Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

Have I ever told you how much I love you?  I love you so much that I went to your native Norway last weekend, and donated my entire life savings.  After living like a king in Prague, I thought there was no stopping me, not even the most expensive country in the world.  Woops.  The weekend in Scandinavia cost an arm and a leg.  In Copenhagen, I went to a little sandwich shop called Ida Davidsen’s and spent over $20 on an open-faced roast beef sandwich.  I didn’t even get two slices of bread.  Although, I must say, the deli meat was so good it brought me closer to the 50% of me that attends high holiday services rather than the 50% that regulars the JW in Harvey, ND. Even the Copenhagen airport was loaded with shops like Hugo Boss, Gucci, Burberry… you get the idea.  I did enjoy my stay except our hostel smelled like feet and this British guy tried to steal my bed.  On our way to Norway I read about places to eat in my Frommer’s guide and found that some restaurants cost upwards of $150 per person, so Zander and I chose nicer lodging over nicer meals and hit the McDonald’s.  The number 1 cost me 11 bucks.  We spent the day exploring Oslo, walked through a sculpture garden and saw some Viking ships.  The people were so nice, I see where you get it from.  When we were standing on the sidewalk trying to figure out the map, a woman stopped and asked if we needed help and walked us to where we were headed giving us a tour of the city along the way.  Our last stop was Stockholm, Sweden, which was surprisingly different from Norway.  We spent the day walking around seeing the sights (aka tall, blonde hair, blue eyed girls).  We also went to the Nobel museum, saw the city from a lookout and went to a nightclub/karaoke bar.  The adventure began the next morning however.  When we got in we discovered that the airport we were flying out of was a smaller airport 100 kilometers from the city, and arranged a bus to get us there.  Zander and I both had our alarms set for 6:40 am, but due to a party of Frenchmen that kept us awake at 5 am, we didn’t wake up until 8 and missed the bus.  We booked it to the train station, but missed that too.  As if i hadn’t spent enough money on the weekend we had to find a cab that ran us $110.  I managed to make it home though.  So after giving your homeland’s economy a nice boost, I thought I would let my favorite mom in the world (and anyone else reading this) know that I am currently accepting donations…

Talk to you soon.

-Michael