A Long-Overdue Affair: The Wisconsin State Fair

Last year, it finally happened. I went to the Wisconsin State Fair! Although I had lived in the state for over a decade, for whatever reason, I’d never made it to the festival grounds in West Allis until last year. Ironically, it took me to move out of Wisconsin to […]

Chicago: Keeping the Blues Alive

Today is a special day in Chicago: Buddy Guy celebrates his 90th birthday.  Although we are currently busy writing posts about Uzbekistan, this milestone-and America’s 250th year-makes it the perfect moment to celebrate one of the country’s greatest musical traditions: the blues. At his birthday bashes, Buddy Guy usually tells […]

Uzbekistan: One Conversation at a Time

We were in Margilan, a medium-sized town in the Fergana Valley, on a quick day trip when we stopped at the street market for lunch. We found a tiny café serving hot tea and potato samsas, sat down, and ordered a pot of tea with three samsas to share. As […]

Monterrey, Mexico: World Cup Edition

Back in February, we climbed Cerro de la Silla and marveled at the striking Estadio BBVA from above. There, on the hiking trail, I had an interesting thought: “How cool would it be to see this mountain from the stadium seats during the world’s biggest sporting event?” Later that evening, […]

2026 FIFA World Cup: Hogwarts vs. Narnia

Those who follow this blog know I am a big soccer fan and try to attend games in every country I visit.  This fact is even listed in my section of “About Us” on this website.  So, it won’t surprise anyone that attending the World Cup this summer was on […]

The Norwegian Grocery List

By Julia / October 2, 2024

As I mentioned in the previous post, restaurants in Norway are very expensive and Norwegians cook most meals at home.  We followed suit.  This meant a lot of grocery store trips to the point where we knew the standard Coop Prix and Bunnpris store layouts by heart.  In smaller towns […]

Norway: Table for Two, Please!

By Julia / September 19, 2024

Food has always been an essential part of travel for me.  I’ve always been an adventurous eater, from grubs to scorpions, cow brains, and alpaca.  Except for an occasional refusal to nibble on a fried guinea pig, I am usually game to try anything locals eat and always fully immerse […]

A Brown Slice of Heaven

By Victor / September 5, 2024

Remember last year we went to Türkiye and came back to write the entire post about leblebi – a Turkish snack that impressed us so much. On our trip to Norway this summer, something similar happened. And we are here to tell you about the most iconic Norwegian food item […]

Norway: It’s a Bad Day for a Hike

By Julia / August 29, 2024

Most of the hikes we did in Norway required almost zero planning.  Look up some good hikes in the area, take enough water and snacks to last the round-trip, wear weather-appropriate layers, and off you go!  The Besseggen hike in Jotunheimen was a notable exception to this rule.  It’s a […]

Norway:  It’s a Good Day for a Hike

By Julia / August 21, 2024

This is going to be our 25th post about hiking on this blog, and I don’t think we ever actually acknowledged or explained just how much we enjoy hiking or how much that influences our travel itineraries.  In fact, my own sister, to whom I talk multiple times a week, […]

Polar Plunge. Literally.

By Victor / August 15, 2024

As we moved through fjords, in many beautiful spots we saw one common type of construction-slick, modern, wooden containers, often with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the water.  Some were built on the bank of a fjord; others were floating on a jetty connected to the shore via a bridge.  They looked […]

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