First, some general things about my trip to Norway. I wish I
had written after each day, but that ended with day 1, so I will give you some
overall impressions and then a day by day summary of the major activities. This
was a phenomenal trip. I have been wanting to go to Norway since 6th
grade, and now I’ve finally been there. Every day was filled with beautiful
scenery and wonderful food, but most importantly I think, wonderful people on
the trip. Some I had met before and got to know better (Ida, Hutch, Tory), but most I only met in the airport. I really
enjoyed ending every day snuggled up under my comforter on the couches in the
hostel lounge talking with my new friends. I had such a wonderful time.
Saturday
I woke up this morning at 4:45, the beginning of this
journey. It was rather early, but I was excited, and it didn’t feel too bad.
Carsten had offered to drive me to the airport, so we climbed into the cold car
and headed off. Getting a boarding pass and going through security was a
breeze, but then we had to wait 3 hours until our plane left (why did we have
to get there at 6, almost 3 hours before our flight?)The flight was nice, got a
bit of sleep. On our descent, we were greeted with lovely, beautiful views of
lakes and fjords and mountains and quaint little towns. We landed without
incident, and had a 3 hours bus ride from Bergen to Flam. There were nice views
with waterfalls, mountains, and lots of tunnels under mountains. We moved stuff
into the hostel, then headed to lunch, and then on to a (rather chilly) tour of
the fjord. It was two hours, and very lovely. Bus ride back, and then buffet
dinner, with lots of food. Total pictures so far, 93. Now just hanging out, going
to play bananagrams, maybe cosmic wimpout.
Sunday
This was a long day. It began with
breakfast at the restaurant that would serve (almost) all of our meals during
our time in Flåm, which had a super great breakfast buffet. My standard
breakfast on this trip was two pieces of fresh bread with raspberry jam, two
soft boiled eggs, three pieces of bacon, some fruit, some pepper slices, and
several glasses of apple juice. Yum Yum! At 9 we all (except James…but that’s
another story) boarded the Flåmsbana train for a roughly 1 hour ride up into
the mountains, climbing ~860 meters in 20 km and passing through 20 tunnels.
Then we walked through the valley all the way back to Flåm. It took about 5
hours, including a lunch break, and afterwards we were all ready for some
dinner and relaxation.
Monday
On Monday we had no formal plans
until the afternoon, so after getting our rented bikes at 10, we split off into
groups. I headed with a number of other people to hike up to a waterfall we had
seen the previous day. After accidentally passing it, we managed to get to the
right place thanks to a helpful local. The view of the valley and fjord from
the waterfall was nice, and the hike was well worth it. After coming back down
we biked over to the neighboring town of Aurland, where we had lunch by the
water and checked out a glass blowing store before returning to Flåm for our
fjord safari. We all donned brightly colored suits and climbed into the zodiacs
(some too enthusiastically…Hutch twisted her ankle). It was a great experience,
skipping around in the zodiacs was fun in itself, and we also got to see some
seals and porpoises and learn about some of the sights we passed as we made our
way through the fjord.
Tuesday
We began with a group activity,
biking up to Otternes farm, a site that had been occupied by a few families of
farmers from the 1700s until the 1990s, and was then purchased and preserved by
the municipality. Our host Lilah told us about life on the farm, and we helped
her to make traditional brown goat cheese, which is dark and sweet, and is made
from what is left over after normal goat cheese is made (maybe like cajeta…)
Lunch at Otternes was fabulous as well as mostly local. After lunch I and a few
people decided to do what a group had done the day before…bike up to the
Stegastein look out, a 7.5 km ride
uphill the whole way, with the prize for reaching the top a lookout spot about 650 meters (2130 ft) above the fjord. The ride up was very, very hard (granny gear almost all
the way, at some points more walking than biking) but I felt very accomplished,
and if the view didn’t make it worth it, the 12 straight minutes of coasting
back down did. That evening we had a beer and aquavit tasting at the local
brewery (I tasted. Still don’t like alcohol). After dinner I spent a bit of
time outside enjoying the starts on my last night in Norway.
Wednesday
We again boarded the 9AM Flåmsbana,
only this time we continued on a different train, stopping briefly in Voss
before getting to Bergen. There we took a funicular to a place with an
excellent view of the city, and then had about an hour to walk around before we
had to get to the airport. From what I saw, Bergen is a lovely city, and I
would return if I had the chance. I was sad to leave Norway, but so happy to
have been there, and looking forwards to my German adventure with my host
family.
Thursday
Back from Norway, on to Hamburg! We
left at 9 and made it to Hamburg around 2:15. We got settled in our hotel, and
after some struggles, first with buying a train ticket, then with withdrawing
money from an ATM (I had to help out and use my card…I think my host dad was
embarrassed) we made it to the harbor, where we went on a boat tour. It was in
German, so I only understood some of it, but I enjoyed seeing the mix of old
and modern buildings on one side of the river, and the giant ships and docks on
the other. After the tour we had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Nil, then
headed back to the hotel for a few rounds of Cosmic Wimpout before bed. I’m not
sure what exactly tomorrow has in store, but It will probably be awesome. So
now I must sleep.
Friday
We had a nice breakfast at the
hotel before heading out. Instead of taking the train we decided to walk so we
could see more of the city. It was pretty cold and windy, but not unbearably
so. On the way to our first destination (the miniature wonderland) we stopped
at a store that had lots of Halloween costumes, but also some flags, so I
bought small German and Danish flags to add to my collection (my host family
said the Danish flag would probably be more expensive in Denmark, and since it
I will be bringing back other things from here, it was not a big deal that the
flag actually was bought in Deutschland). When we made it to the miniature
place, we were worried at first because of the big line outside, but it turns
out that was for the Hamburg Dungeon next door, that looked like it was some
sort of Halloween themed place. The miniature place was really, really awesome.
Look for some pictures and maybe even a video or two once I sort through them.
It was great. We then walked down one of the oldest streets in the city,
stopping to eat at an Italian place. Halfway through the meal when who should
walk in but Brianna (from my core course ) and Emma (who I have met at least
once before). What a crazy random happenstance! From lunch we continued on to
visit a tall church tower that was all that remained from the church that had
first been burned and then bombed. There was a nice view from the top, but
probably not worth the price of admission, seeing as half of it was blocked by
scaffolding. We stopped for pastries, then Jeppe and I headed back to the hotel
to rest/get some work done while the others went to check out the Kunsthalle.
We had a late dinner at Subway, because no one was feeling like anything nice,
then more cosmic wimpout before bed. Today we headed back home, and after
enduring a seemingly endless amount of stop and go traffic, and a quick stop to
load up on cheap junk food, soda, and beer just on the German side of the
border, we made it home. It was a great week of travel!
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