Hi, I’ve been busy! First and foremost – my friend Emily is here!

We’re headed to Norway next week! I’m very much in a place of “exclamation point” about both of those things. Nature will be our focus in Norway, though there is still plenty of history to see. I’m particularly interested in the Hanseatic League Museum.

Before Emily got here, I had a full Friday and Saturday. I saw FOUR silent films with live accompaniment for free! I think my favorite was Michael, a Carl Theodor Dreyer film from 1924 about a homosexual relationship. Well, the relationship is behind a VERY thin veil, but it’s clear they are (were?) in love. Lots of juicy drama in that one. I also saw Aelita: Queen of Mars, which had been on my watchlist for awhile, but I was a little bit disappointed. Maybe that’s because I saw it at midnight and I was tired from a long day of walking around, but I contend that there simply wasn’t enough Mars. The sets and costumes on Mars were so cool, I just wanted to live in that world for 115 minutes. Instead we spend a good amount of the movie following the various travails of comrades on earth. I wanted more Aelita!!! Someone revive Aelita and cast… um… Joey King, maybe?

Since Emily arrived, we’ve revisited that falafel place from my first night here, gone on some great walks, ate some delicious Italian-style pizza, and met some kitties at the local cat cafe. There was a little girl lovingly chasing them around, so they eventually retreated to their vertical kitty highway 😹.

Now we’re both solidly in the work week. My workload picked up a bit yesterday, so I’m even more ready for a peaceful retreat to the fjords.