Norway

After an overnight ferry ride from Newcastle, our first sight of Norway came midmorning on June 20. Given Norway's seafaring heritage, I think there's no better way to arrive than by sea, passing endless islands as we made our way up the fjords. We spent the day winding our way through the islands covered in endless pine forests, passing small fishing villages, with mountains in the distance. Finally, at 11:00 at night, but with the sun still high in the sky, we arrived at Bergen, our destination. We cruised past an impressive tall ship into Bergen's historic bay, surrounded by the city and ringed by mountains. What a great place to start exploring Norway!

Our first day we spent just walking around town and getting a feel for the place. We were staying at a great little hostel right in the heart of the old downtown. Around us there were tons of pedestrian areas packed at all hours with people. After the long winter nights the Norwegians were making the most of their summer. We found that there were always people outside, even if it was a little rainy. Any available sidewalk or square was full of people spilling out of cafes, and ice cream is apparently a favorite food. Sometimes it felt like we were the only ones on the street not holding an ice cream cone (they prefer a waffle cone with a flattened scoop of ice cream topped with soft serve). There was also a great daily fish market nearby that we enjoyed exploring. Here you could find amazing salmon, shrimp, lobster, and even whale (which looks like steak, but we didn't try it).

We also noticed two other things. First, everything was incredibly expensive! I had fish and chips for lunch for about $25 and even a McDonalds value meal was about $10. Second, the people here were absolutely beautiful, men and women. All tall, almost all blond, and stunning. This part was really unbelievable, like some sort of vortex into a world of supermodels. The only normal people were the ones pouring off the cruise ships.

Our second day in Bergen we had a great hike in the hills above the city and took some nice pictures. It's amazing that after just a 45 minute hike from the city it felt like we were in the middle of the arctic tundra. We also noticed that half the city seemed to be hiking around the trails, apparently a favorite Nordic hobby.

After our hike we stopped at the fish market and bought some amazing cured salmon for dinner. That was when disaster struck. Michaela made dinner of salmon and simple pasta in the kitchen, which had a wet floor due to a leaky dishwasher. With both hands full she made it about half way down the six stairs to the eating area and then slipped. I was behind her and turned around just in time to see her fully two feet off the ground, and then drop straight on the bottom steps. The plates all broke, salmon and pasta were everywhere. As people ran over she tried to get up and then collapsed. She had landed on her back and I was sure it was broken, but she could move her legs. Unfortunately her back was in terrible pain and after a few minutes we decided to take a cab to the hospital.

Going through the Norwegian medical system was quite an experience for us. We arrived at a smaller urgent care place and Michaela was examined by a doctor. We were surprised that they didn't give her any pain killers since she was clearly in a lot of pain. This wasn't the medicine we were used to in the States, but they were very efficient. They were worried that she had broken a bone in her hip, so we were sent to the nearby University hospital, in a cab, where they had a special x-ray machine.

When we arrived the hospital seemed totally deserted, which was really freaky, but when we finally found someone they were very nice. At this point Michaela could just barely walk and was in lots of pain. They x-rayed her and eventually we found out that nothing was broken from the radiologist. On a side note, he and the nurse were even better looking than the regular population. If I ever get sick again, I hope its in Norway! Then, with really not much advice and a handful of "very strong" pain pills, they called a cab for us and let us go. The whole visit, x-ray and all, had cost only about $50. That's socialized medicine I guess.

We made it back to the hostel in low spirits. It was obvious that something was still very wrong with Michaela's back. Probably a bad muscle strain and some swelling affecting her nerves. It seemed like it might take a long time to recover. Perhaps our trip was over. She managed to choke down a little food and was barely able to lie down.

The next four days we spent in the same hostel. Every morning Michaela would very slowly and painfully try to get up, then head for the couch in the hostel TV room where she spent most of the day. At first she could barely walk, and sitting down was hell. I did a lot of reading, cooking, and fetching. Michaela did have a buddy in the TV room, an extremely obese man we call Gurgles because he would spend all day in the TV room lying on the couch, half asleep and gurgling to himself. Every few minutes he would wake up, take a sip of the coffee that he got at the cafe downstairs, rub himself, and fall back asleep. Needless to say, he and Michaela were fast friends after four straight days together.

The rest of the people in the hostel were really helpful, and at least we got to stay for free. After a few days Michaela could walk well enough to go outside, though any misstep would cause her to be "tazed" with a shock of pain emanating from her lower back down her leg. We decided our trip was still on and bought a roller for her bag so that I could roll it while carrying mine. After four days, and an incredibly fast recovery, Michaela could walk pretty well and we decided to press on to Oslo.

The train ride from Bergen to Oslo was amazing, probably one of the most scenic in the world. It crosses the backbone of Norway, rising along beautiful fjords, passing through many tunnels and past mountain lakes, and finally crosses a barren arctic pass at Finse, before descending on the east side down to Oslo. These pictures really don't do the trip justice, mostly because a lot of the views come in short breaks between tunnels.

We spent three days in Oslo, a city that we found to be interesting but not overly beautiful or engaging. We did lots of walking the first day, passing the royal palace, the main thoroughfare of Karl Johan's Gate, and the old waterfront castle. The first two pictures are looking down on the city and harbor from the old fortress, and the last is at a specialty food market on Karl Johan's.

The second day we visited the Vigeland Park. Vigeland was an amazing sculpture artist and he, together with Munch, are probably Norway's most famous artists. Oslo's Vigeland park was clearly built as a showcase to his amazing sculptures, showing the human form in almost every possible variety and situation.

Our last day in Oslo we headed to Bygdoy peninsula, which is just outside the city. It is like Oslo's version of the Hamptons, full of the summer houses of the rich, with some nice beaches, plus a smattering of musuems. In the morning we visited the Viking ship musuem, displaying Viking warships from the 9th century. These ships were burried as the graves of great chiefs or queens and had been preserved remarkably well by the special soil in the area. In the afternoon we finally got some sun, so we headed to the beach at Huk. The beach is split into two parts by an inlet. We first went to the "normal" side, but after a while we decided to go for a swim. Unfortunately we had forgotten our swim suits, so we went decided to spend the rest of the afternoon on the other side. Sorry, we have no pictures from this afternoon.

That night we caught a night train from Oslo to Stockholm. Even though the bunks were a bit tight, we thought they would be easier on Michaela's back than sitting for the six hour ride. We shared a six person cachet with Norwegians in the top two bunks, us in the middle, and Chinese in the bottom two. Goodbye Norway, hello Sweden.