Norway Trip of a Lifetime

Monday, May 26, 2014

Dreaded Trip home...

So today is the dreaded travel home... I am honestly not ready to go home and could stay a bit longer! I know we will be back so I can look forward to that hopefully in the future. Our flight from Oslo is to leave at 10am which is 3am back home. We got up about 6:15am which would be 11:15 pm home time. EEk We wanted to have plenty of time to have breakfast and get over to the airport. I am someone who would rather be early and sit around than rush. We got through with no problems and were plenty early for our flight and just hung out and waited. Our plane took off on time which they do not mess around over here. When we flew from Bergen to Oslo also they were right on spot and did not miss a beat. We flew from Oslo to Frankfurt Germany and only had about an hour layover so once we arrived we didn't have much time. Frankfurt is a HUGE airport once we arrived we got off on the tarmac and took a bus to the main terminal. Our next segment was one I was not looking forward to as it was a 10 hr flight from Frankfurt to Denver. We flew on a 747 which was the biggest plane I have ever been on. We ended up sitting in the middle row which had 4 seats and there was also 2 side rows which held 3 among first class and an upper deck. The ride was LONG and I did not really sleep much. I watched about 3 movies and a couple documentaries. We got 2 meals, snacks, drinks and 2 sets of hot towels. We were to arrive in Denver around 3:35 and only had 1.5 hr layover which is NOT alot of time when you have to go through customs. By the time we got off the plane and were in line for customs it was already 4pm and we still had to claim our bag and recheck it and get to our gate. I told Jared we are going to have to RUN! We got through customs with no problems were able to get our bag and recheck it. Denver is also a big airport and of course the terminal we had to go to was clear on the other side. We also had to go through security again and then get on the tram to get to our terminal. We were in a little panic mode since it was already 4:30 and our flight was to leave at 4:58 and I am sure they were already loading. Our terminal was Z94 I had Jared run to the gate and let them know that we were still coming since I had a hard time running with my full backpack and carrying a bag. I finally arrived at the gate and the doors were already closed and the lady had already put 2 people on the plane in our place since we were not there. She did go get them off since we arrived but they were able to get back on since there was 2 extra seats. It was kind of a fiasco and she had to print us new boarding passes since the one we had was printed in Oslo and had all of our destinations on it but anyway we got on the plane. I was a sweaty mess from running and just glad to be on our way home. I told Jared I bet our bag does not make it to Fargo since we barely made our flight I doubt it will. Well we finally arrived in Fargo and guess what NO bad big surprise. There was no one at the airport anymore only the car rental people so we just got in a taxi and headed for home. We arrived home around 9pm and were exhausted!! What a long day. Thankfully Monday is Memorial Day so we both do not have to work. We had an awesome trip and I cannot wait to go back!!!

Bathroom at the Oslo Airport!

Bye Bye Oslo

Hello Frankfurt

Our 747 that we took from Frankfurt to Denver

Bad pic but inside the 747 very tight quarters and no elbow room.

Bye Bye Bergen

Today was also a beautiful day and our last in Bergen. We had breakfast at our hotel and set out on the town again. It is Saturday and we headed to the downtown area where the fish market is which was hopping! Obviously on the weekends they have alot going on in that area. There were tons of booths set up with different kinds of foods and more trinkets. There was a booth that was making thick pancaked with different toppings, a sausage stand, burger stand and different cheese stands which we got to sample. It was lively and people everywhere enjoying their Saturday morning. We walked around a bit looked at some of the ships at the dock and walked through and old Bergenhus Fortress which was a place built to protect the port of entrance. We did not do the tour but just walked around and looked at the cool old brick building. We went back to Bryggen and did a little more shopping and then headed to the fish market for lunch. So many delicious choices!! As we walked around each vendor tried to lure us in giving us their spiel on what great things they had and were able to get some king crab samples. YUM We both ended up getting food at the same place and I had seafood curry and Jared had a seafood mix plate that had about 5 different kinds of fish on it. All of the fish is fresh and they cook it all right there. We sat and enjoyed our lunch and watching all the people buzz around us. As we were sitting there we could hear the sound of drums in the distance and they kept getting closer. Pretty soon coming down the street was young gentleman in uniforms holding flags and marching down the street. Everyone gathered as they passed by on the street and traffic was stopped on the one side and they paraded down. I wasn't sure what it was all about but looked it up and it is a tradition in Bergen and it was pretty cool to see and so random. I posted a video below.

We then slowly made it back to our hotel to get our bags that we left in the store room. We were going to take the bus to the airport and get on our flight back to Bergen. We got down by the bus stop and just hung out in the park like everyone else. I just love Bergen and Norway in general and the feel of the people and surroundings. Everyone seems so relaxed and just enjoys the days! I have never taken so much public transportation in my life. We did rent a car for a couple of days but the rest of the time used the bus, train or our own feet! Everyone walks everywhere or uses public transportation and not many people own cars and if they do, they are not huge gas guzzlers like most Americans. I was thinking as we were sitting there wondering how people with families go places and pack their small cars?? Maybe we have too much stuff? I know if I go to the cities for the weekend with my girlfriends we have a hard time fitting all of our stuff in my small SUV. Anyways I just love the feel of Norway and the people and their laid back sense. Everyone relaxes in the park and just truly enjoys the outdoors. I am going to try and take a little bit of Norway back home with me and use my feet more and enjoy the parks we have around our house! We got on the bus and headed to the airport for our flight. The flight to Oslo was less than 2 hours and it seems shorter than that even. I got out the ipad to type some on my blog and I swear I didn't even get a paragraph written and she was telling me to put it away. I rented a hotel at the Oslo airport so we could just get up in the morning and walk over to the airport. We ate dinner at the hotel and got all of our stuff prepared to leave tomorrow.... So, tomorrow is the dreaded travel home day!

Bryggen

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Bergen..Love

Bergen...the city of steep streets, cobblestone streets and the smell of fish. Not really the whole city but especially around the fish market where their is no shortage of any kind of fish. We started the day out by walking through the open fish market and taste testing some local fish. There were some questionable fish that looked pretty gross. We then headed over to Mount Fløyen which is an over look for the city of Bergen. At the base which is located in city centre u can either hike up one of the many winding trails or take the fløibanen funicular up which is a cable car. Of course I wanted to hike up and take the funicular down. I always tell Jared we have to work hard to earn our great views. The trail up was absolutely gorgeous with plush green trees, shrubs and grass. Along the way there was plenty look out spots and benches to take a rest which, Jared took advantage of. The trail winded and twisted and was full of walkers, runners and people just enjoying the beautiful day. Once at the top u got a panorama view of Bergen and the harbor. There is also a gift shop and restaurant at the top if u got hungry on the way up. We sat at the top took some pictures and just enjoyed people watching. We decided to take the funicular down which was quite the view also. We were able to get in front of the cable car so I could take some good pictures as we descended down to city centre. We then decided to head over to Bryggen that is along the harbor and is the very first buildings that were in Bergen. There is shops in most of the buildings but also restaurants and a night club. We did manage to find a store that had a whole upper floor dedicates to Christmas!! Jared's favorite. We were able to find a nice ornament for our travel tree. We walked around a bit more had a small bite and some coffee. We went back to the hotel relaxed for a few and freshened up before dinner. Sushi was on the radar for dinner so we went to a placed called Sumo. So far everyone has been really nice and accommodating and most people speak English and have English menus. We enjoyed our dinner which was delicious and the place was really busy. Headed back to the hotel and grab our wine and glasses to head to the park. It is not easy to get alcohol in Norway since the liquor stores are owned wholly by the state. They are called Vinmonopolet and u can get hard alcohol, wine and strong beer and are only in larger cities which we never did see one. They sell beer at the grocery stores but can only be a certain alcohol content and sold at certain times. Luckily our room had a bottle of wine we could purchase so we took that and 2 glasses and headed to the park. The lady at the tourist info center told us the most Norwegian thing we can do is drink wine in the park so, that is what we did. There is always a ton of people relaxing in the parks and is always fun to see. We sat in the grass drank our wine and enjoyed the beautiful sunset and the sound of the water fountain.Great end to the night. Tomorrow we will be in Bergen again but fly back to Oslo tomorrow night.

Top of Mt. Fløyen

Riding down on the Funicular

Dinner at Sumo

Beautiful water fountain

Drinking wine in the Park

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Last stop Bergen

So today was our last day in the storybook land. We got up packed our belongings and headed to train area. We have to take the 11:05 Flåm Railway and catch the Bergen railway in Myrdal. I had already purchased our train ticket to Bergen so we needed to make sure we got there. When we got to the train station we first went to go buy our Flåm ticket since those cannot be purchased ahead of time and when we approached the counter I saw on the board that a couple were cancelled. I just maybe thought there was not enough people but, when we told the gentleman we needed to purchase and 11:05 ticket he said it had been cancelled. Apparently there was a rockslide on the mountain and they had crews up there working on it and was not sure when the next train would take off. So small panic moment as I already purchased our other tickets and there is no way to get to Myrdal other than train or walking. Ya lets lug our suitcase up the mountain in the rain...NOT So, we just waited for another announcement since he was not sure yet if the 11:05 would come. Well that got cancelled. We went and spoke to the gentleman again and he explained they would be bussing people to Voss and we can then get on the train there to Bergen. So, we waited for the time to load the bus and was the first ones on so we could sit right in front for a good view even though it was raining out. Well here we are on a big tour bus and Jared and I are the ONLY ones!! We took off and went through even more beautiful country and a tunnel...not 1 mile not 3 miles but 6 miles!! EEK It was alright but wow that is a long tunnel. I also decided I don't really like riding in a BIG tour bus on small mountain roads! Our driver was super nice and gave us some facts and information as we passed certain places. And we told home we were from Minnesota and he said he has family that lives there. Fun times. We finally arrived in Voss and immediately went to speak to a clerk since we were an hour early and there was another train leaving for Bergen soon. She was very nice and let us get on the train which was just the local train but got us to Bergen even quicker. We arrived in Bergen and just took a taxi to our hotel. We were a little early for check-in so we just sat in the lobby and surfed the web. After we checked in we check out and found a little pasta place to eat dinner. So far Bergen looks beautiful and can't wait to explore. I think the vacation is starting to catch up to me as I was tired and wanted to go back to the room and relax. So that is what we did and watched a few movies. Tomorrow we are going to check out the sites of Bergen and go out for a nice dinner on our last night! Also, I did not take many pictures today since it was rainy so they wouldn't turn out very well thought the windows.

Only peeps on the bus

6 miles tunnel

Busted!! Texting and driving

Waterfall we saw on bus ride

Bergen Rail Station

Storybook Flåm

Don't think I need to write much for today because my pictures will tell the story. I cannot believe how beautiful this place is. When I got up and looked out our balcony sometime in the morning a huge cruise ship had docked and what a beautiful site. We headed to breakfast and then decided to head out on a hike to Brekkenfassen waterfall. The day was a little dreary but wore my rain jacket and brought ponchos. We headed out and followed the directions on the map it said about 1.5-2hrs round trip. We came to a part where there was a sign for the waterfall and a gate going into a pasture with tons of sheep. Jared and I were a little confused but walked through the gate and invaded the poor sheets pad. They were scared of us so didn't get to close and the mammas were keeping a close eye on us and their little ones. We continued on as the terrain got steeper and rockier and if it wasn't for the few red markers on the trail if u wanna call it who knows where we would be. As we got closer the view just kept getting better. There were small waterfalls and stream all the way up and a few we had to cross. As we got closer you could hear the roar of the waterfall which meant it had to be right around the corner. We did finally reach the top and it was literally right around the corner. All I can say is wow!! We were about half way up the waterfall on an outlook and the view was like something out of a storybook. We were the only ones up there so we took a few pics and just took in the beautiful scenery. we then headed back down which was much easier and made our way through the sheeps pad. We found another trail close to our hotel and were able to get a different view of the town. We had laundry at our hotel so we decided to do a load which you would think was easy? I guess if u can't read the controls u have no idea what u are doing. We were able to get kale aka cold water but put the soap in the wrong place so I guess they are as clean as they will get for now. Drying... Well some of our clothes are still not dry because we gave up. We tried many settings on the dryer and it would dry them for a bit and then we heard water and would open the dryer and steam would come out. Still don't know why it did it but we gave up and hung our clothes all around our room. We decided to eat at the pub for supper which looked like it had a great menu. Jared had the Pork shank with potato purée and veggies and I had the Viking burger with roasted potatoes with blueberry cream and honey glaze. Both of our meals were amazing along with the service. As we were sitting there 2 guys came in and sat down at a table kitty corner from us. As Jared and I were talking I kept looking at this guy and thought he looked familiar and was sure I knew him. As I looked more I realized it was a guy Eric who was from Pelican Rapids and I graduated with his sister! I walked over to him and asked him If he knew where Pelican Rapids was and he got this dumbfounded look on his face and said I grew up there. It is so funny how small this world is. He lives in Bergen but has a buddy in town from Minneapolis who was with him and showing him around. Jared and I just shook our heads all night thinking about how crazy it is. Tomorrow it is off to Bergen.