Kim's journey

Wednesday, 6 March
Steps 11480
It had snowed in the night and we woke up to completely different view from our window.

We packed and went for breakfast. At 9:15 we were standing on the quay waiting for our boat. The boat is powered by a battery and so is completely “green” and silent.
My heart sank when a busload of Americans and a group of Asian students arrived.
Luckily, the boat is very large and so well designed, nobody gets in your way, except I did hear a long conversation about finding wide leg jeans at Maceys. I wasn’t trying to listen, and I did have a choice, I could go outside and get cold or stay inside and hear what was being said.
As you sail out of Flam, someone has placed rocks on the banks of the fjord that make shapes in the snow.

It was ice cold on deck. So cold it burns your face and your eyes water, but beautiful and quiet. I could stay outside for about 4 minutes at a time and then I had to go back inside to thaw. I found snacks at the bar that were of interest to me.

David reckons the biltong could be Rudolph, so we haven’t eaten it yet. For a short while the sun was out and the blue skies reflecting on the still water of the fjord turned the setting into a photogapher’s dream.

The fjord cruise ends at Gudvangen, where luckily the US tourists got on their own bus. We looked for our bus, which turned out to be the public bus. I am so impressed with public transport here. It was snowing and bleak, but a comfortable drive.

We got to Vos, where I had booked us on a later train, giving us an hour and a half to recover from any car sickness one of us might have felt. The station was under repair and we struggled with our heavy bags over gravel to find a coffee shop for lunch. It was looking very bleak. No signs anywhere. Finally, I found a 7/11 type shop and they directed us across the road where we found a small board advertising the Stationen café about 3 blocks from the station. We had a pleasant meal and headed back to the station.
Again the train was very comfortable. Not such a scenic part of the trip given the many tunnels.

We arrived in Bergen and had to walk to our hotel (1.3km) as Google showed no buses available. About half way there, David was wondering why I was struggling so in comparison to him and it dawned on him that he had left his laptop bag behind on the train.
I told him to leave his suitcase and run back which is not easy in boots designed for snow. I found a spot to sit and wait. When he got there, the train had already returned to Vos. He spoke to a guy in the information office, Ari, who contacted the conductor to look for the bag. The conductor said the train was too full to look for a bag, he would have to wait till it emptied out. Ari told David to phone before 7.  I was not too worried about losing the bag until I heard the control part of my e-bike was in there. Then I started calling on St Jude et al.
We got to our hotel and checked in. At 6:30 David phoned Ari, who informed us the bag had been found (thanks St Jude et al) and was on the way back, but David must get there by 7 to collect it. Not sure of how the buses worked yet, he had no choice but to walk there and back again!
He was so happy when he got back, he flopped down on to the bed and sat on his glasses!
At this point, I could not help laughing.
We had a drink and then decided to find somewhere for supper. The streets were almost deserted and we finally decided to stop at an empty Chinese restaurant, where happily the food was excellent ant the manager was very helpful about Bergen.

What I learnt:  Norwegians don’t go for blatant sign posts outside windows, Google does not pick up bus routes in Bergen, and I need never worry about skew walls again.
Thought of the day, found on a wall we walked past:

 

 

Tuesday, 5 March
Steps: 7910 steps (Rest day)
Breakfast was included in our booking and not surprisingly, it was very similar although not as grand as the previous hotel. Salmon, pate, a variety of bread, crispy bacon, eggs and ghastly fishcakes. Granny Dee could teach them how to make those.
We walked around the village and went into the “Mall of Norway”, a large souvenir shop, with many different colour jackets. Not sure why, as everybody clearly prefers black!
We went on a outing to the Stegastein viewpoint. It took 30 minutes by bus to get there, through Aurland and up a road with 21 hairpin bends. The scenery was spectacular. The viewpoint is constructed from wood and steel and juts out over the fjord. It started to snow and it was bitterly cold.

On our return, we had coffee to warm up and an afternoon snooze. We woke up in time to visit the museum. Again, these guys need help. We walked up to the larger hotel to see if they had a good pub or restaurant, but they did not. The menu was very limited, reindeer burger, salmon, fish soup and it was over the top price wise. By now it was 6:00 so we tried to find another restaurant, but the only other one was closing at 7, so it was back to our viking restaurant. We each had fish which was delicious and the portions were far more manageable.

What I Learnt: Norwegians have a good blend of preciseness and creativity in the signage. On the bus they leave no uncertainty about number of passengers, but in the lobby, near the lift, I had to think about the message,  was it no TV next to falling leaves or don’t use lift in case of fire?

Monday, 4 March
Steps 13352
We skipped breakfast so we could be at the station at 8:35 without any hiccoughs. We were there early enough to enjoy a coffee and croissant. I was worried because we could only buy Standard tickets because “Komfort”was full.
I like that, standard or comfort, no reference to class.
I needn’t have worried, the seats in standard are so spacious and the train was empty enough for David and I each to enjoy a window seat. There is a good cafe on board for coffee and eats if you need. There is also free wifi that works and plugs to recharge your electronic devices. Very 1st world!
We had a 5 hour journey to Myrdal. There was snow all around, which turns everything into black and white. Some may think it is beautiful, but to me it is bleak. No colour! If I lived here I would paint my house a different bright colour on each side. We passed so many houses with snow was piled up outside and no tracks or footprints, so I can only assume are summer cottages and not inhabited year round.  However, at one of the stops, a guy got off the train, put his skis on and set off home.

At Myrdal, we crossed over to Flamsbana for the iconic train trip to Flam. There is a brief stop at a waterfall which must be spectacular in summer. There was much less snow as we went down into the valley. The railway is an engineering feat. It includes a horseshoe tunnel that spirals in and out of the mountain and it is one of the world’s steepest railway tracks on normal track dropping about 850m over 20km.

Flam is a  very small village at the edge of the fjord, with about 300 permanent residents and 8000 tourists passing through in summer. There is a very large hotel that started off housing the English lords who came to do some fishing and has grown over the years. I chose to stay in the other smaller hotel that also runs a brewery and viking restaurant. Far more Norwegian.

At 4:30, we went for a beer tasting with Chris, a modern day viking, who was very informative. David enjoyed the beer and I enjoyed a whiskey. We then went to the restaurant upstairs where we had a viking size portion of pork shank and spareribs which we could not finish.

After supper we went for a guided evening walk in the chilled night air. It was very interesting and we ended up with hot chocolate at a campfire on a small beach.
I really like Flam. There is a calmness about it.

What I learnt: They use a local white stone for the paths in the “kultuurpark” where we walked. They reflect the moonlight. According to our tour guide, it is a special rock, found only in Flam and also on the moon!

What I wonder: If you cannot cross the railway line and there are no bridges, do you have to go to either end to get to the other side?

Sunday, 3 March
Steps: 12482, including 14 flights of stairs

Being Sunday and as snow and rain were forecast, we slept late and then repeated the hotel breakfast experience.
About midday, the sun started shining and we set off for Vigeland Park, Oslo’s number 1 attraction.
It is apparently the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist.  It contains more than 200 of Gustav Vigeland’s sculptures of naked people in bronze, granite and wrought iron.  The statues are excellent, but I needed to know more, their meaning, their significance, why did Vigeland do this, who paid? In true Norwegian stye, not much information is given. Given the fact they they were made between 1939 and 1949, were they designed to be a bit shocking? While they are not porn, they are very detailed and some verge on portraying violence and suffering. I found the whole park rather disturbing. David noticed all the winkys are different and that the upside down one in the circle defies gravity.  I noticed all the women were not thin.

We then moved on the Oslo City museum, which was dead boring, even for David. The Norwegians need to get museum advice from the Americans. There is interesting stuff, but just so badly displayed, I can’t say I learnt anything. On the bus though, we did see an apartment building made from containers. I thought of Mariline as she once told me she wanted to build her beach house in Zavora from containers. It is not for me.

We took the tram (which is a truly impressive service) and headed off to Grünerløkka, a trendy area where there was supposed to be a Sunday market, which we never found. We did, however, see more people on the street than anywhere else in Oslo. We asked around, but nobody had heard of the market, so we figured it wasn’t going to be spectacular. We headed off to the Mathallen instead. It is an indoor food market with cafes and specialty stands.  It was very crowded as it was national Cheese Doodle Day and they were giving away packets of them. They are a smaller version of our Cheese Curls. We found a bar and I tasted some Norwegian whiskey which was very good. We chatted to a young couple next to us and I felt more hopeful for the people of Oslo. Here was a bit of vibrancy at last.

We decided to eat at the little cafe/bar next to our hotel, Cafe Fiasco. It was also very busy as there was some lady rapper from USA performing at the nearby concert hall. They only serve burgers, which are well worth eating.

What I learnt: Norwegians have odd taste in art, look at the picture on the wall opposite my chair in Cafe Fiasco. But then this is hardly surprising given that their school of architecture is the one of the ugliest building ever.

What I am grateful for: being able to raise kids in Pep Stores shorts and t-shirts.

Saturday, 2 March
Steps 19243 (equivalent to any top day in USA if I remember correctly)
Song: All of me by John Ireland (good song played well by busker at the tram station)

I wish I could say I jumped out of bed, but I woke up with a tired, aching body and was very grateful for the anti-inflammatories I remembered to bring with me. After a narrow escape in the shower, when my foot almost slipped while I was straddled over the bath edge, my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready to face the day.
I don’t normally do hotel breakfast, but I was very glad we did this one. It was superb! I ate loads of cold smoked salmon and one or two pastries.
We went to the Visitors Bureau and bought an Oslo Pass which I recommend to anyone planning on sight seeing in Oslo. It entitles you to see travel on the numerous buses, trams or trains in the city and free entrance to all the museums which we had chosen to visit.
We started off by taking a bus to the Norwegian Folk museum, an expansive open air museum which was very interesting. True to form, I lost David, he stopped to read something, I moved 10 paces forward and when I turned back he had taken the other path. It took 20 minutes to retrace my steps, follow the path he took and 2 phone calls to find him! Really!?!
We moved on and found a house where they were making traditional bread. It tastes like a thick pancake. In another house, there were interesting artifacts dating back 100 years or so – a candle stick that winds so that a shortened candle can still be used to the end; a coffee grinder and a board for ironing without heat, that a man would carve and present to his fiancé. Simon, take note! Of course, if David had given me one, I might have hit him with it. I have no talent for or love of ironing.

 

The museum also has displays of houses up to more modern day times and I found a red beetle just like the one I used to drive. I like clever, so was duly impressed by the stove that has a lazy Susan type top and a simple shoe cleaner for brushing off all that snow.

 

We then took a bus to the Viking ship museum which was interesting, but a bit dry and limitied. I did not really learn much about the viking way of life, other than that the boats were used to bury important people.
We then bused to the Kontiki Museum, which I found fascinating and well put together.  Although I was aware of the Kontiki I never knew the reasons why some madman had decided to cross the Pacific on a raft. Neither did I know he went on to repeat something similar, crossing the Atlantic in a boat made from reeds.

 

From there we crossed the road and quickly went to the Fram Museum.  We only had 20 minutes before they closed, so it was a bit rushed, but I enjoyed going through the ship which was used for the Admunsen’s polar expedition.

 

We made our way back to town and went to Aker brygge (like the water front) which I was told was  a good area for nightlife. It was not buzzing. We perused our options and decided to eat at Jamies Italian. It was full, but we were promised a table by 8, so we sat at the bar and watched while 2 other couples came in without reservations and were seated. David quietly told the hostess that he was not impressed and she should fix it. We were seated within a minute, but the atmosphere was a bit chilled. We decided to share a proschetta plank as a starter (about R200) and the waitress suggested we should rather have the mixed plank with more meats (R1000) which we declined. We waited ages for our drinks and starter, but when it came it was delicious and plentiful so we were excited for the rest of the meal. I ordered oxtail lasagna and David order slow-cooked, sticky lamb shank. We ordered more drinks and the waitress started warming up, still the food took another age to arrive. It was pleasant, but the lasagne was literally less than 1cm thick, so not much oxtail in that and the lamb was nice, but not sticky at all and also slightly pink, which is difficult to achieve in lamb has been slow cooked for 8 hours. I thought of writing to Jamie.

 

We walked down a street or 2, but could not find a vibrant scene and it was raining so we decided to call it a day. We found the tram stop. The shelter has a electronic fireplace, very homey, and there was a busker playing good music well while we waited for the tram.

 

What I learnt
I think my ouma’s house in Young Road and a lot of the other old Mill Park houses in PE were designed by suburban Norwegian architects. They have the same feel. There is even a corner Spar, very reminiscent of my youth.

 

Laugh of the day: Donate wind?

 

Oslo – Day 1
Friday, 1 March
Steps: 16153
Song: Norwegian wood by the Beatles

We had a long uneventful flight, with probably the worst airline food ever (Air France), but reasonable wine and we were able to watch Bohemian Rhapsody which was wonderful.

The Oslo airport is well sign-posted in English and Norwegian, which has a lot of similarity to Dutch and hence Afrikaans, for example,  ‘free wifi’ is ‘gratis internet’,  so we were able to understand it quite easily.

Our first stop was at the Duty Free. Alcohol is heavily taxed in Norway, so we stocked up. We had bought a bottle of Whiskey from home, but could add another, as well as 4 bottles of wine. We found Kanonkop Cape Blend for about R250 and R&R Classique for about R300 a bottle. Heavily loaded with our booze, we decided to have coffee and lunch at the airport and found ‘Espresso House’ which is very much like “Mugg and Bean” back home. We shared a salad full of salmon which was delicious. We then walked outside to wait for the train and hit the cold for the first time. We waited 10 minutes, then caught a train which took us to Oslo Sentral, walked through a mall and then 100m of cold outdoors to our hotel. The absence of traffic was noticeable.

Our room was pleasant enough and the bed was so soft, I felt like Goldilocks in Mamma Bear’s bed. Not great for our old backs! The shower over the raised bath was most impractical shower ever and really challenging to get in, let alone get out off. As I said, first world problems, so not moaning.

After unpacking the little we could into the tiny cupboard, we braved the cold and walked to the Royal Palace, looking out for Karl Jurgens Gate which I assumed, understandably, was a gate, sort of like an entrance to the old city, until I realized we were actually walking on the “gate”. What struck me most about the gates (streets) of Oslo was not the cold, not the cigarette stomps lying all about- it is a bit like walking in an ashtray- but the lack of colour.
Granted it is still winter, so no leaves or grass, the lack of green is overwhelming for me. Also, nearly everyone is wearing black, brown or some dark colour. David and I must have stood out like sore thumbs, him in blue and me in red!
I understand we were tired, but to me, the city has loads of statues, but no energy. It is flat.

We stopped off in a Scottish pub for a drink which was pleasant, but not vibey, then continued walking looking for a place to eat. We found an Irish pub, with live music, which was promising. Poor guy was trying to get some interaction from the crowd, but nobody was listening. They did not serve food, so we left.
We walked into a restaurant called Grand Cafe, which looked very expensive, but we were hungry. After waiting for 5 minutes ( felt like 10) in the vestibule to be seated, we left unattended. Finally we found an alley with a Spur-like restaurant which looked very inviting, but their kitchen was about to close. It was 8pm! Luckily, the waitress recommended the place next door, which was a Palestinian Meze joint and they squeezed us in. I was in heaven, my first prize in dining out, Meze for one!. There were so many little dishes, that they did not fit on the table. David had a lamb casserole and he helped me finish all of mine.

What I learnt
No matter how important you are, a pigeon will alway sh1t on your head!

Thursday, 28 Feb, 2019
Song: Pochohantas by Neil Young

In December 2017, our good friend, Charisse, decided she wanted to see the Northern light for her 50th birthday. So when she extended the invitation to join her, I was so excited as Aurora Borealis has been on my bucket list since I first heard Neil Young sing about them back in the 70s I think. The trip was initially planned for October, then November and finally March 2019. In other words, a long time in the making.

We had to pay upfront if we wanted a good cabin with a bit of space on an upper deck, so by January last year, all was confirmed. We had long time to wait!

We thought of skiing before the cruise, seemed too good an opportunity to miss for David, then Charisse did her knee, so like me, skiing was out. I then thought of adding on a East European leg or a trans-Siberean train ride (also on my bucket list), however, Simon and Mel chose March for their wedding. Some minor adjustments were made date wise and we decided to keep it simple, a week in Norway, followed by the 12 day cruise and straight back home for the wedding.

Finally, over a year and a bit later, we set off on Thursday evening, with a suitcase jam packed with new thermals and gloves and on Friday morning glimpsed our first sightings of Norway.

What I learnt: Life is meant to be difficult and mine are all first world problems, so only hiccoughs really. Also, good things come to those who wait