The Broughtby's European Adventures

  Here I bring you the first ever jointly-written Broughtby's European Adventures blog. Since this trip was just Ryan and Sam, I relied on Ryan for content, and Ryan relied on ChaptGPT for the actual writing. Then I came in and edited to actually sound like the way we talk vs. ChatGPT's corny jokes, weird assumptions on how we act as people and strange formatting choices. 😜 I kept some of it purely for entertainment purposes. So here goes: While Sam and Ryan jetted off for their guys-only adventure in Bilund, Denmark, I had a blissful weekend at home. More Legoland photo here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mzYdk3Fe2xbgPBZ78 Destination: Legoland Billund + Lego House + Lego Masters Academy Travel mode: Ryan-led logistical operation (translation: one unnecessary airport sprint and one very well-timed lounge stop) Cast: Sam the Lego Engineer, Ryan the Lounge Strategist, Christine the Peaceful One at Home This whole weird section above (☝) is directly from ChatGPT and I promis...

  Our final leg of the Scandinavia journey was Norway. We started and ended in Oslo but much of our time was spent exploring the fjords and smaller towns.  More Norway photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Lo5sFgQF2ScPYkV8 Wed, 8/20 – Stockholm → Oslo We flew into Oslo later in the day so only enough time for a little exploration and dinner.  One impression I have of Oslo is the social activism, not just with this small protest about fossil fuels, but the general vibe (i.e. graffiti).  All very calm but lots of opinions! The Tiger statue outside the train station. Thu, 8/21 – Oslo → Bergen Not much time in Oslo before we began our exploration of Norway.  This was the most stressful part of planning the trip and why I delegated it to Ryan. It involved piecing together various transportation modes and he thrives in planning trains, buses and water-related transportation.  It was a complex puzzle that mirrored the popular "Norway in a Nutshell" ...

  Mon, 8/18 - Helsinki Even though Helsinki was only a day trip, I felt it deserved its own blog post.   More Helsinki photos here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/E8UopombY1QpFZdD9 We traveled to Helsinki by cruise ship spending 2 nights on board.  It was a nice, small ship so easy to get on and off in Helsinki. First Sam and I wanted to go on the  SkyWheel   ferris wheel because we learned about it watching the Finland episode of "Europe From Above".  One of the cabins is a "SkySauna" - an actual wood sauna.  We did not take that option given it is quite expensive and it is a minimum of 1 hour.  I cannot stay in a sauna for 1 hour! We had lunch at a traditional Finnish restaurant ( Restaurant Savotta ) and then met our tour guide to get the most of our limited time in the city. The tour and guide were "interesting" (said in the "British" way as Sam would say).  We were the only ones on the tour and it seemed a bit inconvenient fo...