning it and turning it trying to pinpoint my location when in reality the entire town takes about 10 minutes to walk through.

we've got more pictures but i'll let michael post them up as soon as his week slows down--12 hour days everyday so far... but there's always fish pudding and brown cheese waiting for him at the hotel when he gets home ;)