NORWAY
OSLO
August 16, 2016
The overnight flight to Oslo was uneventful except for one very strange thing. We checked in at a kiosk in Reykjavík but never showed our passports to anyone at all. When we got off our plane here in Oslo, once again we never showed anyone our passport. We didn't even see the customs area at all. Robin wanted to get a Norway stamp in her passport book, but it was now 6 AM and I just wanted to get to the hotel. Plus I thought that once they flagged us as not having gone through customs that we may be there a long time having to do just that. We ended up finding the station for the train, which was amazingly easy. I swiped my card, the gate opened and Robin just followed immediately behind me. I think both of us traveled on one ticket. We didn't mean to do it that way, it just happened. However, I won't complain because the tickets are $25 apiece to get to the city, which is quite far away. The train was fast and clean and very, very quiet. We have learned that they are extremely efficient here in Europe and their public transportation is far superior to anything in the US.
The overnight flight to Oslo was uneventful except for one very strange thing. We checked in at a kiosk in Reykjavík but never showed our passports to anyone at all. When we got off our plane here in Oslo, once again we never showed anyone our passport. We didn't even see the customs area at all. Robin wanted to get a Norway stamp in her passport book, but it was now 6 AM and I just wanted to get to the hotel. Plus I thought that once they flagged us as not having gone through customs that we may be there a long time having to do just that. We ended up finding the station for the train, which was amazingly easy. I swiped my card, the gate opened and Robin just followed immediately behind me. I think both of us traveled on one ticket. We didn't mean to do it that way, it just happened. However, I won't complain because the tickets are $25 apiece to get to the city, which is quite far away. The train was fast and clean and very, very quiet. We have learned that they are extremely efficient here in Europe and their public transportation is far superior to anything in the US.
We got off at our station and only had to walk a few blocks to our hotel.
It's a very grand old hotel that probably was in its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s. It's not bad, but definitely more of an old-world hotel.
Because Robin is now Diamond Platinum at Best Western, they gave us a fabulous huge suite on the corner of the building with an unbelievable view.
We are able to open the windows and watch the busy main street below. There is a jazz festival in the park and we can hear a saxophone playing.
It's actually really nice to have a low-key day and not have to do something every minute.
We found a taco place for lunch and we each had two small tacos that were excellent ($40!). I do know that Norway is one of the most expensive countries in the world. Iceland is not far behind... but we are certainly finding that it is really expensive here because we are in a downtown touristy area and not at rural gas stations eating hamburgers.
We decided to walk around Oslo at dusk and stumbled on this amazing section called Tjuvholmen.
It was a HUGE development with condos, office space and restaurants.
It was an architect’s dream site because of the unique and varying modern structures.
I also must say that Norwegian sure do like their sculptures!
Voss, Nærøyfjord, and Flåm
August 17, 2016
A very early start to our day. We had to be at the train station by 8 to start our Norway in a Nutshell "tour". Someone decided to call it a tour even though it is only 12.5 hours of public trains, buses and boats. However, it is through amazing fjords as we make our way to Bergen.
The scenery was spectacular during the first train ride.
Next we boarded the famous "old" train to Flam. Because I read so many negative posts on TripAdvisor, I knew that people were rushed from one mode of transportation to the other and would fight over what side of the train to sit on for the best scenery.
All of the posts made it seem like it was going to be a "survival of the fittest" kind of day. But it really didn't turn out that way at all. People weren't really fighting to get on nor were there any problems. The train ride was billed as the "most scenic train ride in the world."
It probably was that, except that we were frequently going through tunnels. So… when you came out of the tunnel and tried to take a picture, before you could snap one you were back in the tunnel! You had to be quick on the draw to get your picture.
We stopped at a waterfall and were allowed to get off the train to take a picture. What was interesting about this stop was the music coming from the area near the top of the waterfall. It was a haunting song with a female voice. We had no idea why they would pipe music in the middle of nowhere. However, the couple sitting across from us (from Dallas) surprisingly had the answer. The man was a big, muscled, tattooed guy that informed us that in Viking lore a woman would sing to lure the man to the edge of the waterfall until he fell off. Who would've thought....!
After 45 minutes on the old train we boarded the boat. We lined up so that we were at the front of the line to get a good seat on the third deck.
Robin was able to get great seats on the third floor facing the back of the boat with unobstructed views.
The boat ride was just visually stunning!! There are no words for it.
The fjords towered above us on all sides and I particularly loved some of the little villages that were in the valleys.
I sat there most of the time just feeling the essence and the magnificence of the field.
The bus ride was also very pretty but the most amazing part of all was that the bus driver had to maneuver 13 switchbacks down the mountain. I thought it would be a little more frightening than it was but the lady in front of us exclaimed "oh shit-oh shit!" every time we came up to the wall as we were turning. When we got to the bottom, everybody clapped and cheered. I guess I couldn't see that well or maybe I would've thought differently.
Next was another train station. We ended up having another hour to wait for the train and thankfully we had our ever-present box of crackers and our warm cheese. That ended up being dinner again. I've never eaten so many crackers with cheese in my life. I think I'm going to rename this "the hamburger turned cheese-and-crackers trip".
In the town of Voss where they bottle my favorite bottled water.
After 90 minutes we finally reached Bergen where it was very foggy. It was now after 9 o'clock at night and we had to walk to the hotel. I accidentally threw away the printed map in Iceland. Thankfully I had dropped a pin on a Google map for the hotel and we just walked towards the pin. My map had no street names, just gridlines. We arrived and were given a very small room with a wall outside the window and people smoking down in the alley below. It was so strong that it was as if people were smoking in our room. Robin asked that we be moved but we had to wait until the next day.
Bergen
August 18, 2016
Bergen is a coastal town of about 275,000 inhabitants and is quite picturesque. I don't know how many pictures I took of the famous multicolored wooden buildings on the waterfront but that is definitely the most well known landmark in Bergen. So much so that I even have a T-shirt now!
We came back to our hotel and were upgraded to a large, fabulous room on the top floor.
In the afternoon, we decided that we would take the funicular up to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city. The line was quite long, but if we bought two pastries and a coffee along with our tickets at a nearby bakery we could go to the front of the line.
It was a very quick ride to the top but the view at the top is spectacular.
The line to come back down the mountain in the funicular was even longer. So we walked the 2.9 kilometers back to the city center.
The trail wound its way through the shade of the woods, which was welcome in the warm sun.
Tonight we decided to take a walk down to where they were doing a free concert with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. It was in a giant square that is in a central location and near our hotel. The symphony was doing the 1812 overture and there were probably a couple thousand people there. It was awesome to watch the orchestra and just sit on the park bench on this beautiful clear night listening to symphony music. I guess we've been lucky that we’ve had free concerts both in Oslo and Bergen. An excellent way to spend a summer evening!
Oslo and Bergen are very different from each other. Oslo is a bustling, white-collar, cosmopolitan city with businessmen in fashionable tight-legged pants and pointed shoes. Bergen is definitely for tourists. It’s more the middle-aged and senior fanny pack crowd. Apparently there are 450,000 cruise ship passengers a year in Bergen as it is a major port for the fjords.
We knew that between the hours of 11 AM and 4 PM there would be thousands of people as the cruise ship tourists descend ashore like ants. I don't know if I favor one city over the other; they're very different from each other.
Bergen has really darling restaurants and shops.
Like other tourist destinations, they all seem to have the same items in them. Here it's Nordic sweaters...
... as well as gnomes and elves.
Time to head back to Iceland for our return home!