Norway 1: Copenhagen and Haugesund

Yeah, I know. Copenhagen is not in Norway. Bear with me.

On the Fourth of July, I patriotically boarded a plane and flew out of the United States. It was an overnight flight, but I befriended my Swedish seatmate briefly before popping a sleeping pill and passing out. When I awoke, we were 45 minutes away from Copenhagen, where I was to sit through a five-hour layover. My seatmate told me that the Copenhagen airport was only minutes away from the city center by train, and I decided to ditch the airport and go on a walkabout instead. It was certainly the best decision I've made in a while.

After being briefly confused by the train map (Scandinavian languages are SO strange), I spent 7 minutes in a public metro car and stepped into downtown Copenhagen. A few years ago, my brother and his wife once spent a weekend in Copenhagen and continue to rave about it. I could see why almost immediately. The city was beautiful and had a friendly air. It was early on Friday morning, and few people were out. About 90% of  the ones I did see were on bicycles. I haven't seen that many bikes since I was in Amsterdam. Citizens, young and old, sporty and stylishly coiffed, expertly piloted and parked their bikes, most of the time without locking them up. I guess when everyone already has a bike, theft rates are low.

The King's Garden

 I had picked up a city map in the airport with a trail of footprints to indicate a self-guided walking tour, and I set off to follow it with a few adjustments. My first stop was Rosenborg Palace. The crown jewels are stored there, but the armed guard pacing back and forth in front of an entrance deterred me from formulating any plans to steal them. It wasn't open yet, so I settled for a walk through the adjacent King's Garden, which was lovely. Next, I headed toward the river. It wasn't on the tour, but I figured there would be some pretty views and maybe a nice bridge. It was the second-best decision I've made in a while. Pretty wooden ships of all sizes and shapes were docked in the canal, which was lined with colorful buildings. After taking about 400 pictures, all of which ended up looking about the same, I went back into the city center to admire old churches, part of a university, the town hall, and scattered monuments and fountains. I did all this in just over an hour. Copenhagen is great that way. You really can't go wrong in the central part of that city. Much as I enjoyed seeing the highlights, I loved peering into restaurants and shop windows, gazing at attractive cafes, and watching happy locals greeting each other. I can't imagine anyone being in a bad mood in Copenhagen in the summer. Someday, I hope to go back and spend more than two hours there.

This is a bit dark, but I hope you can get a small sense of how cool it was.

My plane to Haugesund was packed with lanky, sinewy people in compression socks and visors. When we deplaned, they collected huge pieces of luggage containing bicycles and boarded complimentary Ironman shuttles. I was left to fend for myself and flagged down a cab, which conveyed me through emerald hillsides dotted with fluffy white sheep and neat little houses. Soon, we crossed a bridge and were in Haugesund. The town was tiny and I found it quite charming. Ed and his mother, who had been there for about five days already, were less enamored. Our hotel was filled with guests who seemed to wear their bike kits and running shoes 24 hours a day. I relaxed, read, consumed what seemed to be vastly over-priced food (things in Norway are every bit as expensive as you've heard, and there is a 25% tax on food and drinks ordered in restaurants) wandered the town, and watched Ed fret about the race.

Downtown Haugesund

Ed, looking hardcore on his bike

It turned out he had no reason to fret, as race day went exceptionally well for him, in most ways anyway. In contrast to the previous few days, Sunday morning was wet and drizzly. The enthusiasm of the crowd at the swim start, however, made me feel warm and fuzzy inside (even while I was cold and drippy outside). I think every single one of Haugesund's 40,000 residents came out to watch this race. People were waving Norwegian flags and banners and screaming their heads off. Kids were hoisted onto shoulders, and each of the two waves of athletes was started with a blast from a viking horn. I had to jostle may way through thick crowds to get a good spot on the wet hillside after the start, but I managed a good vantage point in time to see Ed exit the water post-swim just about when he'd hoped to.

With plenty of time to kill before his next appearance, his mother and I enjoyed a coffee in a cafe near the bike course and came out in plenty of time to see him whiz by on his bike. Not a lot of spectating, considering I'd flown halfway around the world to watch this race, but all that changed on the looping run course. We got to see Ed pass by five times throughout the 13.1 miles, and I hollered myself hoarse for him and for just about everyone else who passed by. I was not alone. The sides of the course were choked with screaming fans, and Ed said later that the people on the nearby bleachers were jumping up and down in time to the music so that the air seemed to vibrate with energy. It was this atmosphere combined with the many hours of training he's been putting in that gave him a fantastic finish time - 18 minutes faster than his previous best performance! He said the bike course was lined with people too, and that this was one of the most fun athletic events he's ever done. Haugesund is lobbying to host the 2015 Half-Ironman World Championships, and I really hope they get it.

Half of Haugesund seemed to be wearing the blue Finisher shirts as we walked around the town later that day. We attended the awards ceremony, where the overall winners were presented with viking swords along with their trophies. The winner of the women's division, a burly Austrian, has a long history of doping, and all the athletes who follow the sport closely were quiet when her name was called. The qualification procedure for the World Championships in Vegas is too complicated to get into here, but suffice to say that Ed ended up missing it by just two places and I think he was just a touch disappointed. The athletes in his age group were unbelievably fast, however, and if he'd finished with his time in an American race, he would have placed much higher. They must put something in the water in Europe. He was thrilled with his time, though, and so we left the ceremony happy.

I enjoyed many things about Haugesund: admiring the boats along the river, ogling the giant jellyfish, sitting on park benches, and drinking beers at 9:45 P.M. with sunglasses on because it was still so bright out. But I was ready to check out our next destination, and so after four days in Haugesund happily boarded a plane bound for Oslo.

Haugesund's waterfront