I've fallen in love...

...with Norway.

I spent 5 fabulous days on the 63 parallel in the incredible country of Norway with my good friend Karin. It was an experience I will never forget - Norway has found it's way into my heart and isn't going anywhere.

We flew together out of Berlin, and let me tell you! It was such a treat to travel with someone this time :) We had a short layover in Oslo, which was where I first experienced the joy that is Norwegian money. They have coins, with HOLES in them! How cool is that?!

Next, we hopped on the plane to Trondheim and were picked up at the airport by Karin's mom. Trondheim is a lovely city, which I discovered when we went to dinner in the tower restaurant. It's got a revolving floor, so you get a 360 degree panorama of the city.

Trondheim is located on a fjord too. Not the really steep walled, in between mountains sort of fjord, but more open. That didn't make it any less beautiful. Plus we got to watch the sunset as we ate.

Next part of the journey was a car ride home. It took a couple hours, but that was ok. I was more than content to look out the window at the scenery flashing by. Norway reminds me a little of Canada actually, and it was a lovely mixture of home and something completely new and strange.

I love the houses in Norway. They're all blue or red or yellow and it makes me heart smile to see them. Then you add the snow and the mountains... *smile*

Karin

It's great - my last day in Poland was about 20 degrees and there was zero snow to be seen. Then I flew to Norway, and although it wasn't cold... well you can see for yourself how much snow is still on the ground!

Day 2 was a beautiful morning - blue skies and sunshine. I got distracted after getting out of bed and spent about 10 minutes staring out the window before I remembered that I was putting on my socks.

What with the great weather, we decided to drive to the little town of Røros. (p.s. how fabulous is that letter?!) It was a copper mining town at one point in time, and the mine has now been turned into a museum. On top of that, there a streets with cute little houses, lots of artists with shops and eclectic cafés.

Some of the older houses still had grass roofs. And apparently lean a little...

That's the Røros church in the background and the colourful Norwegian houses in the foreground. Are you starting to understand why I fell in love?

Heading back home, we stopped to take a picture of one of the oldest stave churches in Norway. It was built sometime around the 1100's. They're called 'stave' churches because of the giant posts that carry the weight of the building. They're also built without the use of a single nail.

I'm smiling, but the sun is hurting my eyes... aaah

We still had a good chunk of the afternoon left to enjoy after arriving home. What better option is there, than to sit outside on the porch with a cup of tea and a good book? (that was a rhetorical question by the way :) with a view like that there is no better option! Can you understand now why I got so distracted in the morning?)

R & R

Day 3 was unfortunately a rainy day. It was about 0 degrees and the clouds couldn't decided if they wanted to rain or snow. So they did both, off and on all day long. But since the national pastime of the Norwegians is to go cross-country skiing, I wasn't about to let something like rain and terrible snow conditions stop me! Especially since I'd never been nordic skiing before.

It didn't take me long to find that perfect form:

this is how the pros do it, right?

We weren't too optimistic as we were setting out - mushy snow + fog + rain + a first-timer = "let's give it a whirl and see how far we get"

We got far.

Here we are, on the mountain trail 7km away from home. We met up with a friend of Karins and popped in for a visit - after signing the trail book nailed to a tree of course!

Wood fire, cozy chairs, hot chocolate... How 'bout now? Can you feel the love yet?

Day 4 was a trip to check out the Norwegian fjord scene. First, we drove to Sunndalsøra - and there was really low cloud coverage and snow pretty much the whole way. Not so helpful with the whole "gazing up at the mountain top" plan I had. But we found a little tiny patch of blue sky while looking for a nice place to eat lunch. Can you find it?

Karin then tossed out the best advice of the day: "Follow the blue!" So we did, and it paid off :)

Because of our detour, we also made it to Ålvundfjord and Surnadalsfjord. And! We had to take a ferry across Surnadalsfjord to get to the road home. So much fun!

whee ferry!

On my last full day in Norway, we popped into the city of Trondheim to do some sightseeing. We checked out the 'sugar cube' fortress (so nicknamed because it's a white cube. Literally.), a really really steep hill (so steep they have a bike escalator thingy), the harbour, and did a little window shopping on the side.

Here I am standing in front of the Nidaros Cathedral - the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world and the second largest church in Scandinavia.

a little size comparison for fun

The view from the fortress over Trondheim:

We went out for a beer that evening (after watching The Blindside - which was a great movie by the way!). We tried to get into a pub/restaurant called Grandmother's Living Room (Mormors Stue), but it's always packed! Unfortunately we didn't get a table, so we went to a café instead where I had apple cider with... whipped cream. Thought that was a little weird, but it tasted really good!

On the 30th I flew back to Germany - my trip to Norway was nearing completion. But the journey wasn't quite over yet. First I had to live through a 5 hour layover in Oslo. So instead of sitting on my butt watching people walk by, I decided to grab the express train into the city and do a little more sightseeing before going home.

Oslo was nice enough - it wasn't so fun to wander around by myself after a week of touring with a friend. But I did manage the highlights. I saw the fortress and the harbour and took a stroll on the roof of the Opera House.

You can just see the people standing on the very top to the right of the big white piece.

And that was it. I was back in Germany for a VERY much needed break before the last leg of the holiday.

Next up: Sandy takes on the World - Part 3. Same time, same place, same bat-channel.

Toodles,

Sandy