On Monday Siri picked up Gwyneth, Ethan, and I at 10AM to take us downtown to the library. At 9:30AM I had to wake Ethan up as he was still sleeping. Luckily he was agreeable and I was able to get him ready to go. He refused to go to the bathroom however and it was driving me crazy! I didn't get him to go until we were at the library about an hour later! Siri took us on a little driving tour and pointed out some good shopping stops. Then it was on to the library.
One interesting point to the library are some artifacts and reminants of old building that they have left exposed (over 1000 years old!). You can see 3 skeletons in the. It also had a very nice looking cafe that we may have to go back and try! The library of course was very modern and everything was self service again. I was able to get a library card and check out my own books. They have a very sophisticated machine for checking things out and I have my own PIN code to use with my card. Luckily the machine has a way for you to change the language from Norwegian to English - otherwise I would have had no idea what was going on! I noticed that to return books there was also another sophisticated looking machine, but I guess I will have to figure that one out when it comes to returning books.
Ethan was a bit of handful at the library - he probably needed more sleep. We checked out the children's section and they did have a selection of books in English. Gwyneth looked at books and Ethan was more into running around and jumping on these inflatable/animal/pillow like things. He looks devilish in the photo, doesn't he? So after a little while in the library we walked down the street with Siri before she had to get her hair cut. Siri treated the kids to a couple of red, blue, and silver pinwheels for the upcoming Constitution Day (May 17th). The whole day sounds like it is one big parade and we are going to meet Chris and Siri downtown for the Children's parade.
Once we parted with Siri, we stopped to eat sandwiches near the city center. The rain started to fall and so we moved on to the Rancklova Fish Market and another fish store to try to find dinner. The Fish Market is supposed to be the big destination, but Siri recommended a fish store nearby that she thought was better. We found the fish store first and bought some gravlax (cured salmon). At the time I didn't realize what I had bought, I thought it was just marinated. We then went to the fish market which looked more like an upscale fish store that you would see in MA. (I was expecting something a little more rustic. So we looked around - the kinds enjoyed looking in the live fish tank - and moved on.We met Nic at home later and by then had figured out the gravlax and how to serve it. Basically with rye toast or bread and a mustard sauce. Alvaro had also suggested (over Skype) cream cheese - the American way he said. I found a very nice tasting goat cream cheese at the Rema 1000 (the grocery store ) and that went very well. I also had found a mustard sauce but I don't think that was my favorite way to eat it. Oh, and the other thing was I think that I probably came home with 1 kilo of the fish - due to a little language barrier and the fact that i am not a good judge of amounts of things at all. So we may be eating gravlax for a few days!
After dinner the kids watched Mulan 2 which we had checked out from the library. We were able to play it on Nic's computer (my computer seems to be missing some sort of DVD decoder and it is prompting me to buy something to play DVD's - I need to talk to the boss-man Alvaro about that since this is my new work computer!) Actually, Nic had to agree to switch to another version of something that he can do up to 4 times - I think it has to something to do with the difference between US and European DVD's. After the movie the kids sucked down a box of cream puffs that I had bought at the store - they have no trouble with sweets and then they were off to bed!
Today the weather was chilly and rainy again so I thought it was a good day for the Pirbadet. I learned that the correct pronounciation is something like "pier-baa-duh "not "pier-bidet" (with the second word sounding like a bathroom item ) that we have been saying to ourselves. I managed to get the kids there by noon with a lunch packed! The pool with the big slide was being worked on, but everything else was open. We also noticed the large cruise ship which was parked outside today.
Ethan enjoyed his mushroom house as usual and we stayed for about 3 hours, mostly in the warm pools. We of course couldn't leave without getting a softis (about the best tasting soft serve ice cream that I have ever had) with different choices of sprinkle toppings and stuff. The last time I had taken the kids to the pool the softis machine was broken and I was sorely disappointed. This time we all got our own and of course Ethan insisted on a cone - after we had all gotten showered and dressed again. So it was a bit stressful as I was trying to get him to eat it quickly and stay relatively clean. He accomplished both. When it was time to go Ethan had to go home without socks and the ends of his pants rolled up as he had taken to stepping in the water puddles in the locker room upon arrival and his socks an pants were wet! There was a bus waiting for us and as usual Ethan quickly fell asleep. So I had the pleasure of carrying him home (and poor Gwyneth had to carry the bag of heavy/wet swimming stuff) as he slept. Right on cue, he woke up as we got home. One of these days he will take a full nap!
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