Norway: The most beautiful place on earth

Sometimes things just go right. Delphine, her brother Remi, and I arrived in lovely Bergen about 10 days ago after a long day of futzing around (train from Grenoble to Geneva, flight to Amsterdam, flight to Bergen Airport, Bus to town) and checked in to a forgettable hostel in the center of town. The first thing that struck all of us, after a little mental acrobatics, was how bloody expensive things were here. And we aren't talking about just a bit more expensive - try $12 for a beer, $8 for a loaf of bread, and $4 for a cup of joe. We all immediately switched into "omfg let's eat out of cans" mode, which served us well for the rest of the trip.

Our intent was to find some people to help share the cost of renting a car since, although very lovely, the cultural experiences quickly run dry here, especially with restaurants and drinking out of the question (none of us have houses to put a second mortgage on, of course). Our good luck started with meeting two Quebecois girls and an American who were interested in doing some sight seeing, which we planned to start 3 days later.

We ended up renting two tiny but nice cars to schlep us around. Within only a few hours it became clear to each and every one of us that we were dealing with a whole other league of natural beauty here in Norway. As soon as you leave town you are presented with, around each and every corner, jaw-dropping beauty on a scale unmatched, as far as I know, anywhere else in the world. You get steep, lovely mountains forming capital 'V's with the middle filled with emerald-blue water. And since these mountains are almost all covered with glaciers (many of which you can see easily from the road) there are enormous waterfalls sprinkled around in almost every eye full. Postcards envy Norway.

Getting along like gangbusters, our 'gang' camped all but one night in "unofficial" campsites (i.e. just off the road), making fires and sharing stories on which mundane items broke our bank that day ("Twenty-nine bucks for a six pack? What a bargain!"). The first night was spent at the bottom of a fjord, flanked on all sides by steep brown-gray mountains, with waterfalls for eye candy.

But the second night took top prize. This time we found a grassy field (albeit sheepshit riddled) at the peak of a mountain nestled on a beautiful fjord. Because it stuck out a tad, the field offered an unobstructed 220 degree view over the fjord and the surrounding mountains. Combined with perfect weather I think we all realized the same thing: this is as good as life gets.

The trip continued on like this for five days: unbelievable, awe-inspiring beauty - and prices to match. If you ever wonder what the most beautiful place on earth is, look no farther: it's Norway, no contest. I'll let the photos convince you.

Delphine and her Brother left this morning at 4 am (no, that is not a typo), leaving me with an open itinerary and a Eurail pass. I am leaving in two hours for Oslo (the capital) on a seven hour train ride, oddly excited to have the time to myself, although I wish Delphine/Remi could have come alone. I will likely head to Stockholm after that, and then maybe Copenhagen - but as far as I'm concerned, the last five days were the trip - and what a trip it was.

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