Nuts in Norway part deux

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel on Friday morning we packed sandwiches for the road. Three complimentary meals is a deal that can’t be beat. Another bonus of staying at this hotel was the tower. The front desk encourages people to get a key to a mini-museum and spiral staircase that leads to the top of the main tower of the old building, from which we had a full view of Bergen and vicinity since the hotel was right on the fjord in the Bryggen area.

Should have taken the boat back to France

The Norwegian name for wharf, Bryggen is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord. The wooden buildings are the only remaining group of their kind; they are of the famous kontorer architecture built all over Europe by the Hanseatic League. The city of Bergen was founded in 1070, and the area of the present Bryggen constitutes the oldest part of the city.

The wooden kontorer buildings

We crossed the street to the waterfront fish market at Torget to sample their fares, and in the end were convinced to buy some river salmon to take back home. There was salmon marinated with garlic, smoked salmon, ocean salmon and river salmon, and the choice which to purchase was hard, as all the samples were delicious. But our wanderings had to end, as a glance at the clock showed we were cutting it close to catching our train back to Oslo.

Free samples pay off for the fishmongers

The train ride back was as fascinating as the trip west; although we were seeing the scenery for the second time, it gave us the opportunity to notice details we had missed, and catch up on some sleep. This train also had a different set-up, there was a family car with a playground for children, as well as a bigger café car which provided more room for exploration by Lauris. We were happy to be back in Oslo, and even happier to see our waiting hosts. They had prepared a delicious dinner and we enjoyed their company late into the night.

Saturday morning brought another wonderful meal; Brigita had prepared pancakes. This may have been the reason we got a little bit of a late start up to Frognerseteren, a 19^th-century eatery perched on a mountain-side overlooking the city. The building is in Viking style architecture with the “dragon-style ornamentation.” We sampled the famous apple cake, and took a table out on the patio with a view over Oslo. The sun was warm on our shoulders, and it was reluctantly that we left for our hike down the mountain to Holmenkollen.

A sunny 29 degrees C in Oslo

There has been a ski jump on the hill overlooking Oslofjord since 1892, but this particular one is famous from the Olympics. Modernised several times, it continues to be used for international competitions and from the top there is a 360 degree view of Oslo and the surrounding countryside. Although beautiful, there was a long wait for the elevator up and back down, and in retrospect we might have been satisfied with watching a skier practice on another jump on our hike down; when there is no snow, the jump is covered in turf, and with sprinklers they are able to simulate winter conditions. Snow or no snow, after seeing the size of the jump as well as how steep it is, even in the landing area, I believe ski jumpers have to have to at least be a little nuts.

France has rugby, Norway has ski-jumping

Returning to the city, we stocked up on supplies for our evening’s barbecue in Vigelandsparken. One of the most visited sights in Oslo, the park was designed by Gustav Vigeland, a sculptor who worked on it for almost forty years but died one year before its completion. It contains 227 granite and bronze sculptures… of life-sized naked human forms. From the famous screaming pot-bellied baby to entwined lovers to the giant monolith of writhing bodies, it was really… something. The sunny grassy areas were filled with families barbecuing, playing soccer and rugby and enjoying the wonderful summer weather. We had a delicious dinner, sitting outside on blankets in the evening light. Back at home it was the Norway-Portugal soccer match and another evening of great conversation and company. 

Lauris admiring the Vigeland sculptures

Sunday morning we were fed another wonderful meal before being escorted to the train station to catch the train that would take us out to the airport. Although the trip home was difficult (see the post on CDG and ORLY airports), I look back at our trip with satisfaction:  happy with what we were able to accomplish, and with a better idea of what I would like to visit and see in the future.

Nuts in Norway part une

Wednesday afternoon we flew to Oslo, Norway’s famous capital located on Oslofjord of the east coast. Our good friends, Viestarts and Brigita, had helped us with our planning from the beginning, and we were in for four days packed with sightseeing and Norwegian hospitality. For a long time now, we have known that we had wanted to see one of the famous west-coast fjords; but with our limited time I was at a loss for how to accomplish this until Brigita suggested “Norway in a Nutshell.”  It worked out as perfectly as was possible, and although we spent two days away from Oslo and our hosts, the tour made the most of our limited time.  We were able to take in several of the biggest hits of the region, if only superficially and along with hundreds of other tourists.  With Lauris and only two days we unfortunately were not the ones hiking and kayaking the miles of fjords – but we took pictures of those hearty vacationers, and probably had more hot cappuccinos.

Not the biggest rock in the fjord

Early on Thursday morning we were fed Norwegian lox on toasted bagels with cream cheese,  which, along with a hot mug of coffee, almost convinced me to abandon all travel plans. But Viestarts urged us on, escorting us in the early morning to the train station. We arrived with plenty of time to pick up our Norway in a Nutshell trip tickets at Oslo-Central and catch our 8:11am train, which would take us west from Oslo to Myrdal, on the Oslo-Bergen train line. The trains were half the trip; the sights visible from the windows were incredible, and I believe traveling by train is one of the best ways to see a country. We quickly left Oslo behind for lush, green countryside. As we climbed into the mountains we started seeing snow, and by the time we reached Finse (alt. 1222, the highest station on the Norwegian rail system) we were surrounded by snow covered tundra, frozen lakes and jagged mountain peaks. The train took a 10 minute pause in Finse, enabling passengers to hop out and photograph the Hardangerjøkulen glacier before speeding on west.

Top of the Norway rail line

Four hours and forty minutes after leaving Oslo we stepped off the train in Myrdal, with a quaint little rail station, a few dozen houses scattered about, and not much else beside the surrounding mountains. Tourists, ourselves included, were already snapping waterfall and mountain pictures.  We had not had a bite of the hot dog or sip from the hot chocolate from the station by the time the connecting train arrived, but we boarded, made ourselves comfortable and soon the train was off, following the Flåm river valley down from the mountains. According to the Flåm railway, almost 80% of the railway line has a gradient of 55% and it travels through 20 tunnels for a total distance of six kilometers. Of these, 18 were excavated by hand. The scenery was breathtaking although we were made to really feel like tourists, especially when soon after the narrators described a Norwegian folk tale of sirens, that supposedly appear to travelers and lure them with their beautiful singing into the wilderness and probably to death, we witnessed a dancing spectacle off in the distance at the first waterfall stop, dancers appearing and reappearing to the sound of an enchanting little number.  Luckily the conductors, whistles in hand, successfully lured us back to the train.

All aboard!

In Flåm (pop. 500) we had 45 minutes, which delighted Lauris as he took advantage of a children’s playground before boarding the Maimiti, on the Aurlandsfjord, a branch of the world’s longest fjord, the Sognefjord. We never actually traveled on the Sognefjord, but cruised north until the Nærøyfjorden, on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which we followed southwest to Gudvangen. The boat ride was pleasant, and each direction one looked – the views unbelievable. In addition to the towering sheer cliff faces and tens, probably hundreds of high, cascading waterfalls, there was also the boat to explore. With three decks, a café, enclosed and open viewing areas, Lauris had plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, and two hours later we were sad when the boat ride was over, although excited about the next leg of the trip.

The family boat trip

In Gudvangen came the first hiccup in the Norway in a Nutshell tour; about one hundred passengers scrambled from the boat to board the one NiaN bus, and as we were probably last to disembark and obviously saw we would not fit, we wandered around the village for a while keeping an eye on the tourist crowd running hurriedly to every arriving bus. Roberts kept me calm, and exactly as he predicted, two more buses soon pulled up, and the last 15 travelers had a whole 50-person bus of space. Instead of heading directly for Voss, the bus took a detour and we soon found ourselves winding down the Stalheimskleiva road, the steepest stretch of road in northern Europe. 13 hairpin turns with great views of the Sivlefossen and Stalheimsfossen waterfalls with Laurīts blissfully asleep! This bus tour, colored by the driver’s slow precision turns and dry humor, was a highlight among the highlights.

Commandeering a Viking vessel

Voss is on the same railway line we were first on, from Oslo. We boarded the train for the last stretch of our journey that day, arriving in Bergen to a cold drizzle. Also on the UNESCO World Heritage list, it is the second largest city in Norway and is often called the “Gateway to the fjords.” Tired from the very long day, we hurried from the rail station to our hotel, leaving all sightseeing to the following morning. Although we had missed the complimentary dinner by ten minutes, the concierge had the chefs prepare some sandwiches for us, and thirty minutes later we were sprawled on the bed, eating gourmet sandwiches and watching TV. A very long day, but worth every second! And our compliments to Choice Hotels for making a tired, rain-covered family experience delight – missing a dinner deadline but still proposing to prepare sandwiches.