Day 6, Tuesday
So today we took an early flight out of Reykjavik, Iceland to Bergen, Norway with IcelandAir. We said our goodbyes to Frank as he was the last one remaining out of the group and headed to the airport. I tried to get some sleep on the bus as I had been restless the night before but I managed to get some z's so I was good.
Thankfully on the flight we were not at an emergency exit so I actually had places to put my stuff and not have an extremely cold breeze from the door!
Upon arriving in Bergen, the airport was full of signs talking about the Gateway to the Fjord country and advertisements for the Norway in a Nutshell tour (which we would be doing on Thursday). It was exciting to know that I would actually get to see fjords (yes nerdy I know but I was really excited to actually see how they looked). We took an airport bus into town and already the landscape had an effect on us. Bergen was so green! Everything looked like it was in bloom and there were tons of trees and flowers which was a stark contrast to that of the rugged lavascape of Iceland.
Once we arrived at the Bergen Bus Station. We both grabbed a bite to eat. I grabbed a delicious cupcake that was actually so filling! We headed straight to the railway station to pick up our Norway in a Nutshell tickets to avoid any confusion on the day of. Afterwards we trekked to find our bus stop so that we could get to our hostel. Our hostel ended up being quite far away and buses are not cheap!
Once we arrived at the hostel we unloaded our stuff a bit and took a quick nap. Since it was nice out we decided to walk to the nearby Mount Ulriken to take the cable car up the mountain. I wanted to at least hike one way, such as hike back down but Amanda wasn't up for it. Next time I travel alone I will be doing tons more hiking. The cable car ride up was very nice and we got to see some fjords and Bergen during daylight. Once we were at the top it got a bit more chilly but that was to be expected due to the altitude. I took tons of pictures although they weren't the greatest quality as clouds began to set in and dusk was around the corner. The view was spectacular and worth the ridiculous cost going up. Had I hiked back down I would have been more satisfied. We did have a super expensive hot chocolate at the restaurant at the top but that's because the cable car was getting cleaned and we had to wait to get back down. Of which, the ride back down was a lot more sketchy than the ride up.
We then headed back to the hostel and caught some early sleep for the next day as we would be exploring Bergen for the entire day.
Day 7, Wednesday
Today was the day for us to explore Bergen fully. We got up fairly early and headed down to Bergen by bus. Our hostel is definitely further away from the centre and if I were to visit again I will definitely pay more to stay at the hostel downtown or probably just couchsurf for free. The ride down was mostly downhill but as it was nice and bright we got to have some views of Bergen which were really pretty.
Upon arriving at the fishmarket at Torget (the main centre downtown) we immediately headed for the market. There were many people selling souvenirs or their own handmade crafts, all of which were really pretty. A lot of people are selling trolls stuff, I guess like in Iceland, the legend of Trolls is huge here. I got some postcards, a shotglass(my souvenir staple) and a gift for my parents. We then headed to the Bryggen wharf and the Bryggen itself, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are 11 painted houses along the harbour that are quite old. Most of them now are souvenir shops of some kind... wool stuff, plain souvenirs, paintings, etc.
We then continued along the harbour front to the Bergen Fortress. It was free to walk around so we explored the main grounds and took pictures of the harbour and the flora in bloom. There were so many people with dogs that it is safe to say that Scandinavians love their dogs as we see them everywhere. Although the main mixes we see are german shepherds and small dogs, haven't seen any retrievers, etc.
After the fortress and the wharf we headed back in to town. We went to the library to check our emails. While I wanted to stay and write some of my blog Amanda headed out to some animal thing which was closed anyways. It was here that I finished my Iceland blog haha, these things take me forever. When she got back we explored more of the downtown. We saw some cool shops as well as I ate at a supposedly somewhat famous sausage kiosk. It is known for selling the longest sausages although I just decided to try something new and had a reindeer sausage... which was amazing! It also came with a free raspberry drink that tasted very delicious and fresh.
Once we were done downtown we headed back to the hostel via the bus and packed for the next day as it was going to be a long day trip.
Day 7, Thursday
The day started off with a trek to the Central Station where we would start out Norway in a Nutshell tour en route to Oslo.
The first part of the tour started with a train ride from Bergen to Voss on an intercity train. Here we met two other Canadians who were lovely older women. They were from the St. Catherine's area and we ended up chatting with them on 2 other parts of our trip. The train went through a lot of tunnels so the views were not spectacular although on the left side of the train they did have more views of fjords initially.
At Voss we switched to a buss which would be one of the scariest parts of the trip. At the start it seemed fairly routine in that we went through downtown Voss and then beside forests and farms and small towns. Then we started to head uphill to a regionally famous hotel that had spectacular views of the Naerofjord. Since we had gone uphill, downhill was inevitable. Although I did not expect the downhill to be on a single lane road had a decline of 18%! It was disgusting and the road was literally making "S"s all the way down it was so twisty. Along the curves (of which I had a window), we were able to see some waterfalls which were beautiful as well. At the end of the twisty road it was flat ground toward the beginning of the fjord.
Here at the fjord we boarded the Gudvangen Fjord Cruise. The fjord, Naerofjord, is a UNESCO world heritage site and is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous! The views are incredible! I would highly recommend visiting this fjord even if you didn't have time to do the entire tour. The water was really calm and we were the only cruise on the water. Note to self, bring food when you are on this tour as the prices are incredibly high and they will overcharge you. Postcards for 14kr, when it says 10kr, but I had to for the pictures. Me and Amanda obviously had a photoshoot for ourselves since the backdrop was gorgeous!
At the top in Myrdal we waited for our last train which would be to Oslo. We had a 2 hour wait here which sucked but oh well. Once we boarded the last train is was very hi-tech. The views at the top from Myrdal were gorgeous though. We saw frozen lakes with a sunset that were very beautiful and serene. We talked with another woman who is on couchsurfing and at one point she let us use her mobile to call our couchsurf for Oslo.
At 22:30 we arrived in Oslo and Kjerstin was there to meet us! We got tram tickets and we took the tram to her place where we also met her boyfriend! They were overly nice and inviting that she really set the bar high for a couchsurf. She let us use her computer to unload some pictures and laid out new blankets for us to sleep in.
Day 8, Friday
Today was our full day to spend in Oslo. We headed downtown with Kjerstin and eventually made friends with another Canadian guy who actually studies at uOttawa. What a coincidence! He would be working at the Canadian embassy for the summer (lucky) and then return back in September. He eventually tagged along with me and Amanda once Kjerstin headed to work. We first went to the train station to pick up our FlyToGet tickets which we needed to head to the airport for tomorrow.
Our first touristic stop was at the new Opera house which you can climb onto the roof to get views of the fjords. It was really cool that you could walk on top and the harbour was really pretty. Although, the view of Oslo downtown was not that spectacular. It seemed like more of a downtown than an older European capital. We then followed the harbourfront to Akerhus Festning. We explored the grounds for free and headed towards the Radhus. The Radhus is where they do the Nobel ceremony in the cityhall of Oslo. From the Radhus we followed the main street, Karl Johan's Gate up to the Royal Palace and we were able to catch the changing of the guard.
Our next stop was Vigelandspark which needed a paragraph for itself haha. This park is weird...very.. different. The sculptures are all naked, which would be fine, but they are posed in very sexual or weird ways. One of the funniest sculptures looks like a baby giving a temper tantrum. At the end of the park is a giant column of sculptures with mini sculptures surrounding it. It was funny because at one point we snapped a photo of a little boy who was climbing the sculpture and from our view, his head was right in the butt of a sculpture...very funny sight to see.
We then headed back to the train station to meet up with Kjerstin. We said goodbye to Nathaniel and headed to Kjerstin's house. We had a dinner party with another couchsurf host and her two surfers. Boy did they talk FOREVER and sometimes were quite weird but the dinner party was very lovely. Kjerstin was an amazing host and prepared reindeer stew for us. AMAZING. I also had brussel sprouts which I've never tried in Canada despite my parents and my Oma's best efforts, and I actually liked them... I know, I know. She also had lingonberry sauce for us which I will definitely be buying at IKEA when I get back! Once the other couchsurfers had left we packed up all our stuff for the next day since we had an early flight!
Day 9, Saturday
Today we were going to fly to Tromso, which is located above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway. I had my giant backpack with me and my purse while Amanda left hers at Kjerstin's. This would have been the easier thing to do but I didn't want to chance anything coming up and me having no backpack for the rest of the trip, and it would be easier to bring sand back and bring up the food for our next couchsurfer.
We both sat on the west side of the plane, which the woman on the Oslo train had advised us and we had spectacular views of the mountains. I sat beside some Oslo football player, I know Lauriane would be jealous haha, and he was very nice but not very talkative. We have noted that Norwegians are very kept to themselves and quiet haha. Upon arriving in Tromso we had some confusion with our couchsurf so we eventually just took the local bus into town (much cheaper) and went straight to the library to try and find a place to stay. In the end it worked out that a previous person who I had written to about a stay, Ula, would host us and this worked out great.
Ula and her roommates and friends were AMAZING. She was so nice to take us in last minute and provide so much for us. Her friends were also really inviting and we got to know them all. I actually tried seal here too and she had prepared a big dinner the night before and had left some out. I liked it although it is not something I would ever crave haha.
We went downtown with her roommate and saw the streetlife that was going on. We even got free baked buns at an old movie theatre haha. I got a picture with a statue of Roald Amundsen <3 and we picked up the correct ingredients to make Chana Masala for them for dinner. For dinner we cooked a delicious channa with papadams and we were able to feed Ula, her Polish friends Leon, Greg as well as her Russian friend Andrei as well as some roommates and they all appeared to like it.
After dinner, Ula and her Polish friends Greg and Leon went to the beach with us to play some volleyball. Leon ended up bbq'ing some things such as fishcakes, bacon, apples and sandwiches... really delicious! Me and Ula put our feet into the frigid Arctic Ocean(bucketlist accomplishment) and we played volleyball with some Russ kids.
After the volleyball Leon drove me back to Ula's house so I could get ready for the bar. Apparently I was super fast and impressed him haha. The bar outting was very strange as we were out from midnight-3ish and it was bright as day.. the idea of partying in the daylight is very strange. Leon even bought me a gin and tonic which was very nice of him. He was such a gentleman.. if only Canadian boys could compare to the European ones... at least the Polish!
Day 10, Sunday
Today, after having an odd sleep of no darkness, we woke up to have breakfast with Ula. We had Norwegian brown cheese which was amazing. Also the Polish rose jam was amazing. I will definitely be buying some when I get back if I can find it!
Me and Amanda went out sightseeing although we didn't end up seeing much.. I ended up waiting outside the Polaria museum for her since I didn't have money and she didn't want me going ahead to the cable car...which we didn't end up doing. We then walked all the way to the Arctic Cathedral only to find out that you have to pay to visit it... I don't understand why you pay to see a church.
We just had a chill night and helped out Ula a bit with her marking of English and a mini bbq with the other couchsurfers the Austrians and the Finnish guy.
Day 11, Monday
So today we left early from Tromso to catch a flight back to Oslo.Upon arriving in Oslo we walked around (me with my big backpack) and roamed the main streets. There was a lot of preparation for the coming day's celebrations. We ended up finding an internet cafe downtown and spent some time there before catching a bus to our next couchsurf's place. There was a bit of confusion at first but we ended up getting the keys to the right apartment.
Our couchsurfer was really trusting as she left the keys for us at a 7-11 and she was out of the country for the day on a business trip. Once we got to her apartment we found our room (spare bedroom with 2 bunk beds and linens set out for us) and we both took showers and just relaxed at the apartment. I packed my bags properly as tomorrow we would be flying to Finland as well as walking around downtown Oslo for the May 17th celebration. Later in the evening we met our couchsurfer who had been in Tallinn all day. She was very welcoming and nice and especially for being so kind for leaving us the keys and setting up the place when she was not going to be there.
Before everyone tucked in for the night, she gave us tips on where to go for the May 17th celebrations. We planned on where to go and the times and went to bed early as it was bound to be a long day.
Day 12, Tuesday
After waking up early we left our couchsurf's house to head downtown towards the main celebration. The main street of the children's parade was Karl Johan's Gate. We found a little nook although it was right beside this annoying hot dog stand but I got to set my bag down which was great.
It was really lovely to see everyone, men, women, children, teenagers and senior citizens all dressed up in their different national outfits. It is a really cool idea that you can identify from what region or town someone grew up in from Norway based on what their traditional outfit looks like. The women were in dresses and some men were in kilts even! If people were not dressed up in their traditional wear then they definitely were dressed very professional and formal. It was a nice change when comparing it to Canada Day and most Canadians just wear anything red or white and since it's hot they show more skin. These people were probably so hot underneath all those layers as it was sunny and there was not much of a breeze!
During the parade we got photos with Russ girls as well as two elderly woman who wore traditional outfits from the Oslo area. At the end of the parade all the Russ students head to the end and trail the parade throwing their Russ business cards or giving them out to the children.
After the children's parade was over we quickly went over to our first couchsurf's place and got Amanda's backpack back. It was nice to see them again and it looked like they enjoyed their national day as well. We said our final goodbyes and then headed back to the train station where we took the express train to the airport. I only managed to buy 1 postcard from Oslo, not even a shotglass. After waiting in the terminal for a bit we eventually flew out to Helsinki, Finland.
We took the flybus from the airport to the Opera stop and walked to Helsinki Stadion (where the Olympics have been held) and eventually checked in and found our rooms. Unfortunately they told us we had to move to new rooms the next day but we could settle in for the most part.
