Breath Taking Norway

So much moving around lately! There has not been much internet access available these past 4 days or so, not to mention the ridiculous prices I would have to pay for it in Norway. Norway was cool but it was pricey. Right now I'm in Berlin; we just arrived this afternoon. There is so much to talk about that I don't even know where to start. I'll probably forget about some stuff too but those stories can be saved until I get back home. I need to keep you guys wanting more for when I return.

We left Dublin airport on a Boeing 737 and arrived at Stanjford. We thought it was supposed to be a 3 hour flight but we forgot about the time zone and only had to sit in the cramped Ryanair seats for 2 hours. Stanjford is almost 2 hours outside Oslo so we then took a bus. Before I continue to the next part of the journey I have to write about the hostel situation. I believe at the end of my last post I said we would be fine finding a hostel despite the short time. Well, I was wrong! There were no beds left in Oslo; possibly because it was the weekend but it certainly made it interesting. So, we had to sleep on benches in park. Actually, that was our last plan. Instead, we managed to get an overnight train to Bergen and that was our bed for the night. First scare averted.

Do you think we learned our lesson there. I know our parents would like to think so but we did not. Almost the same thing happened in Berlin. That story is for another post though. Right now I have to talk about beautiful Norway. And when I say beautiful I mean...absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly gorgeous. Words really can't describe Norway, you need to just see it for yourself. If you have looked at my pictures (i've never taken that many pictures, in such a short time, in my life) you can get an idea of what I mean.

We took the overnight train to Bergen where we spent 2 nights. The first day was really a relaxing day. Mostly just to find a good Fjord tour for the next day, thank you for tourist info centers! They helped us find possibly the best Fjord tour in this area. Not only were the tourist info staff friendly and helpful, Norwegians in general were very friendly and helpful. As we left the train station a man from Bergen noticed us three fumbling with the streets and a map and basically walked us right to our hostel. This is just one of a few experiences but it certainly put Norwegians high on the friendly pole.

That's enough about the first day in Bergen. Lets get to the Fjords. Wow! Just look at my pictures and multiply what you see by...a lot. The pictures donät show the immense size of these Fjords. The tallest one we stopped by was 1600 meter almost straight up cliff above sea level. It completely blew me away. There were a lot of waterfalls flowing down the cliffswith houses in the most precarious postions. The houses, and villages for that matter, were prestine. Everything was so clean and so picturesque. After he boat ride we had to take a few trains back to Bergen. One went from Fläm to Myrdal, the steepest adhesion track in the world. This hour train ride is also undescribable. I could only dream about living in a place like this.

The final morning in Bergen we woke up early to walk up, need to save money in this expensive country, the main mountain (almost 400 meters high). With all the rain (everyday it rained for at least half the day) this was our only opportunity to get a goof view of the city. And it was worth it! The view with the lights and the sunrising was incredible. Unfortunately, one of my biggest fears was realized about half way up. My camera somehow stopped working. At the most inopportune time the digital sensor died. I thought I was going to be forced to buy a new camera over here, which would have had it's up side; that being I would get a new camera!! However, I lucked out and about 6 hours later it started working again. It better not do that again!

The next few day were used as travel days to Berlin with overnight stops in Oslo and Copenhagen. I will leave those places for another post though. Until next time, cheers!