Norway

My friend Joelle Moen has been in Norway for the past school year as a Fulbright Scholar. This seemed like a great excuse to plan a trip to Norway, so I and some friends from work have been saving pennies and making plans. Here's my daily journal recap of our lovely trip.

April 12

We left Idaho Falls quite early to head down to the SLC airport. We arrived and checked in with no problem. Our 10 hour flight was relatively painless because I had an aisle seat right by a bathroom. I watched four movies—Free Climb, The Hate U Give, Bumblebee, and Robin Hood.

April 13

We switched planes in Amsterdam and waited for a couple of hours. We arrived in Oslo and Joelle met us at the airport. Her sister, Jill, came in on a different flight around the same time, so she met us too. We took our stuff to Joelle’s apartment then went down to the bay and went for a ferry ride for about an hour. We then had fish and chips at a little place right on the bay and then walked home via the Storting, Opera Hall, and palace.  We all slept in Joelle’s living room and it was surprisingly comfortable.

April 14

We headed down to the train station to head out to see the fjords. The train ride was about four hours and quite scenic. At Myrdal we caught the train to Flam, which had some scenic stops. At Flam, we quickly checked into our hotel and then went on a fjord safari—a speedboat tour of the fjord lasting a few hours. We were quite geared up in overalls, etc, to keep warm. The fjords were stunning. They aren’t all green yet, but it’s almost worth it to miss the crowds. We were freezing by the end, so we stopped at a little restaurant and had vegetarian tandoori and hot chocolate. We went to bed quite early. There wasn’t much to do in Flam. I slept badly—finally feel asleep around 3 and got about 4 hours sleep.Ugh.

April 15

We got up and ate a nice complimentary breakfast. Tried some brown cheese. Then we went for a short nature hike with some pretty views. We went back and checked out of our hotel, leaving our bags at the hotel. We hiked to a waterfall. It was steep and a bit muddy but a lovely view. We returned to Flam, ate some treats from the bakery. Joelle and Jill came in on the train and we loaded the ferry to Gudvangen. I found a seat on top eventually and just enjoyed the view as we traveled through the fjords. From there, we caught a bus to Voss and a tram from Voss to Bergen. We arrived in Bergen and got settled in our Airbnb. We went to a grocery store, got some food, and ate a small dinner. Later, Anne and I walked through the park and around the shopping areas. We walked to Johanneskirk and then back to our apartment, getting home after 10 p.m.

April 16

I surprised myself by sleeping until 8:00 am, which felt amazing. My hair looked crazy from the humidity but there was no time to shower so I just did what little I could with it. Around 9 am we went to a mass at St. Mary’s, the oldest church in Bergen. It was fun to hear the organ and singing and look at the architecture. After that, we explored some of the old Bergen fortress and walked around old Bryggen and the pier. At 11:30 we met our guide Tamara and rode up the Floyen Funnicular—kind of an elevator cable car thing. At the top we got pictures and then headed on a hike. There were miles of trails, lots of lakes and streams. We stopped for a little picnic and then continued our hike. We headed back down the mountain and stopped at a pier where there was a ship building workshop. Very cute. After that, we hopped on a bus and ended up back at the park. We stopped at an outdoor café and I had some pistachio ice cream. At that point, my legs and feet were hurting so I went back to the apartment to rest for a couple of hours. I had a nice visit with Anne. Then we met up with Joelle and Jill for dinner. We went to a place which serves traditional Norwegian food and I ordered a cheese plate, plukkfisk, and carrot cake. It was all delicious and we had a nice visit and heard about Joelle’s experience here in Norway. After that we headed back to the apartment. Fun, busy day.

April 17

We woke up, cleaned up the apartment, caught the tram to the airport and got on our plane for Trondheim. Paula had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and drive us to our Airbnb, a little cottage by the sea outside of Trondheim. We got settled then caught a bus into town. We walked around the Nidaros Cathedral and old Trondheim, then ate at a café by the cathedral. I had an omelette. We figured out the bus schedule then caught a bus home. We sat on the porch and enjoyed the sunset. We slept in a loft where you have to climb a ladder and the ceiling’s kind of low, so I was trying not to feel claustrophobic. Joelle and Jill came by for a visit and left around 10:00 p.m., then we went to bed.

April 18

We got up pretty early and our driver got us into our kayak tour by 9:00. We got all bundled up in wetsuits and met another small group of kayakers from the cruise lines. I ended up in a two-seat kayak with Maren, a woman from Germany. She was a hoot. We finally got out rowing in synch and had a nice row down the Nidelva River. We paddled for about two hours, through the town, great view of the Nidaros Cathedral. It was fun paddling through the marina with all of the other boats. We got out, got all our gear off, and parted ways. We went to Deli de Luca for lunch—just a 7-11 type place, and we shopped for a few souvenirs. At 1:00, we met Sonya and a mother/daughter from Denmark for a walking tour of Trondheim. We hit the cathedral, archbishop’s palace, walking bridge, World War II Nazi remnants, and a couple of other local neighborhoods. Our guide had a lot of interesting information. We parted ways near the train station, where we used the bathroom, then we tried to find an open restaurant. We ended up eating at an Indian restaurant and I filled up on naan and stuff. We figured out our return bus and waited, bumping into a couple of missionaries while we waited.

April 19

We left our little cottage by the sea and caught the bus-train heading toward Oslo. The ride was about six hours, so it was a nice, mellow ride through some amazing scenery to get there. We stopped for a couple of hours in Hamar. Paula and I wandered down to the pier and enjoyed the sun and view and then ate at a little café. We made it to Oslo and tracked down our Airbnb, got some groceries, and had a snack. We were less than a mile from Joelle’s place, so I walked over there and visited with her and Jill for a couple of hours, and then Joelle walked me back. Our Airbnb is pretty big so we each have our own space. Two bedrooms and then I’m in the living room on the couch. It’s nice after traveling for week to have some space.

April 20

We left around 8:00 am to go get our Oslo Pass and meet Joelle and Jill at the Viking Ship Museum. It took two hours. Public transit is fun but actually pretty slow. The Viking Ships were super cool. It was interesting to learn more about that history and culture. We also had a waffle at the café. From there, we went to the Folk Museum, which had a lot of rebuilt homes from different eras. Really interesting. The Kon Tiki Museum was great. Super glad I watched the movie to understand the significance. Next, the Fram Museum which was a replica of the ship used to explore the poles. You could go down into the ship and it showed you what life on the ship was like. After that we went to a food hall and had some Lebanese food and shrimp. Finally, we went to the Vigeland Sculpture Park which was peaceful and very interesting. Got home, face-timed Kory, and then we went to bed. All in all a fantastic trip. On the 21^st we flew home.