An entry in The TFS Travel Journal
A beautiful, sunny day for our first big Nordic hike. Went to the market to buy provisions for the hike: two half-sandwiches of freshly sliced salmon (with 10NK extra for extra salmon), two 50gr. containers of caviar, orange and black, for about $9, some bakery treats, water, and Milton’s beloved Lion Bar. Finally got a cab and went to the Ulriken cable car. Took the 8 minute harrowing ride up, and began The Hike That Was Two Hours Too Long.
At first it was perfect; great rolling hills with above-it-all views of the city, the water, and endless mountains. Then there were hours of climbing, sometimes steeply, often over very rocky terrain. We stopped for our salmon and caviar picnic lunch, and then continued hiking along flat, sometimes rocky paths. We then descended, sometimes quite steeply, for an hour or so. All along having the periodic feeling that we were not on the right trail, as their trails are not marked frequently enough, and the official map was basically useless. Then we ascended for (what seemed like) a few more hours, up very rocky paths.
It had been sprinkling on and off for a while, then as we completed the last ascent, it started raining more and the wind really picked up, and we were not sure if we were on the right trail. Fortunately, we then started descending on a flat, gravelly road. We walked this road for about an hour or so until reaching the top of the Floyen Funicular. We decided to pass on the walk down to town and instead rode the funicular. All in all about a six-hour hike. We slogged home through the rain, stopping only at the Rimi for Wendy’s precious ice tea. With the sailfest appearantly over, the harbor now looked deserted, and it made us realize how so much of the vibrancy we’d been enjoying was temporary. At least the evening was much quieter in terms of noise, music and revelry emanating from the harbor. (though we kind of missed the pop music scene and the call-and-response, my tone’s better than your’s activities of the ship horns)
It took about 30 minutes in a very hot shower to eradicate the chill from our muscles. We were in no mood for walking around looking for a restaurant, (since all the rocks had made our feet feel like several drum solos had been performed on them) especially with the glacial (ha, ha) pace of their service, so we opted for the dinner buffet at the Hotel. Turned out to be surprisingly tasty, or we were too delusional to accurately judge, and we enjoyed copious plates of their pasta, beef, some real vegetables, and the winner, fresher than fresh salmon (we passed on the ubiquitous boiled potatoes). Then on to the desserts, which were mainly custards - lemon, caramel, chocolate, berry, and egg, all of which Milton really helped himself to. Then it was back to the room to pine for our chiropractor and massages and collapse.