What a (Nor) Way to Go - July 2019

Since Jacob and I both have a bit of Norwegian heritage, the first trip we planned upon moving to Denmark was a trip to Norway. We planned to fly to Oslo, then take the train to Bergen since we heard it was a very pretty train ride (more on that later).

Oslo had a lovely vibe. We stayed at a hotel close to the opera house with a lovely top story bar. We got in later in the evening and went to bed after enjoying a sunset cocktail (it was summer, so the sun didn't set until about 10pm).

The next morning, we decided to go for a nice walk to see the sites. We enjoyed the views from the top of the opera house, we hugged the coast for a bit, cut in to see the palace (which was that nice Scandinavian yellow that seems to often be used for palaces and royal buildings), then made our way to an extensive sculpture garden.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, so we were looking for a way to cool off at this point. Luckily, a fjord cruise was about to depart, so we grabbed a seat and a bottle of white and set sail! Being out on the water was so nice, this was our favorite part of the trip!

We had worked up quite an appetite, so we grabbed some seafood from a restaurant nearby then meandered through town to a hip cocktail bar. We grabbed one more drink from the top floor bar at sunset to bid adieu to lovely Oslo.

The next day, it was time for our train ride to Bergen. We showed up at central station to find that our train had been cancelled. This poor guy was walking around telling everyone that they would have more info in an hour, so we grabbed some breakfast and then found out that there were charter buses lined up to get us to our first stop. Apparently there was a forest fire and the train couldn't make it to Oslo. After our charter bus driver got lost a couple times, we walked the rest of the way to the station... to find out that our train car didn't exist. Instead of opting to take a charter bus the whole way (which they were trying to encourage folks to do), we found a sleeper car that hadn't been cleaned yet and sat there for the whole journey. Not quite as scenic as we were hoping for, but we did make it to Bergen that day.

Bergen was absolutely adorable. The markets were cute, the restaurants were fun, and we took another very beautiful fjord cruise. We also had the opportunity to take the Floibanen up to the top of Floyen, where we were treated to beautiful views and nice hiking trails. We capped off the trip with a castle tour and a delicious Norwegian meal (the peas were to die for).

It was an adventurous and very enjoyable trip. I can't wait to go back to Norrway!