An entry in The TFS Travel Journal
First day of truly breathtaking scenery!
Ran some errands before departing. Picked up Wendy’s coconut-custard danish and some provisions at the neighborhood apotek (drugstore), where one takes a number and then waits patiently. Certainly a civilized improvement, but everything is behind the counter, including mundane sundries. While at breakfast in the hotel, we met some travellers from South Dakota who were visiting relatives and who asked if we were also. The guide on yesterday’s tour (the one who spoke like her jaw was wired shut) had also asked, and seemed to take it for granted. Norway for all those northern midwestereners must be like Israel for the Jews. . .
After getting directions from the hotel clerk (who claimed that they made it purposefully difficult to drive in this city to discourage cars), we actually made it out of inner-Oslo only having to ask for new directions once. However, I will say they have a very well developed mass-transit system of buses, trolleys, and a subway, that covers a substantial quantity of one of Europe’s largest cities by area. There was also a tremendous amount of new construction all over the place; seemed to be one of the most growing cities outside of Shanghai.
Drove and drove and drove. (They have immaculate and widely available gas station restrooms, I should add) The first few hours west out of Oslo were nice pastoral lightly forested scenery, with a few houses here and there looking like a little red schoolhouse with white trim (though larger). Then as we ascended, the towns began to cascade down into lakes and fjords. The old saying about Norway being Switzerland with water certainly has merit — we expected Norweigan Heidi to pop out and start yodeling at any moment. Atop the plateau, the landscape became undulating and quite barren, with only scrub and ground vegetation, and many small to very large rocks, dotted with dozens of little glaciers, that periodically one would see children playing on. In the distance we could see very large glaciers, which our guide book told us was where the snow scenes from Star Wars were filmed. (I guess since it’s snow covered all year, while the ambient temperature was actually around the mid 60s) There were very few dwellings, but a lot of them had sod rooves, with impressive lawns growing on them! Must be a challenge to mow. . .
We then descended into true (and legendary) fjord country. (Driving along very twisty, sometimes narrow roads shared with the occasional cyclists, walkers, and one time, a herd of cattle) Words can not describe the beauty and grandeur of the views. Enormous green valleys, with deep blue or green lakes/fjords lying glassily still at the steep mountain bases or winding around and filling every space between the mountains like wet sand getting between your toes at the beach as the water comes in. A highlight was a stop to view the Voringsfossen waterfall: Two waterfalls on opposite sides of the beginning of a mile-wide, 1000+ foot high, many-mile-long canyon. The southern waterfall dropped about 600 feet, and was wide and roaring, while the northern one was about twice as high and much narrower. Boy, did we use up a lot of film. (I guess the liability lawsuit crisis hasn’t hit Norway yet, since one can walk on a path along the top of the canyon for long distances with no rail or anything between you and the 1000-foot drop). We also bought some delicious fresh cherries from a woman selling them from her car in the waterfall-viewing parking area.
After descending through 5 rocky cave-like tunnels each with an average length of 4km, (one being 7km!) which were all actually quite poorly lighted, we caught a ten minute ferry across the Eidfjorden and drove on to Bergen. As you cruise around on a fjord, you can see the water creep around the bends and in between the mountains off in seemingly endless directions. The road hugged the shoreline with views across the fjord to some small towns up the mountains and some along the water, and always with many glaciers up and atop the steep mountains. The road was often 1 1/2 lanes, and 2 doesn’t go into 1 1/2 easily when one side is rock and the other is guard wall.
We drove the last hour or so through a steady rain and gratefully arrived at the Admiral, the best in Bergen. We were then informed that (despite having prepaid) they were overbooked and they’d get us a room in another hotel. We played good-cop/bad-cop (guess) and they finally stole a room from a group of Japanese tourists who had been chasing us all day. (Actually since the amber museum in Copenhagen, I think) The room is quite small, but has a wonderful and up-close (2nd floor) view of the harbor area — a small U shaped harbor filled with interesting ships, and lined with old, colorful wooden structures. Wendy was in need of a fix of some sort of spicy food that wasn’t fish or lamb, so we went to the best Chinese restaurant in Bergen, which is probably like going to the best Norweigan restaurant in Beijing. We had prawns, chicken w/cashews, and vegetables (pronounced “wegetables”, I don’t think they have v), but they all seemed to be in the same sauce. . .Let’s just say we got our fix. We also got to witness the most harried waitress in Northern Europe who refused to write down our order, then had to repeat it to us several times to make sure she had it right. We walked back, past a concert of a chubby guy in a tight black outfit with a rockin’ band doing “Great Balls of Fire”.
As we settled into our room, a large ferry (large meaning the size of a large cruise ship) sailed about 25 feet outside our window and blew a horn (several times) that I think woke up our cat in N.Y. ( We were also serenaded by ships and/or waterfront bars playing their stereos loudly; however, it was nice to hear some familiar American pop again and to go more than 30 minutes without hearing Hanson.) Not a good sign for a late sleep.