Norway

Flåm to Gudvangen

After flying into Oslo and heading out of the city within a day so we could get to see the tauted Norwegian fjords, we took the famous scenic rail route from Oslo to Flåm. One word and two colors to describe this country: breathtaking, green and blue. The lakes, rivers, fjords, mountains and forests are almost endless. We climbed our way to a high elevation and changed trains at the snow capped settlement of Myrdal to head towards Flåm. From Myrdal, the railway takes a steep 20 km plunge into a gorgeous valley with flat rock walls and huge mountains on either side, decorated with numerous waterfalls and some green pastures in the small valley where Flåm sits on the edge of the Aurlandsfjorden.

On the several hour train ride, we sat across from a lovely couple from Australia, Jill and Roy. We talked about various topics...from advice on vacationing in the Cook Islands to generational differences and approaches to work in business and how technology and globalization are changing the world - perspectives, business and everyday life.

The camping ground in Flåm was quite scenic, but there wasn't much else in the tiny town except the ferry and train stations, a small market and some tourist shops. We did take a nice walk up the valley along the river to see the old Flåm church built in the 1600's. After one night, we headed out on the ferry ride to another small fjord town called Gudvagen and took in remarkable views of the interlinking fjords and more than 100 waterfalls - if we counted correctly.

Voss

After taking yet another scenic bus ride up a steep mountain out of Gudvagen, we settled in a town called Voss for a couple days. This town is known as the adventure sports capital of Norway - sky diving, base jumping, para gliding, white water rafting, etc. - and we only just missed their annual adventure sports festival by 4 days. The day we arrived, the sun was shining and a ton of people were out swimming in the lake, walking around, para sailing, sitting at cafes...this little town had a great summer vibe and we decided we liked it very much. The camping was right next to the lake and the local swimming pool, so sounds of merriment were all around.

We took a really neat hike into a gorge not far from where we camped on the first evening of our stay and the next day took the tram up to the top of the mountain and hiked our way down over the course of several hours. Eric had a humorous encounter with some local sheep - those of you who know of his goat encounter on his first visit to Wyoming will find this not too unusual...sheep and goats alike seem drawn to him...ha ha. We also managed to get in a nice healthy couple/travel companion argument on our way down the mountain - which allowed us to blow off some steam and stress from the first couple weeks of traveling together 24/7. We've had a number of disputes in the last few weeks actually, but are finding that as the days go on, we are settling more and more into a nice travel groove and it's becoming easier to make the constant decisions like where to sleep, what to eat, where to go and what to do.

Oyvind's Place
Our most memorable experiences from Norway were in Stavanger, where we stayed with our CouchSurfing host Oyvind (http://www.couchsurfing.com). He lives not far out of the city on an organic farm of sorts in a large white house that only he occupies. While he is now quite settled into his life of gardening, raising hens and working as a bicycle courier, his earlier travels have inspired him to host many a guest - his hospitality is excellent and everyone is welcome. On the evening we arrived, a group of travelers from Belarus were staying for the night. We had quite a lively breakfast conversation with them the next morning...sharing scrambled eggs, good bread and introducing them to peanut butter. We talked about the history of their country (they are a very proud people) and their growing economy in the last several years after enduring a lot of poverty in the 90's. They told us many young people go to the US and Europe for periods to work and make better money, but also to travel and take in some of the Western thinking. According to Natalia, the ability to broaden their world view to include Western perspectives combined with their very strong work ethic and deep rooted tradition and culture is what will help their country and their people grow and become more successful.

After many photos and a quick walk together to the old viking farm nearby, we waved our friends from Belarus farewell and then turned our attention to preparing to depart on a little camping excursion with Oyvind and his friend Ragnhild for the mid-summer night. We set off at about 4:30 on bikes we borrowed from Oyvind and met Ragnhild to go to the lake shore and pick up two canoes. We paddled leisurely out to a little island about a half hour from shore and set up a nice little camp. Our dinner was quite the undertaking...Oyvind had provided a whole frozen hen (no feathers included :) and Ragnhild and I set about trying to figure out how to butcher the thing so we could get enough bits to cook in the Uncle Ben's Tikka Masala sauce Eric and I had bought. In the end, we succeeded and had a very nice meal...though the meat was a bit chewey as Oyvind had warned about these types of hens. We spent the rest of the evening exploring our little island and had many conversation about Norwegian culture, world politics, religion, relationships and family and views about the future. Ragnhild and I hit it off quite well and I don't think we hardly stopped talking the entire time we were together! :)

After rowing back early the next afternoon, Ragnhild took Eric and I to the local pool and sauna. She and Oyvind had told us the night before that the sauna was quite the social setting in Stavanger and so it was fun to go and listen to the talk of everyone crammed in this little hot room with sweat pouring down. We even got a chance to contribute to the dialogue when people realized we were American and began speaking in us in English about our world travels - what to be aware of and some bits of advice and insight for our trip. We finished off our day at Ragnhild's place with a wonderful stir fry meal, eating out on her sunny patio near the town center and finishing off our meal with excellent Brazilian coffee and brownies. When we finally biked back to Oyvind's place, we were delighted to find more international guests from Taiwan, Mexico and Latvia. I don't know if I've ever met anyone so welcoming of others into their home as Oyvind.

Our last day in Stavanger (we stayed 4 nights total because we felt so at home here), we took a ferry and bus to the trail head for Preikestolen (known in English as Pulpit Rock) and hiked 2 hours up the very rocky mountain to get to the famous cliff outlook over fjords and mountains. This spot is particularly known for base jumping and attracts quite a lot of tourists. The hike certainly takes your breath away at times, but the effort is well worth the view!

We departed on Tuesday morning, taking with us homemade honey compliments of our host, and were a bit sad to go because we had so enjoyed the company of Oyvind, his friends and many guests. We originally set off to the Norwegian South Coast for the beaches, but since it was pouring rain that day, decided to continue on all the way to Sweden...more on our adventures here to come soon.