Norway in a nutshell

24 August 2009- Greetings from the country of Norway. I know by my last angry post I was ready to leave Paris, but just for vacation. Nothing like a bit of time in an unbelieveable country like Norway to make all my troubles go away. We returned once again to angry kitty and thunderstorms to cool off the apartment. Good news, the missing La Poste mail was found and finally delivered. All is right again with the world and my life in France, travelling Europe and visiting friends for upcoming month.
Here we are enjoying the sights from Norway. We flew to Oslo, spent the night there in one of the nicest rooms I have ever seen and started our trip to Fjord country via the Norway in a Nutshell path. I hate to call it a tour because they arrange all your transport for you but you are not part of a tour, per se. Trains, boats, busses all arranged, you just hop on the next form of transport. This was also our gift to each other for our 6th anniversary. 2 years of marriage, 2 years of shacking together and 2 years of dating. Ah dewey!

Us in the land of waterfalls. Really reminded me of Alaska with our "oh look another bald eagle" comments. Really waterfall lovers, Norway has them. Everywhere. Another waterfall.

Since it was our anniversary celebration, I stumbled on the true surprise for Chad. I had scheduled a break in our Nutshell for the village of Flam. It wouldn't be a Chad and Linda vacation without beers but the surprise was the brewmaster is American who brews a India Pale Ale in the American west style. They didn't have any left on tap but the barkeep found Chad a few bottles to enjoy in their cool nordic lodge pub. Happy anniversary Chad!

I felt so small next to these looming fjord walls stretching high up.

No trip is complete without the tacky tourist picture. I bought a mini troll for my souvenir.

Ah the beauty of the fjords from the boat part of our Nutshell. Just amazing and astounding. Nature is spectacular.

Another beautiful shot of the Norwegian landscape. So beautiful and breathtaking.

After Flam and the fjord boat, we got in a bus which took us right by some more huge waterfalls. We made it to Bergen by train and got another good night sleep in our whirlwind trip.

Of course my engineer husband was intrigued by how this building was even still standing. A bit off of square...

We took in a bit of Bergen and then headed up the largest mountain Ulriken for some amazing views of the fjords, city, and more and more fjords. There was a house up there, a tiny little house with an ice lake. I think Chad would enjoy something like that, alone up a mountain with me. Maybe a dog or three, I am working on the exact number.

We stumbled around town, trying to find more sights. I loved this street (the tan house on the left was so cute). We were definitely the only tourists here on a Sunday afternoon.

Now for the bad part of Norway. It was so expensive. At 8.6 kroner to the euro and a super high standard of living, food/drink and activities were costly. The ride in from the airport was almost 20 euro per person. Beers at the lovely Flam brewery were 8e50 a piece. Dinner was extreme but it was a buffet so we gorged ourselves on salmon to get our money's worth. We actually ate Burger King twice because we just couldn't talk ourselves into spending 30 euros per person for dinner. Not a 3 course meal even for 30 euros, just a piece of meat like reindeer or cow steak. I will never complain about our 5 euro cappuccinos again right next to monuments or museums.

I think our most "reasonable" meal was on Mount Ulriken's restaurant. I had a huge bowl of pasta and Chad had an amazing salmon dish for about 30 euros total. Not too bad considering the view from 643 meters up. A resto in Paris' Eiffel Tower can run you 190 euros a person but you could always opt for the crepestand for 3 euros as well. Ouch factor was unavoidable in Norway. At 6 kroner to one USDollar, I am not sure who ever enjoys their vacation to Norway entirely. I think we are sure to visit fjords again but the ones in Alaska seem way more reasonable. No exchange rate there to surprise us later.

The night of our buffet gorgefest we met a couple from Australia and a family from England who echoed our sentiments about Norway: gorgeous but pricey. The couple from Oz relayed their own submission to the golden Arches of McDonalds to avoid the sticker shock from the bill. Mind you, the fast food was still about 15-20 euros for the typical meal deal fare.

We finally did figure out why the Aussies are truly the globe-trekker type. They get 4 weeks of vacation per year and most employers are required to give them an additional 17% of their weekly salary for their vacation since they are bound to run into higher prices. I swear we will get there someday, hopefully as employees, that sounds like a good deal to me! Almost my dream of getting paid to vacation.

We took the night train from Bergen to Oslo so our sleep was off and on in twin bunk beds, so much for a romantic anniversary night. Not a bad night of sleep but a bit odd to lean down and wish your husband a good night as he puts away the ladder for you. We crashed out on the planes back to Paris and the cat. As always, love to travel but love my own bed more. Back to Paris, and getting organized for our visitors this weekend.