This is the first post of my two part blog about our visit to Norway! If you are looking for information about our train ride on the famous Bergen-Oslo railroad, click here!
Two weeks ago today, we were in Norway for a long weekend – the first time ever we visited Scandinavia! It was a wonderful opportunity, since I’ve loved that part of Europe from afar for a long time. Now that I come to think of it: it probably started because of Astrid Lindgren’s excellent children’s books. I loved those books; unruly children, big forests, snowy winters, berry picking in the spring, being outside in nature… Much later in life, I came to love Scandi-noir, the atmospheric TV-shows, books, and movies full of intrigue, set against the backdrop of Nordic society, like this, this and this one. I also love the simplicity and quality of Nordic design in home ware, kids’ clothing and such.
Yes, I know Scandinavian and Nordic are broad terms, and there are certainly differences between Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. But it’s how Norway ended up high on my “countries to visit” list.
A well-travelled colleague of mine, told me about her trip along the Bergen-Oslo railway one night over drinks. She told me it was one of the coolest things she had ever done. I made a mental note, because, coming from her, this really meant something.
A month ago or so, Michael was checking out places for our next trip, and I thought: it’s May, most of the snow must be gone by now, and Norway is probably very beautiful in May! Fortunately Michael was on board with the idea, so tickets were booked – we would fly in to Bergen, stay there for 2 days, hop on the train to Oslo, and after some exploring, fly back home from there. We watched a lot of youtube videos on the Bergen-Oslo train ride (or the other way around), and were really looking forward to our journey. We decided not to take our daughter this time, since we would only go for 4,5 days. Being on a train for 7+ hours, on top of the flight to Norway and back, seemed too much to put an active 2 year old through.
My parents, who love her to bits, were happy to have her – although they were a bit iffy about the duration of her stay. I sometimes forget they are getting older, and their health is not always that great. Also, she is getting bigger, and faster by the day. Running around after a recalcitrant toddler, and possibly having a couple of sleepless nights in a row because of toddler fears (Crocodiles! Foxes! Tigers!) to boot, isn’t easy for the most energetic of us. But we had a good talk about it, they welcomed her with open arms, but I promised not to spring it on them anymore like that.
We left home very early, the day of the trip, and it was all very hurried. I didn’t even have the chance to wash my hair, and departed with greasy hair, pinned back with some of Yuna’s barrettes. But as always: the moment we were at the airport, and through the security check, it felt like we were on holidays. Michael had booked one aisle seat and one window seat in a row of three, in hopes that no one would book a seat in between. This didn’t work out as planned at first, and an older gentleman wiggled himself in the seat in between us. The plane was pretty crowded, but I think he found it a bit too cozy, and managed to change seats. So we had an extra seat, to put all the magazines I never manage to read our stuff on, and sit comfortably. We arrived before we even knew it, it went so fast!
Our first impression of Norway, so much space, and the light was magical!
At the airport of Bergen, we rented a car, and first drove to our Airbnb to check in. Our host had a fairly big house in a suburb of Bergen, and rented out some of the rooms. She was very welcoming and talkative, kind of a soft spoken free spirit. The small room looked nice and clean, with a big balcony, where a bowl of strawberries was waiting for us on the table.
The weather was very good, so we decided not to chat too long and head out to our first destination: the Hardangerfjord (we didn’t agree on the pronunciation of fjord, but it’s /ˈfjɔːrd/). It was about 80 km to reach the fjord, but the way there was spectacular, with lots of mountains, waterfalls and cute wooden houses. We even stopped at a random parking spot, to admire the view over a lake (or was it already part of the fjord? I honestly don’t know, because the thing is so huge you don’t know where it starts or ends)
We’d already read that Norway is a very pricey country for us foreigners, and actually seeing the prices made us aware that it was worse than we thought. This wouldn’t be our normal happy-go-lucky-lunch-and-dinner-anywhere-that-looks-good trip. To manage our budget, we were going to buy most of our foods at the supermarket.
We went for a stroll, and thought: no wonder everybody looks so athletic, they walk up and down hills all the time to get to their houses!
So, as soon as we reached the Hardangerfjord, we went to a “Joker” supermarket in a small village called Omastrand, to buy some lunch. Ok, also because I needed to pee verrrry urgently (they had a toilet upstairs I could use, whew!) Coincidentally, just opposite the Joker, there was a stunning view over the fjord, and fields full of spring flowers. There we ate our sandwiches sitting on a little wall, surrounded by chickens. Yes, really. It was that idyllic.
We spent the last part of the afternoon in Bergen, near a very old part of town, Bryggen. We loved walking around in the golden sunshine, looking at the old wooden buildings. We were already looking forward to the next day, when we had the time to properly explore the city.
I’m going to leave it at that…..for now! If you’re curious about our next day of exploration is Bergen, and our gorgeous train ride form Bergen to Oslo, stay tuned! Be sure to subscribe to our youtube channel, and comment!
-Anna
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