Norway - Above the arctic circle

We arrived in Norway by riding the Swedish train all the way to the end of the line in Narvik, Norway. We spent the next 10 days working our way south before saying goodbye to Jen's brother Chris in Oslo.

Highlights:

- Our first snowfall of the trip as we hiked up the ski hill above Narvik with views of the fjord surrounded by snow-capped mountains

- The Lofoten islands....we headed for the end of the lines...as far as the train, ferry and bus would take us, to the tiny fishing village of Å. The plan was to camp out for a couple nights and hike around the rocky cliffs. The only problem? We landed in town at 10:00pm, in a freak snowstorm (they normally have quite mild weather in October) with summer camping gear. We had one backup...there was supposedly a hostel there, open all year. We arrived to find a complete dead zone...and a closed hostel reception. After waking up the owner, we scored the most awesome log 'rorbu', an 1800's fishing shack, complete with wood stove, comfy couches and separate bedrooms! We couldn't believe our luck as we chilled out in our cozy cabin while the hail storm raged outside....it even made up for the most expensive beer we've ever had: Six dollars a can at the convenience store!

- Everything here is really, really expensive....A five minute, five kilometer taxi to the ferry terminal from Å: $27! The killer was paying $50 each for bunk beds in a six-bunk mixed dorm in Oslo....made us want to go back to Asia.

- Two days of continuous travel to get from Å to Bergen: taxi, ferry to Bodø, overnight train to Trondheim, cruise to Bergen through the fjords. The cruise ship wasn't what we expected: it was full of seniors playing cards and needle pointing as they enjoyed the European version of an Alaskan cruise. We did the trip on the cheap: chairs for the overnight train and cramming the three of us into a two-bed cabin on the boat...we stuffed our faces on the included breakfast buffet on the boat...we'd had too much cheese and meat stick already on the trip.

- The boys buying 'obnoxiously winter' Norwegian wool sweaters in the tourist shops of Bergen

- Wishing we had more time in Norway to go hiking in the mountains...we almost had to restrain Chris from jumping off the train in rugged ski town of Finse

- Being in Norway during the only time you can't go skiing (^#%$@!!!)...the snow doesn't fall until November, and the glaciers are only open to the end of summer

- Watching the Norwegian ski jump team practise at the Lillehammer Olympic site

- Enjoying our only sit down restaurant meal in Norway...sitting in the sunshine, enjoying delicious beer and the best shrimp any of us had ever tasted at the harbour in Olso.

- Jen almost having a breakdown....we said goodbye to Chris in the morning (having given him all kinds of stuff to take home) having no idea how we were going to get out of Oslo ourselves. We needed to get to Greece, but our flight was out of Helsinki....We hadn't found any cheap airfares, and individual train tickets were ridiculously expensive. We ended up buying Eurail passes, the best decision that we've made in Europe. We hoped to make our way to Budapest, where we could catch a different flight to Athens (hopefully). We left for Copenhagen (first stop on the way to Budapest). We'd had a great time in Scandinavia, but we needed a break from the hectic travel schedule of the past two months...

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