norwayyesway2018-blog

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Day 13: Oslo to Toronto (heading home)

I woke up early today, as I knew I would. Breakfast at this hotel was fabulous!!! Sooo much variety and everything was great!

I headed to the train station (did the route correctly this time) and then on to the airport. I got to the airport early so I had a lot of time to look at the shops and I found the brown cheese Norway is famous for!! It’s really good, but it’s a little hard to get over the colour- you feel like you are putting something bad in your mouth!

The trip has been fantastic!! I would highly recommend a visit! Hard to say what my highlight was - I really liked the interior - the cabin at Andalsnes, the kayaking on the Geirangerfjord, the Skylift and hiking and Loen, the Airbnb at Aurland, the fjord safari cruise at Flåm and of course Trolltunga (once it was done!) But it was all great!!

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Day 11: Bergen

We didn’t get going too early today, then decided to do a walking tour of Bryggen (the old town). The weather again was lovely - I don’t think we will get to see the grey, rainy Bergen that is the norm.

Our guide wasn’t the best, he wasn’t that comfortable with his English so I did get confused at some of the information. Basically the city started as a trading port and the town was destroyed by major fires at least 4 times. It was a very busy and important port that was essentially run by Germans, a post of the Hanseatic League.

The main trade was codfish which came down from the north and was dried before export. The Hanseatic League and thus, the Germans, were so influential in the town the king “gave them” the oldest church in the city (it dates back to the 1100s) which still stands today. It wasn’t given by choice but the League threatened to cut off trading routes if certain amenities weren’t handed to them. In the 1800s it was given back to Norway.

After our tour we headed up Mt. Floyen via the funicular (train up the mountain). The views out over the city were beautiful and you see how large the suburban areas are. Bergen is considered to be on the ocean but there are so many outer islands between it and the ocean, you really don’t get an ocean view. There are seven mountains surrounding Bergen, maybe you do from one of those.

At the top there are a lot of hiking trails, playgrounds for kids, a small lake to canoe on, picnic areas, restaurants and a very docile goat family!

Our next stop was the fortress - but there wasn’t much there at all and it wasn’t really much of a fortress, besides a few high stone walls.

It was then time for a glass of wine (or two!) In the beautiful sun.

A bit more walking around and a little bit of shopping and then a really good Italian meal finished off the night!

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Day 10: Odda to Bergen

We definitely slept in after our hike yesterday, not getting up until after 9. We headed down for a good breakfast (at least that something good about this hotel), packed, and were on our way. It was pretty driving along the fjords but quickly we headed more inland- sad to say goodbye to the fjords. We stopped at a waterfall that you could walk behind then headed straight for Bergen.

We had lots of difficulty finding our Airbnb as it was situated down a garden path in like an alley way. The tiny homes are so closed together here! We are on the top floor, literally the attic, in a very small room. It’s cozy though, and the common areas are quite nice.

It was down this garden path:

Then the greyish blue house on the left

We headed out to explore the city, heading first to the famous fish market and then to the old town of Bryggen. We wandered around the harbour and then headed backwards to the fish market for dinner.

The fish market is a big deal here and they sell all sorts of fish! The crabs (which come down from northern Norway) are huge! The large monk fish look kinda scary and not appetizing at all but are apparently delicious! We picked a nice restaurant and had a lovely meal . I had crab of course and Alisha had sushi.

This was my appetizer:

We then wandered the town a little more - it was late but of course not dark! It had started to drizzle during dinner - grey and rainy - that’s the true Bergen! Then we made our way back to the house for a restful sleep.

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Day 9: Trolltunga!

So today was the big day. Alisha’s real purpose for coming to Norway! (I’m just here as eye candy-haha!!). So with my bum ankle, sore right knee and newly really sore left knee I’d said I’d join her!

Norway is home to many Troll legends. Trolls are huge, revengeful, man-eaters and not very smart at all. One Troll story we were told was of two trolls trying to see who could dig a deeper hole. One gave up but the dumber one kept going. The ocean waters then flowed in drowning him- you can see his fingers as he reached up trying to save himself in the picture below:

Trolls of course turn to stone in sunlight. One troll however didn’t believe this and was mocking the sun, sticking his tongue out at it just before sunrise, but as legend has it, he was wrong, turned to stone, snd now thousands of people each year hike to stand on his tongue.

So the hike is 28 km there and back but the first 3 km Is up a switchback road. There is parking at the top (which takes off the first 3 km, 6 km in total) but there is only enough room for 30 cars. I was determined to get a spot as I was more concerned about going DOWN the road after 22 km with my knees. So we got up at 5:00 am , left about 5:15 and were 13th in line!!! YES!. Parking was $90!!! But the lower lot was $75 anyways (for a hike-geesh!)

So off we set, Alisha was carrying a lot of weight- her camera and tripod adding to her load. It was cold at first, I even wore gloves at the beginning but of course the hiking itself warms you up! I thought the first part was pretty good, relatively flat, the ground was very dry and rocky, plus I was excited! But too quickly that changed; it was up and up and down and up and down - not at all flat. Alisha thought it was easy, I definitely didn’t think so!

The rocks were very jagged and very easy to trip over. As soon as you gained elevation, you went down again so just had to climb back up! The last 2 km to the tongue were the hardest for me - it just seemed like I was never going to get there!!

Then we finally arrived at the tongue and this was the line up:

It took three hours before it was our turn to be out on the tongue. The crowd was very friendly and didn’t hassle anyone about how long they took. Some people even did costume changes!! (Alisha was supposed to send me a picture to put in here!)

One family had their baby and another little one about 2. They did a family shot then the 2 year old started walking away until they quickly grabbed him (and the crowd breathed again!)

The hike back went much faster than we both thought it would. Again it was up and down, and one part in particular, a smooth rock face, quite steep, that we had hiked up was a killer for bad knees going down.

We gave a couple of guys we had met in the line up a ride down from the upper car park so they didn’t have to walk the road. They were heading back to Gothenburg - a 10 hour drive - so one could catch a 8:00 am flight to San Francisco! Truly people come from all over to do this hike.

Overall the hike took us 12 hours but that included the wait to get out on the tongue. Not bad!

We headed back to the hotel, both of us took a long hot shower then we headed to a restaurant we found outside of town for a filet mignon dinner. As we were leaving the restaurant, I guess we were hobbling down the stairs because this man said “Ahhh trolltunga knees!”

It was then straight to bed with no plans to get up early tomorrow!

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Day 8: Aurland to Odda

Traffic Jam!

With the big hike being tomorrow we knew today would be a quiet, fairly uneventful day. The drive was supposed to be 2.5 h but turned out being much longer!

I let Alisha sleep in a little and we had a good breakfast and then started our journey. We were gong to do a little hike to a waterfall, but when we got there it was closed:(

Most of the roads we have been on have been along fjords or through mountains, not major highways like at home. Most are two lanes but very often the road goes down to about 1 1/2 lanes. The roads are very winding, very high up, often with a cliff beside you. The speed limit varies usually about 70 km going down to 50 km through villages which are frequent. So on our drive today we were going through a stretch where the road was quite narrow and cars were coming up. We often had to stop and wait where the road seemed a little wider to let someone pass. Well we were behind a bus (a tour bus) when a camper van was coming up. The bus reverses, as we do and the two cars behind us, but then...Well to make a long story short they both got stuck. So we’re sitting there for quite a while at a literal impasse. The line up of cars on both sides is getting bigger and people are starting to get out of their cars - probably to see what the hold up was but as we were the first car behind the bus we knew what was going on. So a couple guys get off the bus to direct the bus driver, other guys are directing the camper; the bus driver clearly didn’t want to move at all. We couldn’t see his front end but he had about 3 inches between him and the guardrail at the back. So he moves forward a touch, then back, then stops, then back, then pop! He takes out the right side little light at the back. Now he doesn’t want to move at all. But still no one can get by. The camper guy he really doesn’t know what to do, there’s a bit of a ditch on his side but he won’t go in it as everyone is trying to get him to do. So after some more time the bus pulls forward and swiped the back side completely against the guard rail. The camper finally goes a little bit into the ditch and we all get by!! Then there’s a transport truck!! So once again the bus stops. Now it looks like they are going to hit at the top front driver side. So we go through a similar ordeal, no scrapes this time though!!

We finally get to Odda and check in to our rather expensive hotel. It was not worth the money at all!! I wish we had have gone to an Airbnb :( We changed rooms for a better view, (our first was of the parking lot) but there was no fridge, no ice machine anywhere, no little bottles of shampoo, no coffee/tea maker, not enough towels, and our shower leaked all over the floor! (It wasn’t supposed to- many washrooms in Norway the whole bathroom floor is the shower; there is no separate stall. But the floor grades so the water goes into the drain. This wasn’t like that. We picked this stop to be close to the hike tomorrow - we have to get up at 5 as it is- and to have a little bit more luxury, but by far the other places we have stayed have been way better.

We then took a walk around the town looking for a restaurant and there is really nothing to see and no where to eat. There was a fast food place, a bar that served chicken nuggets (and was about to close and reopen at 9:00 pm) and a middle eastern restaurant that didn’t know if it as middle eastern, Thai, Norwegian or American and didn’t look so hot. So we went to the grocery store to pick up food for our hike (some fruit and granola bars) and went back to the hotel to call it a very early night. We ate some food we had with us for dinner (peanut butter sandwich and cereal) as we didn’t have a fridge anyways) and went to bed. Not the most nutritious meal for our hike tomorrow.

This is the only picture I took today, essentially the view from our hotel:

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Day 7

Part 2

Next it was time for our fjord safari! We took this out of Flåm which is about 8 km away. We were suited up in float suits, given a hat and goggles, and off we went in a large zodiac! It was a nice day so we were a little hot in all our gear, but once out on the fjord It was much cooler. We were told the water was about 6 C. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about the area.

The pictures from the boat are a little crazy as sometimes we were moving pretty fast!

Here our guide was explaining how the people run their farms in these parts. They basically have a main farm near the water then a spring farm further up the mountain then a summer farm further up and even a high mountain farm even further up. This allows the sheep/goats always to get the best nutrients from the grass where the snow had just melted. He also told us herds are moved around to different areas by boats. The sheep are pretty good at climbing up but not always good at getting down. It’s not uncommon to hear a sheep rescue call going out. Also the sheep are well trained to come when called so he takes the boat over to where they are, calls them and they all herd in to be moved!

The farm below (you have to zoom in to see the white building near the top) became abandoned around the 1970s. In 2004 an American working in the area bought it and has turned it into an eco hotel. You have to hike up to it- there is a trail but your luggage is lifted up by a cable system. Everything you eat there is grown on the property. Apparently the cost is doable / maybe next time??

We also learned that the mountain farmers used child harnesses. When the kids go out to play they wear a harness that will actually allow them to go over the cliff if they get too close and fall. They then have hang there until the workday is over and they are brought up. They learn pretty quickly to stay away from the edge!

When Norway found oil in the North Sea the country set a social system to use money to help people in all areas. One of the towns we passed in the boat had a population of 13. The people were fed up of avalanches and rock slides stopping their children from going to the nearby school and essentially the town being “cut off”. So they told the government they told the government they needed a tunnel built and one was built for the town of 13 people!

It was then back to cook up some pizza and take some “sunset” pictures (the sun sets a little lower as we a little further south but still it’s pretty light out all night).

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Day 7: Gaupne to Aurland and Flåm

Part 1

One of the things I had wanted to see in Norway was a stave church. As we found out today, there used to be over a thousand in Norway and actually some in other European countries as well. Now there are only 28 remaining and they are all in Norway. So which one to go to was basically decided by which was closest to our route. So the winner was the one at Borgund. This was apparently a very good choice as it is the one that was most preserved over the years. This is basically because the people in the area were so poor so while other communities were building new, updated churches, they had to maintain their own old one. The church is covered in a black tar made from pine sap and ashes (and they still do it that way today), to preserve the wood. The four main pillars or staves, are original dating back to about 1180. Changes have been done to the church over the years but the overall design and much of the carvings and designs have remained intact.

So we passed through many tunnels today - getting quite used to them, even 6 or 7 km long. Although knowing you have a whole mountain on top of you is a little disconcerting. Well, as we were getting close to Aurland we entered into a 25 km long one!!! Every so often (every 7 km or so) it got a little wider and there were blue lights lighting up the walls- I guess for for a distraction from the monotonous drive?

We decided to head up to the Stegastein Lookout before we checked in to the Airbnb. It was a pretty treacherous drive, lots of switchbacks and only one lane so pretty precarious when cars are coming in the other direction. Alisha was driving but then when we had to stop she made me take over. She was doing fine just doesn’t like those heights! The view at the top was beautiful but we were expecting a cafe or something there and there wasn’t anything besides a lot of people!!

We then headed back down, stopped at the grocery store and checked in to the Airbnb. It was actually just off those winding roads we were just on, not too far up but high enough to have a lovely view (lovely place too).

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Day 6: Hjelle to Loen to Gaupne (Sognefjord)

The day started with a lovely breakfast at the hotel. Your typical Norwegian breakfast is bread, meat and cheese so there was a lot of varieties of those, plus bacon, eggs etc. We then headed out driving across the lake and down the other side.

This was the only night we didn’t have a place to stay booked. We were hoping to get another night at the hotel or that there would be a cancellation at our next place but since neither of those happened, we found a nice Airbnb in Gaupne. We weren’t really heading there but it wasn’t really out if the way.

So the drive today essentially took us around (literally) Jostedalsbreen National park, home of the Jostedalsbreen glacier.

We were interested in seeing the glacier, but the timing of the excursions wasn’t working out. Anyways we decided to take the Skylift- apparently the steepest gondola in the world! - up Mt Hoven in Loen. It was in the park but not where the glacier was - I thought maybe you could see the glacier once you were up there (you couldn’t). The vews were beautiful!!! We did a small hike of about 4 km around the mountain top. There were quite a few long hikes you could do and you could see bright orange shirts in the distance climbing way up neighbouring peaks. Norwegians hike just like they build roads or tunnels - anywhere!! Another group were base jumping from the top although we missed seeing them.

So on the way down in the gondola we saw people doing the via ferrata. Jeff and I did the one at Mt. Tremblant but this one looks crazy!! First you literally walk half way up this super steep mountain, then you start the ladder climb!!

Leaving Loen, we decided to head to our Airbnb in Gaupne, cook up a nice pasta dinner and relax for the evening! So the whole time we were up the mountain I’m searching for the glacier and any large mass of snow in the distance I’d keep saying to Alisha do you think that’s part of it? (Yep she was getting annoyed.) Anyways as we were driving along we suddenly saw it and right away you could tell it was definitely the glacier! There were no photo stops or anything and actually it was behind us as we drove but we managed to find a place to stop for some pictures! To get to the glacier you actually take a route further on closer to where we are staying.

Our accommodations turned out to be wonderful with a lovely garden to lounge in the evening heat!

PS The book below which was in the Airbnb really does sum up the Norwegians pretty well- especially the western ones where over the years life was very difficult. I wouldn’t say they are unfriendly but they do not go out their way to speak to you, or even make eye contact. If you end up talking to one they are lovely and of course the Airbnb owners are particularly lovely. But as the book mentions, they are VERY private people and really don’t feel it is their business to mind your business. They won’t offer to help if you are struggling with directions, or trying to translate things in a supermarket, simply because they don’t feel it is their place to intrude. Of course, some are friendlier, like the guy who told us parking was free after 4pm when we couldn’t figure out how to pay after several trials and tons of people kept walking by us! But when they say Canadians are friendly they really aren’t kidding!

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Day 5: Part 2

The Sultor: This is about where those rocks fell last spring

It then time to head to our stop for the night. Leaving Geirangerfjord we got some nice photos as we climbed up and up:

Just gorgeous landscape everywhere! The pictures just don’t do it justice!

We made it to our hotel - a lovely little spot in the mountains- in time to shower and enjoy a really nice dinner. The rest of the night - it was 9:30 by the time dinner was finished, was just spent taking pictures and relaxing

The lake reminded me a little of Lake Louise.

So those mountains across the lake - we ended up hiking around the top of the very right ones (actually probably a bit further down of the shot) tomorrow.

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Day 5: Alesund to Geirangerfjord to Hjelle

Part 1

Probably our prettiest drive so far!!

We headed inland from the coast into beautiful weather (it was a little grey in Alesund). These Norwegians will literally put a road anywhere!! They either tunnel through the mountain even 5 or 6 km or they put in a series of crazy switchbacks or they build bridges! There is nothing that can stop them!! So after several ups and downs we arrived in Geirangerfjord.

As you can tell, there was a cruise ship in the harbour. It looks nice from up here but blocked the view of the fjord once we got down.

Geirangerfjord is at the centre of the movie “The Wave”. It’s about the town being hit by a tsunami when part of the fjord collapses into the water. Although it is fictional there is a large chunk of mountain they are monitoring as it is felt it will someday fall in and create a disaster. Actually last spring some rather large rocks fell in a different area and created a 1 m wave that took out some docks in the town!

So we had a nice picnic lunch on the shores of the fjord and decided to go kayaking. We decided to go in a two person kayak by ourselves rather than with a group/ tour guide. It turned out to be a great decision as the group that left just after us never made it to the seven sisters waterfall like we did! The whole time though I was worried, but kinda hoping the cruise ship was going to leave (it didn’t). It was a really good paddle and so scenic. We even saw jellyfish in the fjord. And there are farms way up from the water- I don’t know how the people ever managed to get to them.

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Day 4: Andalsnes to Alesund

Another day of gorgeous weather!

We left behind the beautiful town of Andalsnes, filled up with gas ($2.40 /L) and starting heading towards the Atlantic Ocean Road. We both wanted to see this but knew it may not be worth the drive out there.

Today was our first ferry ride. There are so many routes in the country that require ferries, you really can’t avoid them. They are however, very well run, you get on and off in record time, so it limits waiting. But, they are quite expensive! Today was our first time taking a ferry. It was $24 for a 10 min crossing!

The Atlantic Road consists of 7 bridges that link together outer islands to the main land. It is about 8 km long, although there are other smaller bridges joining some other islands and the Atlantic Ocean tunnel that goes to Kristiansund. (We didn’t go that / just the 8 km stretch). The engineering is really cool and the Norwegians are very proud of it. It was opened in 1989 and was a toll road until 1999. In bad weather, waves often crash right over it. In some ways it would have been cool to see it in rougher seas, but we had beautiful blue skies.

It was then straight in to Alesund, 2 1/2 hours away. Rather then go to our Airbnb we decided to explore a bit so thought we would head up to the observation tower overlooking the city. There are 418 steps you can climb up but we kinda made some wrong turns and ended up driving the crazy roads -right to the top. It was super cold and windy at the top and the clouds had rolled in, but the views were fantastic.

We decided to hike the Sukkertoppen (sugar top) mountain. It is in the picture above on the left (yep right to the top). It wasn’t quite as bad as yesterday’s hike but still pretty steep and of course harder coming down. The view from the top was really nice, the town of Alesund and the outer islands.

It was then time to check in the Airbnb and after a quick dinner we strolled around the city. The town was completely burnt down in 1903 and then totally rebuilt. The buildings, most of them from around 1905, are of a very Nordic architecture and colourful. With it being a Monday night it was pretty quiet, mostly just tourists strolling about.

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Day 3: Trondheim to Andalsnes

Trondheim to Andalsnes

We changed our plans for the next two days opting instead for two 5 hour drives rather than a longer one and a shorter one. So today we looped down from Trondheim and headed to Andalsnes. Tonight we are staying at a cabin and I’m really excited about it!

The drive wasn’t too scenic until we got closer to our destination. Basically a two lane highway, speed limit about 80 km/h and LOTS of roundabouts (the country literally has no stop signs) through town and of course a drop in speed to 50 or 60. So that means a drive of 200 km takes well over 3 hours.

We stopped in Dombas to pick up some groceries- saw our first “big” troll here.

We decided to go to Trollveggen (the troll’s wall) and Trollstigen (the troll’s ladder) on our way to the cabin. After going through an odd almost barren stretch the scenery started to become just beautiful!! Jagged snow topped mountains along a beautiful blue river. Then we suddenly saw a sign for Trollveggen - we didn’t realize we were here because actually it wasn’t that impressive! It’s the highest rock wall in all of Europe at 1700 m. Unfortunately a lot of climbers and base jumpers have died trying to conquer it and there is a monument there at the visitor centre. The area isn’t set up too well for good photos and at the time of day we were there the sun wasn’t helping at all.

Next it was on to Trollstigen. This was really cool - it’s just a crazy narrow road up the side of the mountain with hairpin turns and in many places just a few boulders as a guard rail. A large waterfall cascades down the mountain as well. Alisha was terrified! At the top there is a visitor centre and some viewpoints for photos. We wandered around for bit taking pictures (of the sheep too that were paying no attention to the precarious rocks). Then headed back down the road (Alisha thought that was a little better) and to our cabin which was very close by!

So the cabin we had for the night was in a tent/trailer park right outside the town of Andalsnes and right on the fjord. I thought the cabin was great! Well equipped and really cozy! The washrooms were a little walk away and there was no running water in the cabin - but a large jug- but hey I’m used to “roughing it” camping, right? Haha!! I can’t believe I didn’t take pictures of the cabin :(

Alisha wanted to do the Rampedtreken hike which starts right in the town and ascends pretty much straight up for 500m . Well she didn’t actually tell me that’s what we were doing. So off we go on our first hike. It was brutal! I mean I know I’m out of shape but the whole time we’re scrambling over toots and boulders and in many places there are chains to help you get up and I’m thinking how am I ever getting down with 2 bad knees and and a less that perfect ankle? Well I told get to go in ahead and as I slowly made my way up - it was literally climbing - not hiking by the way, I’m thinking I should just forget it. Well I ended up not going to the top (Alisha did) and yes it was terrible coming down.

So a few Advil later we sat on our porch eating a lovely salmon dinner Alisha made enjoying the view all around us!!

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Day 2: Oslo to Trondheim

We got up early this morning as we had to catch a train which wasn’t difficult as basically the sun never set. I was even up in the middle of the night and it was so bright! Good thing we both brought eye masks! Unfortunately mine fell off somewhere near 6:00 am. Anyways we headed to the train station to board our 9 hour train to Trondheim with a 3 hour stop in Roros. We were pretty loaded down both of us having a backpack, daypack and Alisha having her large suitcase!

The scenery along the way was nice, more rugged than around Oslo, but not spectacular as I’ve heard it is from Oslo to Bergen. We didn’t expect much from Roros, knowing it was an old mining town but it was actually cute and interesting. We put our packs into a locker at the station but it wouldn’t hold Alisha’s case! So we started walking with it then luckily found a hotel that would hold it!

There was really only one Main Street but it had shops and cafes with outdoor patios. We had really good (big) lunch at one of them and then wandered around some more. There was a church I thought I’d snap a picture of and we when we went up to it a wedding had just finished! One part of the town was very old set up like a museum explaining the mining they used to do there (copper mostly), lots of log cabin homes and buildings, and piles of rocks from the process that everyone was climbing up to see a view of the town. Then it was back on board the train to head on to Trondheim.

Once in Trondheim we picked our rental car and headed to our Airbnb. Unfortunately we kept hitting toll roads which they have a lot of here and you don’t even realize you are on one until it is too late (maybe speaking Norwegian would help too).

Trondheim was much larger than I thought it would be. It has a very scenic old part with painted buildings and cobblestone streets. We wandered around quite a bit -it was late but really who knows with the sun here! The town was quite lively around the harbour - all the restaurants packed! Everyone sits outside in the patios even if it’s chilly; most restaurants have fur throws on the seats and provide blankets. I thought the town seemed quite wealthy from the stores and the gorgeous (big!) boats in the harbour. We settled in a small cafe for a glass of wine. I asked for a Spanish coffee but he had no idea what it was! It was then up the very steep streets back to our room for a good nights rest!

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Day 1 - Oslo

So after an uneventful flight I am in Oslo with May beautiful daughter Alisha. (So nice to see her after the last few months!)

My first experience with these crazy Scandinavian prices was the worst coffee I’ve ever had ($5!!) it was in the Copenhagen airport, my connecting airport. There was a lot of shopping there but again prices were crazy! I looked at a small (non designer) umbrella and it was $60!!

Once I got to Oslo I took the train to Oslo S the central station in the heart of the city. The whole process was very easy, even customs which were virtually nonexistent besides a very quick passport stamp in Copenhagen. It was then a short bus ride and some walking with my extremely heavy backpack to our Airbnb. The apartment is cute on the fourth floorbut the washroom is outside and down a flight of stairs! Odd, but it actually works ok!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day: beautiful blue skies and hot but not at all humid. This weekend was also pride. So there were lots of colours and lots of people! We sat down at one of the MANY patio restaurants, Egon, similar to a Kelsey’s, Jack Astor’s or Earls. Our meal came to $120 and that was with no appetizers and only 1 glass of wine each, so definitely more than I’d pay at home.

We then headed down to the harbour and walked around to the Opera House. It’s a really neat building and you can walk up the roof of it. (Check out the pics below). After that I was pretty tired (jet lag I guess) so we decided to make a night of it as we have an early train to catch tomorrow!

[norwayyesway2018-blog]

Day 1 - Oslo

So after an uneventful flight I am in Oslo with my beautiful daughter Alisha. (So nice to see her after the last few months!)

My first experience with these crazy Scandinavian prices was the worst coffee I’ve ever had ($5!!) it was in the Copenhagen airport, my connecting airport. There was a lot of shopping there but again prices were crazy! I looked at a small (non designer) umbrella and it was $60!!

Once I got to Oslo I took the train to Oslo S the central station in the heart of the city. The whole process was very easy, even customs which were virtually nonexistent besides a very quick passport stamp in Copenhagen. It was then a short bus ride and some walking with my extremely heavy backpack to our Airbnb. The apartment is cute on the fourth floorbut the washroom is outside and down a flight of stairs! Odd, but it actually works ok!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day: beautiful blue skies and hot but not at all humid. This weekend was also pride. So there were lots of colours and lots of people! We sat down at one of the MANY patio restaurants, Egon, similar to a Kelsey’s, Jack Astor’s or Earls. Our meal came to $120 and that was with no appetizers and only 1 glass of wine each, so definitely more than I’d pay at home.

We then headed down to the harbour and walked around to the Opera House. It’s a really neat building and you can walk up the roof of it. (Check out the pics below). After that I was pretty tired (jet lag I guess) so we decided to make a night of it as we have an early train to catch tomorrow!

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So it all starts Thursday...so excited!  I’ve packed and unpacked and packed again.  I think I’m ready....well...Let’s say I will be by Thursday!