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Published: September 28th 2006
Heiling the Ancients
Postcard material from the beaches of Stavanger, however, these swords were dedicated to some not-so-old guy, which almost took the magic away!Hello again, Ive found a slightly cheaper alternative to net cafe's in Norway and that's using the internet in Sweden! How much easier can it be than to travel accross the border to use the net? It's not THAT much cheaper, probably save like $5aud althogether but thats better than nothing I think. I survived my first 11 days in Norway and looking back I didnt spend half as much as suspected but that's because im not constantly forking out for sightseeing excursions or museums, one reason for that is that most had already closed for the season, so I didnt see any 'Whale Museums' in the North or 'Seal Bashing Halls of Fame, with hands on Simulation Fun' which I would have liked, well at least some 'learn about how it all works here in the North' but instead I stuck to my favoured WWII museums which didnt let me down. The trouble with starting in the North of Norway and heading down is whether or not I'll be able to top the Lofoten Islands, the most serene and intensely beautiful place i'd ever been to. I was heading towards Oslo, which is where 'everyone' whose 'been to norway' goes
Downtown Oslo Madness
The highrise buildings, quite a contrast to the rest of the country. and is bound to be filled to the brim with irritating tourists. Afterwards, I was planning to hit the splendid Flåm valley and Aurlandsfjorden which is a renound Hive of tourist activity and according to National Geographic is the most visited place in Northern Europe. Im an asshole and like to sit myself higher than than the typical tourist, even though I am one. I was stricken with fear that my view of Norway was going to be burnt with images of me having to deal with humans on the grander scale again and the feeling of isolation (mainly from American backpackers) would depart and send me spiralling towards a more mediocre finale to my 7 month jaunt accross the globe. I was totally wrong though, so please read on and find out what happened, that's if I have managed not to offend everyone so far, i'd like to apologise to those people I met and read this shit and also the one I didn't meet that used to read this. Onwards onto greener perhaps less offensive pastures!
It struck me as I sat in my unreserved seat on the Train at Trondheim's trainstation, that this was indeed my
Hostel Vista
Stunning views, high prices, that's the slogan for Norwegian hostels. 3rd last train trip on this holiday. It's very sad to feel like that, trains had become my saviour, my quiet time, my reflection time, my ride to the next chapter of this story and I had never felt more at ease without a care or financial worry as I sat by the window watching the world whizz passed me but after close to 40 train rides accross the world it was just about coming to a close. It hadn't dawned on me that it was
all coming to a close soon, it was just the train right now that mattered. At 8:25am, the train left the station and I was on my way to Oslo. The journey started off with such an awesome scenic view. I was cursing to myself about taking the nightrain from Bodö to Trondheim, I mean what scenery did I miss? What I saw out the window was breathtaking. The rolling green fields after leaving Trondheim, the farm houses and tractors and cars slowing chugging to life for a day in the life. Aside from local country folk doing their daily country folk things, the clouds that had stuck around were slowly moving away as
Escape from the City
On the museum 'penninsula', you can pretend you're far away from kebab stalls and amongst the wonders of nature, like cows (not pictured) the sun decided to burn away the excess condensation from the skies, this resulted in a curious effect, as if the day hadn't decided whether it wanted to be sunny or cloudy. The hills and forests were shrouded in mist and once again I sat there contemplating and understanding where the inspiration for alot of my favourite bands came from. The mists, or dare I say fog, were beggining to lift and left quite a grim and sinister vibe to the fairytale surrounds. The train trip was to last 7 hours and I never wanted it to end. After moving through some wonderful hills and valleys and the usual scenery associated with this awesome place, we hit a more lakeside area in the early afternoon. We passed through the town of Lillehammer (where Oystein, a new reader of my journals hails from!) and it was quite a scenic place, the huge lake or river also shrouded in a fog but with a brilliant blue sky above it looked almost surreal with the added bonus of mountain ranges accross the water and to the back of the town, it sure was quite a sight. Lillehammer is quite famous for holding the
Museum Overdose
The old fort looks quite stunning and is free to wander, it also houses many a museum to waste one's time away with. Winter Olympics years and years ago, infact the first time I learnt about Norway at all was when I was in 3rd grade and our teacher tought us about Norway (such memories!) The train plowed along through various other towns and eventually through Oslo airport where I started picking up big city vibes, an airport always means it's a bug city. I wasnt sure I was ready for big city life again, after being in tiny towns since I left Helsinki. I began to stress slightly. Eventually we started plowing through the suburbs of Oslo and it sure looked like a big city on the European scale of 'big cities'. I hopped off the train and had the joy of trying to find a hostel with no reservation, I mean the season was over, I wouldnt need a reservation! I had been advised 'Anker Hostel' was a good one and the only one still open in September so I left the Trainstation and made my way there slowly. Upon exiting the station I was confronted with skyscraper(s), buses, trams and hordes of people! This wasn't the Norway I was used to, this was chaos on a grandscale, I could have
Wooden Money Traps
These age old wearhouses look fantastic but house alot of expensive woolen crap (Norwegian Woolen crap) been in any city on the face of the Earth but it
was still Norway and I had to remind myself. I walked the wrong direction into an area called Grönland, which on reflection seems to be immigrant city with 5 black faces to every local and it was kinda grotty and scary, I didn't feel comfortable with my gigantic jetpack sized backpack which weighs 500kg and slowly retreated to where the bigger buildings were. I walked eventually onto the right street and found the hostel, a giant hotel complex with a dorm componant. I stepped inside and waited for a few other foriegners to get signed in. After about 15 mins of standing there broiling in my own stinking sweat (it was very hot for a norwegian 'non-summer' day!) I finally got served and I could tell that I would be very lucky to get a room. I was lucky and managed to score a bed for the night, so I went and dumped my stuff in the room and decided it was time to poke around Oslo and see what I could learn about the place.
I had 3 locations to check out, a fabled record store
Sunny Bergen
My only chance to capture this brilliant scene... and how wonderful it was, I hope you agree. named 'Helvete', a bar 'Elm Street' and another bar 'Rock In'. The first 2 places are known because of their black metal pasts and the 3rd, Rock In was reccomended to me by Amina who lived in Oslo while studying, so she was half a local and I trusted her judgement. I'll take this oppurtunity now to discuss black metal. Im not sure if everyone even knows what it is, hell my own Dad refers to it as 'Death Metal' but it infact is not Death Metal at all. Popular Death metal 'groups' are like Cannibal Corpse and of Course Morbid Angel where as popular Black Metal bands are Mayhem, Darkthrone, Emperor, Burzum (to an extent in Norway), Enslaved, Satyricon and Troll. Ive enjoyed all these bands on occasion with the exception being Troll. They're all Norwegian and well, they're the 'big names'. There are millions of others, ive mentioned Ulver before and they're one of my favourite 'black metal bands'. Black metal was pretty much started in Norway when a couple of lads started a bit of a war against Christianity in Norway. The 2 main figures were Euronymous, the founding member of Mayhem and Varg Vikernes (note: not
Twisted Sidestreets of Bergen
The place just oozed with awesome, walking the streets was the biggest attraction in Bergen. their real names) Cut a long story short, Varg murdered Euronymous who lived in Oslo, it is said that Varg drove all the way from Bergen to murder his friend due to a disagreement over how black metal was 'heading'. Varg formed the one man project 'Burzum' which focussed heavily on the mythological side of Norwegian pagan culture where as Mayhem was more about death and being assholes and total devastation, their original vocalist indeed killed himself. His stage name was also 'Death'. Varg thought that his homage to Tolkien and Asgard was far superior than the lackluster approach to black metal than what Euronymous represented. Varg still is a stupid shit but he comes out of jail soon, so watch out haha. Another event in Norwegian black metal halls of fame was the burning of the Fantoft Stave Church on the outskirts of Bergen. A stave Church is a very ancient wooden church, a monument to Norway's loss of Pagan roots and the beggining of christianity in Norway. Varg and the guitar player from the band Emperor, 'Samoth' decided one night in 1992 to torch the place and well it goes down in history as being a stupid thing
The Church that Hate Burnt
Black Metal's greatest monument, rebuilt but the ashes never forgotten ... to do and it cost the country millions of dollars to rebuild the place and since then black metal and Burzum in particular have become dirty words to some people. Burzum is one of the most mainstream and best selling of 'underground' black metal worldwide even to this day but you don't see too many people readily wearing a Burzum shirt on the streets in Norway. Helvete my first destination was the record store in Oslo owned by Euronymous and down below in the basement he ran one of the first and most kult record labels in Black Metal History 'Deathlike Silence Productions' which released among others, Enslaved debut full length album and Mayhem's monumental opus 'De Mysteriis dom Sathanas'. I own a fair chunk of original pressings from that label and they're worth a fair dollar on ebay. I looked up the addresses for these places and asked the dude behind the counter and he had no idea but his colleague did and he marked them all on my map and off I went to find Helvete (translated to Hell in Norwegian). I walked to the main train station and discovered that the street which had the store was
Downtown Finse
Finse, Norway's 100th biggest town is a treat for roving packs of ravenous tourists. very close by and I quickly was on the right track. About 10 mins along the street I left the hustle and bustle of downtown Oslo and hit a quiet suburban neighbourhood with small boutiques and cafe's on each side of the street with a tramline disecting it. I found no. 56 and well... it isn't a record store anymore, I knew that of course but I had no idea what it was going to contain. It was just a boring cafe that baked their own bread. Outside some strange people sat, strange with bizzare fashion sense, almost hippsterish and with dogs at their feet as they sipped latè. I wonder if they had any idea what this location was all about 10 years ago and even if they did, I wonder if they would even care. Probably not. I took some pics and stood around looking suspicious before I hit the trail again. I patrolled the local streets and eventually found some ancient church or castle ruins by a fake lake setup to look like how it did in the medieval days (according to the sign) but Im not sure if the huge 6 lane Highway was there when
Oslo to Bergen Choo Choo
What it looks like to see the train from down below and outside in the cold. kings and assorted medieval folken were prancing about with their horses in the olden days. It was a pretty dim place. I sat there and attempted to use my knife and cut/tear bits of loose material from the bottom of my jeans because my jeans are quite f##ked already. After my alteration skills were used too their full effect I meandered back to Grönland where as usual the North Africans or other minority groups would feed me with shitty but cheap food. I had a cheap Indian dish and the taste reflected the amount of money I paid but I was filled up, so no worries there. I walked now towards Elm Street, not too many stories here but it was a renound venue for these black metal bands to their live performances to the Norwegian masses, so I thought maybe they would be playing some good music and have some cool stuff on the walls. I walked through the main hub and shopping area of Oslo and it was all very non-interesting, once again I had to remember I was in the same country as Lofoten and other wonderous places. I eventually found Elm Street and sat at the
A Loner in the Wild
En route to Myrdal, the abandoned train line and an empty house my only companions. bar and asked the girl for 'the cheapest beer' (so classy!) and I got one for nok;39 which is roughly $8aud, so I guess it's alot but for Norway it's quite acceptable at a bar. I was disencouraged by the music, it was 'punk', old punk which is even worse, I really hate it, it's such stupid simple boring music and I dont like their anarchy stories or whatever, there's not enough HATE like in black metal. I sat on a couch and looked around. By myself in a bar, something I dont like doing too much. Altogether I think maybe there were 5 people there and none of them were the type to talk to a stranger, I noticed a 'Dimmu Borgir' poster (yet another Norwegian black metal pop band, one of the worst bands ever to exist) aswell as a poster mount of Mayhem's De Mysteriis dom Sathanas (The Sacred Rights of Lord Satan) but apart from that, the place sucked and was no place i'd return unless a band were playing or I had no other better options. Kinda angry I left at 8pm, I had one more place to check out 'Rock In', the name sounded
View of a Lifetime
The brilliant ice scorched landscapes were so eerie yet so beautiful. kinda lame and my mood was moving from being bored to being lonely and to being bored again, maybe go back to the hostel and hope to meet someone? hmm I dunno, I thought i'd keep walking a bit but it started getting a bit chilly and I only had a t-shirt on. I eventually found 'Rock In' down a smaller street a little further along. Out the front sat metal looking people. Your usual type, long hair and black clothes. Everyone knows metal people, hell ive even complained about them a few times in my journals but this was Norway and Norwegian metal people could be respected because they should be into good bands. I walked passed the people sitting outside after some hesitation and walked downstairs to the bar. There was a screen and a dvd was being shown and wow it was Red Harvet playing live (Red Harvest are also a Norwegian black metal band and are indeed one of my all time favs) It turned out to be the release party for the Red Harvest dvd, awesome, i'd certainly come to the right place and the beer was only nok;33 here! I was pretty bored and
Bridge Over Murderous Water
The waterfalls and rapids were enthralling, luckily I had bridges to cross them, unlike on the Lofoten Islands... just sat there sipping beer and listening to half decent music but time seemt to drag. I noticed some dude with a mullet and I could swear i've seen him before. So familiar... I heard him talk in English and he said he's 'just flown in from Hungary' and the penny slipped another inch... I was almost certain who this guy was. After my 2nd beer I began talking to the new dude behind the bar and he seemt fairly interesting. He started talking to the mulleted man and after he left the bar, I asked the bartender 'who was that guy?' and he said it to me straight. It was Attila. Now that name means nothing to most people but to me and probably only Mike it's a BIG name as far as metal is concerned. An example of who he is.. he was the vocalist on Mayhem's album De Mysteriis dom Sathanas to begin with aswell as being a member of the old school metal band Tormentor among numerous other bands and electronic or industrial projects and squillions of guest appearances including collaborations with Sunn 0))) and of course vocal duties for Italy's premier Black Industrial metal band
Valley of Veiled Secrets
The Flåm valley seconds before it became lost in the Mist entirely. Aborym. In other words. He is a god. Assorted other metal personalities were amongst the crowd including members from a black/death metal norwegain band Aura Noir (black metal with death metal influence) and I kept talking to the bartender but I cannot reveal his identity but if you were paying attention to my journal from Helsinki, it'll give you a clue of who this 'ghostly' figure is and for metal fans, he's not a Norwegian. See who can guess and if you guess correctly i'll buy you something nice. He was (or still is) a vocalist from my very favourite black metal bands. The night just continued to get better. After a few more beers I started talking to Attila who was also drunk and I discussed with him why he rejoined Mayhem and how the new gear would sound and also asked him for the lowdown on Italy and why he's no longer a member of Aborym. We also discussed Sunn 0))) and how he's joining them for a tour accross the USA with Celtic Frost (funny combo for a tour!)I was also approached by some weird little dude who said he lived in Trondheim, he was talking to
Descent into Madness
The ghost-like towns and bitter emptiness created by the mist was electrifying. me about some seriously screwed up things... dreams and how you have to share them or they're not really dreams at all! Facinating! I was learning that Norwegians enjoy to get stupendously drunk and talk shit (just like home!) I was then approached by another guy (okay it was kinda strange but I dont think they were fags or at least hope not) this one said I 'looked sad' and bought me a beer, he was quite drunk and ended up being from Switzerland, his name was Kevin for the record (named after English football start Kevin Keegan) he was rattling on about how he worked on a farm in Norway but had to escape because the owner was strange and how Norwegians who live in the country are extra weird and scary people... he just went on and on but when you're drunken it's all in good fun. After sometime and serious drunkeness, 2 girls came to the bar and started doing stupid drunk things like attempting to flick coins into the tips tin. It was quite funny and eventually they began babbling to me in Norwegian and I had no idea what it was about (could have been
Alternate Route
The Flåmsbanen, regarded as the most scenic rail side route in the world, appearing from the mist. A Ghost train. calling me names like someone else would!) I told them I was from Australia and spoke english and they got rather excited and started talking in English. My dream come true, 2 attractive drunk Norwegian girls for me to discuss the finer things in life with. I followed them upstairs as they were smokers and we were joined by some other guy, I think his name was Erik or something it was Erik+ but I cant remember now and the girl's names? haha... one maybe Annette but the Norwegian equivalent and the blonde one? Holy shit I really can't remember but anyway they were all super nice and friendly and I enjoyd learning about what the 'youth' think of their country and in particular Oslo, it was for certain that people in Norway need to explore the world because Oslo's the only 'city' in Norway and well, I think it's nicer to get a bigger perspective of the world. The conversation lead back downstairs and I had a beer and a shot of some other crap and was feeling mighty wasted. Erik+ had departed the scene and I followed the girls to a kebab place where they bought some foul
The town admidst the Fjord
Flam awaited me after 60km of super adrenaline fueled biking smelling stuff. I remember being approached by numerous hookers walking around on the street and for nok;100 I could have had anything I wanted. It's weird what you remember. Oh yeah I remember meeting some danish guy from Copenhagen and walking into a 7/11 and then I remember saying bye to the girls and getting another 2 kisses on the cheek and then I stumbled back to the hostel. I talked on the phone to someone who might care about this situation and it was almost 5am at this stage. After the call, I entered the dorm, 2 people were there, 1 snoring and 1 speaking some incoherent sleep talk. It was frightening but still I had no trouble passing out. The thought on my mind was 'shit I dont have a room, I gotta be out by 11' .... then I vanished from Planet Earth into a sleep so intense not even the end of the world could have roused me.
My alarm, the sound like movements of Satan's bowels, awoke me from my precious sleep but 5 hours sleep was alright, I guess. I showered and packed my bags. I had this faint hope i'd get the
Best. Fjord. Ever.
The Aurlandsfjorden would be covered entirely in mist the next morning, may aswell enjoy it while it lasts ... bed again but when I went down there I got the word that the place was sold out. I let out an internal groan and got directions to another hostel, a HI hostel not too far away from the city center but i'd need to take a tram. So I went and bought a unlimited day pass and hopped on the tram and eventually made it to the new place. The walk up the hill from the tram stop was so painful. I should discuss cheap Norwegian beer. It really sucks, I tried 3 different kinds but found that the brewery from Tromsö, 'Macks' is the only one that didnt make me feel like dying after the first sip but the other stuff I had the night before, holy hell did it make me feel like shit this morning. I got a bed for 2 nights and dumped my gear but i'd come out in some weird flesh eating disease... leprosy? I must have caught it from the beds in Anker Hostel, the place was fairly crusty and trendy but here in family friendly HI hostels you'll never get bitten by weird bugs. I walked back to the tram with
Last Big town for a Million Miles
Stavanger, Norway's 4th largest and one of the nicest places. Reccomended. the intention of heading to 'Frog Something' at the end of the T-Bane line no.1, which heads into the country and gives a nice view over the greater Oslo area. Note that T-Bane is similar to S-Bahn in Germany which is like a Suburban train. I made it to Frog Hill and it was just beautiful, I could see all of Oslo below me and also a fjord in the distance, just marvelous but boy was I feeling Ill and I didnt drink THAT much, it must be the CHEAP SHITTY BEER (worse than in Lithuania, Lloyd, WORSE!) The crushing hangover didnt stop me from walking to the 'TV Tower', which I figured you could go up and get a better view but once I got there it was some construction area and you couldn't go anywhere. A 2km walk for nothing. Well that's a lie, I was in Oslo's wilderness area. I heard that Oslo was meant to be very close to nature which wasnt that much of a shock seeing as though Norway is pretty much a giant national park with 4 million people living over the entire expanse. It was impressive and if I didnt feel like
Good Morning Sunshine
Stavanger seemt to bask in Sunshine at all times when I was there, I wasnt complaining on this fine morning. dying im sure I would have enjoyed a longer stroll amongst nature, there were meant to be Elk about! I didnt see any though and at this point I really didnt care 😊 I saw some cool signs though, curses that I didnt take a pic, it was like a kid's discovery trail or something but written in English and each way point had a piece of paper with questions stapled to a tree, multiple choice. One question was 'How Many Chickens does a bird have?' I laughed heartily (it's obvious what it's trying to ask but it's just so stupid) another question was 'What food does an elk enjoy eating?' and the one of the choices was d)Tourists ... touchè Oslo's forest area. I trained it back to downtown Oslo and then another train back to the hostel. I realised that I was leaving on Sunday and the trams didnt run early enough for me to get to my 8:11am train to Bergen so I checked to see if the Subway/T-bane would work out and there would be no hassles, mate! I got my book and sat in the sun, not before finding 2 Americans in my dorm, from
One Last Fjord
The Entrance to the Lysefjorden, the weather sure made it something special, apart from the misleading info I saw about this place... Idaho and as you would expect from Idaho, they were boring and only staying in Oslo for one night, which means Norway in one night, in reality. I take this time to slander anyone who has ONLY been to Oslo, you're NOT seeing Norway you lazy people. This is my 2nd favourite country on Earth and you're not seeing much of it at all. Shame on you. To make matters worse, they were heading to Germany for 'October Fest' ha! Typical!! Miss out on the fjords for your touristy beers my American friends and may it haunt you forever! I sat in the sun and read my book and listened to a Finish Doom album I forgot to listen to in Finland (I really am an idiot) the band Shape of Despair are actually one of the best examples of Finish doom... oh well, there's always next time eh. After I watched the sunset, this time over Oslo's fjord (which was visible from the hostel's grounds!) I headed into the city to do some journal. I spent a couple hours there before heading back to the hostel and sleeping, a full 10 hours this time, that's what I needed. I'd make the most of my last day in Oslo tomorrow for sure.
I was out and about by 11am, I headed to station to get my required reservation for the train to Bergen and actually managed to score an upgrade to 1st Klass (Komfort Klass in Norsk, which means better seats and free tea and coffee!) pity it costs nok;25 more but hey 1st klass would kick ass. My next destination was the tourist office, I wanted to find out if my excursion to Flåm by bicycle was going to work out and whether the Aurlandsfjordan tourboat was still running off season. I got the green light from the tourist office woman and set off for the place in Oslo where there were lots of Museums including yet another Viking museum. I was going for the trilogy, Roskilde, Birka and now Oslo's Vikingskip Museet, the 3 places any Viking enthusiast should check out. Borg on the Lofoten Islands is also a must see but I think I got there too late and the operating hours were too weird for me and well I just didnt have time time. Bygdöy is the place with museums and because my day pass had ran out I decided to walk the 5km there from the tourist office. Note that a single fare for a bus or Tram or Train is nok;20 and nok;30 if you buy it on the Vehicle where as a day pass is nok;60. I liked walking and this would give me a chance to see Oslo's seafront by foot. I walked almost the same route as to Rock In and enjoyed it alot in Daylight. Oslo really is beautiful and has the air of a capital city. Huge important looking ancient buildings and sculptures and water features scattered all about not to mention the beloved cobbled streets and walkways! I ventured into a trendy shopping district with a plethra of expensive designer shops and lots of people walking about, most in tourist attire. I soon departed this area and headed for a more industrial scape where the big container ships moored. I walked passed them and onto a long expanse of bike track which followed the highway before hitting a green patch of grass and a side road headed to 'Bygdöy'. The walk was great and just as Rick Steeves told me, it was almost a rural district within suburban Oslo. I think it's kept this way to show day trippers (and American Backpackers) what they're missing out on from the rest of Norway. I walked passed a folk museum, another in the vane of Stockholm's 'Skansen' or the one I went to in Belgium. It looked interesting but expensive and I was only interested in the Viking museum and the WWII one back closer to the city. The museum was to be expected and that was quite good but what more can I say about Vikings and museums. It's all the same after awhile. This place was better than Roskilde simply because my feet werent soaked. After I left, I went to a Kiosk chain to buy a new day ticket because I figured id need 3 more trips and the dude said you can't buy them outside the city. He used a triumphant tone as to suggest I was an idiot and I should know this and now I have to spend nok;30 on the bus. WRONG my friend, I shall WALK BACK HAHAH! I did that and after an hour I rocked up at the Norwegian Resistance Museum, yet another Anti-nazi museum and it was facinating with some very grim displays, including toys and coloured cotton wool. Sounds weird but they had fighter jet models hanging from fishing wire and red and orange painted cotton wool representing flames and charcoal representing smoke. It sounds very lame but it was seriously a great visual to have next to the miles of text. I walked through and read all the interesting bits and gawked at the displays and then left just like that. I wanted to go back to Rock In for a beer, maybe meet some more locals but mainly because I was parched and needed a cool refreshment. It was saturday night but for some reason I thought it was Sunday, so I figured 8pm would be late enough. This gave me 2 hours to explore the streets one last time. I walked around the residential parts of Oslo and the king's residence and it was all great. The city was a winner and right up there with the other 2 nearby capitals of Copenhagen and Stockholm. It's weird because I have something against people who only goto capitals but each European capital has something to offer, a huge landmark or famous museum but for most part they dont offer a true insight into a country. All the Scandinavian capitals had this feeling apart from Helsinki and on mainland Europe, Paris was no indication on how the rest of France is, infact La Rochelle and Normandy were the only 2 'real' french places I went. As for Norway, I think I had seen alot of it outside Oslo and was convinced i'd seen almost enough to say 'I've Been to Norway' but I still had 2 out of the 4 largest 'Cities' in Norway to check out. Oslo's the biggest with 560,000 people and Bergen along way behind with only 238,000. Makes Adelaide look HUGE with 1.5million but we only have 1 tram line! Oslo has like 10! Madness! 8pm came around and I got a beer at Rock In but not before sitting at the docks and watching an Ocean Liner leave the port (I love doing that aswell as watching trains leave for their destination... I always wish i was aboard) I drank and stayed until 10pm but no girls from the night before showed up. Oh well, it doesnt matter, not like i'd ever see them again. I shook hands with the bartender and headed off for my last night's sleep in Oslo. My final conversation at Rock In was with a metal dude, he told said to me 'Norways a great place huh? Really nice people huh? you know what, man, you should listen to some true Norwegian black metal, nice meeting you!' ....
The struggle to get up and leave the next morning was quite great. I slowly crawled down to the T-bane station but was a little worried due to my experience getting home the night before. It would appear that the corresponding trains don't like to stick to their schedules too well, unless, of course... I was reading them backwards then just maybe it'd make sense. 5 mins before the timetable suggested a train appeared at the station, a number that wasnt meant to arrive until about 20 mins later. Totally bizzare. The driver got out and saw me sitting there confused and splurted out some Norwegian words and I was half asleep and added 'huh? what? when? hey!' and he caught on I was an English speaking ignoramous and asked where I was going and he said yes we go there and be there in 15 mins. No problems. I arrived at the main station with about 40 mins to spare so I went and bought some snacks from the 7/11, served by a nice asian guy who told me Bergen was a lovely place but I would need an umbrella. I chuckled and walked over to Burger King for breakfast. Burger King (Hungry Jack's in Australia) tastes the same the world over, apart from Norway. The food here in Norway is dreadful and I take the time now to discuss how it works. Actually the only reason I can think of why the food here sucks is because it costs so much money for spices and things. You see, you'll buy a meal of any kind, something 'nice' or something cheap like a kebab and it will taste like different levels of cardboard. The kebab will taste like cardboard left to marinate in watered down garlic sauce overnight, with just the hint of soggy lettuce and tasteless tomato to add to the hideous texture. A nice meal will be a slightly crispier cardboard, fresh, perhaps straight off the press but it will still have that 'Norwegian food trademark' of being total rubbish. It's the only really bad thing about Norway, the food you buy in restaurants and take away places but you can always cook for yourself but it's not always a cheaper option but if you want something to taste nice you have no choice. Bodö would be the other bad thing about Norway. Eventually the 8:11am train to Bergen materialized on the departure board along with the correct platform so I headed down there. I have to mention briefly that there was an Australian elderly man waiting in line at Burger King and he was annoying, he had that 'old Australian man' attitude, like the world revolved around his accent and prescence, he was getting annoyed with the attendant because he didnt get his thick aussie accent the first 2 tries. So it's not just American people that are assholes while travelling, just 99.99%!<(MISSING)br>
I sat in my 'Komfort Klass' seat, a reclining leather chair and it was bliss, I took off my shoes and put my feet up on the opposite chair and stretched. Life was hard and I chucked on some music to deal with the awkward situation. I was sitting backwards which sucked but the komfort was good enough. The train actually followed the direction out of the city that the t-bane I caught did. It passed the hostel, I could see it and suddenly I became convinced that it would stop at a suburban station close to the hostel, as do many long distance trains and that would really suck but this time, it was plain sailing. The Oslo to Bergen rail trip is regarded by many as the greatest rail journey in the world, or so i'd read. At first I wasn't that interested as it slid out of Oslo into a heavily forested area with lots of lakes and things, I could take it or leave it and after the first album finished, I had a sleep. When I came out my short daze things were a little bit more interesting, we were moving slowly up into the mountains and the scenes were that of Mountains and valleys, the usual thing you would see but it was very interesting and the higher you got, the more snow capped peaks you cold see. After an hour or so I decided more music was in order and by this time you could see Glaciers right up there and the train roared into the mountain town of Finse. This town is special to me for the reason that I was going to be back here tomorrow morning and hire a bike and do a massive ride decending the mountain and towards the Aurlandsfjorden through the Flåm Valley, via the town of Myrdal. Sounds exciting huh? Finse is also special because it's the 'highest train station in Norway', wow a whopping 1,222 meters above Sea Level. Not much compared to Switzerland's highest train station (i'd been there, too!) but it was quite a nice looking place but I'll cover that a wee bit later on. During the last 30 or 40 mins the weather had improved and once again the sun was out, just like crossing the border, Norway was putting on a show for me and I felt privelaged to be here in the mountains on this great rail journey and to have the sun beating down and the clear blue sky overhead was almost a blessing. I could see to the right of the train the old Railway Line's maintanence road and that would be the one I would be crusing on tomorrow but as soon as I made that we were plunged into one of the many tunnels along the trainline to Bergen. It's a splendid example of Norway's beauty along here but there's km after km of snow tunnels that block off pretty much all of the view at the most scenic moments. Eventually we started moving downward to the smaller towns, we had already passed Myrdal where the 'famous' Flåmsbanen' takes people down to Flåm on a sleek and private railroad. The towns leading up to Bergen were quite picturesque dwellings, set alongside massive blue lakes and cradled beneath towering mountains, the rich greeness of these towns was so stereotypically fairytale but who cares when it looks so great. After almost 7 hours, we entered Bergen's outer suburbs and within a couple of mins we were slowing down for the final time, we had made it to Bergen...
- Mannhai - Hellroad Caravan (I thought they were a Norwegian stoner band but they're from Finland! Silly me but they kick ass)
- Russian Circles - Enter (Pelican type stuff but with a rockier edge, I really love it and it suited the train journey)
- Zebulon Pike - II - The Deafening Twilight (Another contender for album of 2006, this instrumental stuff was perfect for mountain training)
- Giant Squid - Giant Squid (Not what I imagined to be listening to coming into Bergen but a great album anyway)
Bergen had been my dream city ever since leaving home, i'd done my research and seen fantastic pictures and pretty much fell in love with the place. As I left the station I wasn't engulfed with a flood of people and huge buildings, I was confronted by old buildings and those cobbled streets once again. An old and small city for me to explore again. Perfect. As far as I know, Bergen wasn't flattened by the Germans during WWII but Im not sure because I didnt goto any WWII museums here. I found my hostel but this time it was a Guest house with dorm beds. It was quite cheap and i'd read about it even before leaving home. It had an age old Elevator to take to the 4th floor and it was said to be quite scary. I'd have to agree but it worked quite well and didnt look like it was ready to be scrapped just yet. I dumped my stuff and then asked the girl working there what the weather would be like and she informed me it will rain for the next 5 days after tomorrow. So I thought i'd better do my sightseeing today while the day was young, alomst 4pm, plenty of time to see things still! I walked outside into the sunlight with the intention of walking to the bergbanen, or mountain train and right to the top of Mt. Floyen, one of the 2 big hills which help Bergen be the most rainy city in Norway. I walked the streets for a bit first, captivated by the whole place. A stunning city. Cute alleyways and small churches with overgrown gardens and leaves all over the place and the tourist factor wasn't unbearable, they were there of course but could be ignored. Eventually I found the train and bought a one way ticket to the top. The train was filled with old people, mainly American pensioners but some germans, too. The Germans really love Norway, maybe another war is on the cards. I think the Americans were here to board the Hurtigruten for a scenic fortnight of well sitting on a boat and being old. The view from the top was simply fantastic, what else can I say? Bergen is a perfect small city. Surrounded by mountains and lakes inbetween the residential areas and an awesome small harbour area lined with tourist fjord vessels and express boats to neighbouring cities like Stavanger, aswell as a quay over the otherside for the Hurtigruten. I sat there mezmerised for what seemed like 5 mins but in reality must have been quite less and decided it was time to hike down the mountain. The mountain top is surrounded by forests and rocky outcrops with various trails throughout the natural reserve, one could spend many hours walking around and getting lost and if the weather held up and I had time to burn here in Bergen I would have really loved to comply. I followed trail 4 which lead to the bottom, however my adventurous spirit took hold and I ventured along 'sheep trails', or unmarked trails cutting off from the marked trails. I found a secret hideout near a fence, locals were sunning themselves on the rocks and I saw a metal tourist, wearing a Burzum t-shirt, probably the only person i'd seen in Norway who would dare to wear one. I almost congratulated him but realised it may lead to conversation which I had no intention of enjoying, so I headed further down. The road down was fantastic but it was hard, some places I had to slide down rock faces to get to flat ground and scraped my back on more than one painful occasion but eventually made it back to a sealed pathway. I decided to stroll through the residential areas on this side of Bergen before heading back to the hostel for dinner. I walked and walked and walked and was constantly in awe of how picturesque this place was. Every house was made from wood (I think but they probably all weren't but it sounds good in this context) and looked like a doll's house, all scattered amongst the forest backdrop or inbedded in the mountainside. Eventually I grew quite tired and my sightseeing was getting a bit too much. I walked passed the main place that inspired me so much to come to Bergen 'Brygen', a place along the harbour with ancient wooden shops. They appear on every postcard from Bergen, especially the ones I never sent home. Sorry folks. I saw a hat through the window, a woolen hat that looked so insanenly dorky and would be so awesome and out of place in Adelaide for my winter walkabouts, I just needed to buy it. The price tag looked like nok;99 which is acceptable. I made a mental note to come back and buy it before I left. I made dinner and sat down, I started talking to 2 guys, both from Sweden and lived close to Göteburg, my final Scandinavian destination. They told me all about how alot of Swedes travel over the border to work and return home with twice as much Kroner to spend at Swedish prices and it sounded pretty awesome. Their languages are quite similar and they look kinda the same as Norwegians (I'd have to say I like Swedish girls more though ... ) so it was the perfect crime. After the chat, I went for a walk and also picked up another reservation for the train ride to Finse the next morning. Such stupid expenses all the time just for a 2 hour train ride. I noticed that the lockers were almost all full and I needed one to dump my huge bags in. You see, I wasnt going to ride downhill for 75km with my huge backpack or even my day bag, I was going to take the smaller backpack which is connected to my larger one and leave all my other belongings in a locker in Bergen and pick them up when I return the following afternoon. With that in mind I went back and got all my gear sorted accordingly and returned to the station and dumped my uneeded gear into an empty locker and that was that, time for sleep, tomorrow was going to be a mammoth adventure.
The supermarket supplied me with a cheap lunch and sustainance to last me a whole day of bike trekking. Before I hopped on the train I went and checked the lockers and noticed ALL of them were being used, so my sense from the night before to get one at 11pm instead of taking my chance the next morning paid off. Score 10 points for me.I then sat on the train and watched as the skies trickled down with moisture, surely a day full of rain wasn't going to ruin everything. I had faith it would clear up, even slighlty. I was feeling very excited this morning. Such a huge bike trip for me, 75km doesn't sound too much but i'd never ridden so far in one day before and the scenery that was awaiting for me would be so priceless. This was almost going to top the Lofoten Island experience and that would be very hard to do. I was once again sitting backwards and when the train pulled into Finse's station I was standing at the wrong door and became disorientated, so as i stepped off and found the bike rental place, I had no idea which way Myrdal was or which way the train was going to go. Never mind, it's all part of the adventure. Finse is a small town, very small. A few houses, maybe 5 or 6 and a hotel or 2, maybe a store but I didnt see one. Finse cannot be accessed by car, only train, so you're kinda stuck up in the mountains if you decide to stay. The arctic-like tundra is an awesome sight, the iced wastelands as I like to call them surrounded by huge glaciers with the liquified ice pooling into a huge lake at it's base and you can stand there and hear absolutely nothing at all. Literally in the middle of nowhere and it's just awesome. The first shock was the mist, you couldn't really see much, so luckily the sun was out the day before when I passed through so I knew how it looked! The 2nd shock was the price it cost to hire the bike. The guy was very friendly and helped me select a great bike (with lots of gears!) but when he told me it was nok;410 I almost jumped out of my skin, close to $90aud for a bike for 48 hours, I only needed it for 6 though. Oh well, i'd come all this way to do the bike thing, I was going to pay wasn't I? i went to the hotel who handled all transactions and reluctantly handed over the old visa card. I hopped on the bike and saw a sign post that pointed to 'Flåm 60km -->' and decided it must be the right way to go and was on my way. The ride started off slowly with some small hills and the air was very very cold, my thin jacket and t-shirt combination wasn't really doing much for me and I thought my fingers and toes were going to completely freeze and snap off as I rode. The guy at the bike office said there would be some small hills but the going would be easy and that the surface for the most part was flat and not dangerous at all. I rode passed the huge lake near Finse with the beautiful glacial peeks just over the otherside, perhaps 1 or 2km away away. There was netheir snow nor ice on my side but it looked quite cold on the otherside. The ride eventually got easier and I had some sweeping downhills pieces and sailed at stupid speeds on the 'easy going' track, which was not easy going but actually quite dangerous, huge pot holes and often loose gravel, especially where small waterfalls have gradually eroded the track over time. I almost killed myself at least twice within the first hour. I had this extreme urge to go very fast but in my head I knew it was a stupid idea, I realised this after sliding out and around corners all the time. Still pretty exhilirating but not a good idea seeing as though my travel insurance had run out by this stage 😉 I mentioned waterfalls just before and this valley was filled with them, every 5 mins one would run down the hillside and under the track. Small hikers cabins were dotted around but with no signs of life. I was also getting paranoid because I wasnt sure if I were going the right direction, I mean I was following the train line the opposite way that I came in (or so I thought) and it wasn't until I saw the tracks leading into a blocked off train tunnel that it dawned on me that this was the disused train line and that there had been no electric cables overhead at all (Norway's trains are all electric you see) I felt much better once I worked it out. I saw some old man working on a roof of a cabin but there was no car, nothing, just a soul out in the middle of nowhere and he was the only sign of life I saw for about 3 hours of this journey. I stopped and had something to eat at some ruined old stone cottage and looked out at the most amazing scenes ever, mountains reflecting like a mirror in a huge lake and here I was all alone, no one else to take the pleasure of my own piece of serenity away from me (no other tourists) and I felt on top of my own world at that point. Another moment of feeling that my holiday had reached it's top moment. I had alot of these in Norway. This country couldn't disapoint me. The ride now got kinda tough, I passed through this tight tunnel beneath the train tracks, this time id joined the official trainline and I delved into this quiet valley between the bigger ones at the other end of the tunnel. I was greeted by even harsher road conditions and 'danger!' signs posted everywhere aswell. The greatest most violent waterfall also resided here and it's anger and cold wind could be felt all along the well beaten track until I crossed a wooden bridge and made my descent downward into a secret lakeside township. The track spiraled down over 3 or 4km and eventually I hit the bottom and rode through about 3 houses, one had an abandoned bike laying there, but no trace of life. I followed a track along the Lake's edge and could see small islands floating in an almost bowl like geography, with houses all along the bottom and mountains looming overhead. Each home had it's reflection glazed upon the crystal blue water. The lake was fed by numerous waterfalls, pure glacial water. It really was an amazing sight. Of course being down in a valley means you eventually have to come up. So I wheeled my bike up for about 10 mins and during this wheeling time, I enterted the town of Myrdal and saw some humans, my first since the weird man on the roof. I lie, it was a man and a dog but he waved and said hello. How nice. I also passed 2 other bikers, they must have done the same thing as me but a bit earlier, I didnt want to chitchat and continued pushing uphill. It was then that I spotted the Flåm Valley for the first time and from the pic I uploaded you can see what I saw and it's pretty damn spectacular. I wasn't lying when I said a few mins later and the view disapeared, I really mean that I couldn't see anyhing anymore at all and I had to ride down through it. I saw a sign post which pointed down to 'Flåm 20km' which meant id come 40km already. Not bad but I wasn't even slightly tired yet. I stopped and had some lunch and then got stuck into the last 20km. The first section was insane, the steep slope track was created like a continuous S shape to make your way down the moutain side but the gradiant was suicidal and the ground was so uneven, I once again almost died on numerous occasions just trying to slow down enough to make it around the corners. It was such fun and visibilty was only about 5m. The only sounds, my tires crunching and a thundering waterfall to my left. It was chaotic but such awesome exciting fun! Trust me! I stopped and checked out the scenes over the ledge of the waterfall. Stunning views, it looked just like scenes from popular 'computer games' such as Neverwinter Nights. Being in Norway feels like being the star of a role playing game. I love this place. After 10 mins of harsh riding I hit the bottom and it leveled out. A sign was up saying the railway maintanence road was finished and this was now a public road so be sensible. It was a normal dirt road now completely flat. Some of the excitement gone but the scenery still as wonderous. I followed almost directly along the Flåmsbanentrack and powered through a farming community, only the ghost like figures of farm houses and barns could be seen through the thick fog. Cars were parked but no people of animals could be seen or heard. I crossed over another bridge and then descended further down, passing more parked cars, park ranger's cars but once again no-one to be seen. The whole valley was shrouded in this fog and it was so wet and cold, it also cut out most of the view. You had to imagine you could see the mountains all around but infact at some intervals you could spy a mountaintop prying through the fog, serving as a reminder of what it looks like here on a good day. After some time I came to an empty train station, I checked the timetable and the train was scheduled to come through in 10 mins, so I got a good vantage point and took a cool picture of it as it entered. The sound of the train like thunder echoing around the empty valley. Seriously scary but empowering, too. I kept going and eventually made it to a place where I could see civilsation, I could see farms and houses aswell as sheep and goats and other things associated with small towns. I rode through feeling quite proud to have ridden all the way here. People were getting on with their lives picking children up from school and coming home from work and I had just had an awesome experience, one worth writing home about. I made it to Flåm and found the hostel and dumped my stuff, it took me 5 hours and 21 mins to ride the 60km but not it was like 4pm what the hell to do for the rest of the day?
I kept riding another 8km and ended up in the next town along the fjord, Aurland (located on Aurlandsfjorden. Coincidence? I think not) the town was much larger than Flåm and you could tell this because it had more take away places and a supermarket that stayed open til 8pm instead of 5pm. I rode around a bit and had some dinner. I also took some snaps of the fjord and it was such a stunning scene (ref: pic of boat floating on the fjord) and just sat there soaking in how awesome this location is. Slowly I was realising I would be back in Adelaide soon, where there's no fjords but we have nice beaches so that makes up for it slightly. I rode back to Flåm and found 2 girls in my dorm, they were both Australian girls, Kaitlin (never knew how to spell that name) and Zoe but both were living away from home, one in Canada working and the other in London. Both originally from Melbourne. It was nice chatting to them about home and I spent 2 hours or so talking shit before getting some sleep. The next morning would be my big fjord trip down to some small town I can't remember the name of, then a bus to Voss which is on the Oslo to Bergen train line and then back to Bergen again. Kaitlin came with me on the boatrip which is a good thing because the entire fjord was FILLED with MIST or clouds or whatever. nok;280 thrown down the drain for nothing. The commentry was like 'on the left side you can see blah blah blah which was an important something or rather' but you couldn't see a damn thing apart from clouds and water. It wasn't THAT bad and sometimes the fjord got really tight and you could sense you were somewhere special and maybe see a cliff through the clouds but overall it sucked badly. The tourist shop at the other end was useless, tons of overpriced stupid stuff, but what did I expect? I was in a bad mood I spent so much money and saw nothing. Kaitlin left me now to head back to Flåm but said she might end up in Bergen eventually. I wasn't overly excited about that prospect but she was nice, I guess, well she let me use her umbrella so that scores some points, I waved goodbye and got on the bus. I had lost interest in this area of Norway and wanted to be back in Bergen now. The bus ride to Voss was very cool, we went up some steep road and passed waterfalls etc. but i'd seen all this stuff, even better stuff the day before so it wasn't so wowowow like the other people on the bus were proclaiming as they pressed their collective camera against the window at every oppurtunity. I believe the waterfalls were called 'Bridal Veil' and 'Veil of Bride' (but in Norwegian) so that makes it like 100 or so waterfalls ive seen since California with the identical name. I hope one day someone will make unique names for waterfalls but Im not keeping my fingers crossed. Voss came and I hopped off the bus and started looking for a place to eat, I was so hungry I was almost at death's door. I found a cafe and got a tiny slice of dry Lasagne, a piece of bread and a small pepsi all for $21aud, im still shocked at how IMPOSSIBLE it is to eat anything here without a bankloan. Imagine living here, it must be hell even if they do earn extreme amounts of Kroner. I got on the Bergen bound train and was looking forward so much to hitting 'homebase'. Sadly the rains were still here and Bergens reputation was living up to itself. I spent the afternoon doing washing and then walking the streets and trying hard to enjoy the place even though the drizzle was horrendous. Bergen is a hard city to not enjoy even in shitty weather. I managed to pass the time somehow, though. Possibly at the netcafe and then I made it back to the hostel and passed out from exhaustion.
I spent my last day in Bergen doing the usual 'walk around for no reason', doing a great giant loop around all the districts of the inner city. I didn't venture out into the suburbs, I had no real reason to as I was sure it was just houses and things. I did fall in love with the place even more though. Bergen was just beyond words in terms of beauty and everything's in walking distance, too. Which is great once you learn how much it costs for a single bus ticket. I walked into some stores, I was looking for a metal store, I had in mind 2 dvd's I wanted to buy but I was shocked to learn that Bergen doesnt have a designated metal store, come to think of it, neither did Oslo but I was still a bit confused as to why that was. I got told about an alternative store down one side street and when I walked it, a stoner band 'Colour Haze' from München were playing, so that was a good sign but I wasnt looking for stoner rock, I was looking for metal dvd's and the place failed me. Oh well. I also went looking for a cheap hat I saw earlier and entered the store only to find the price was betwen 200 and 300 kroner, not 99 like I saw. I almost exploded with rage but I
really wanted one of those woolen hats. I asked one girl behind the counter (there are 4 or 5 indentical stores along Brygen selling idenitcal gear) and she said to check out the market at the dock. So I did just that and I found a woolen hat for 99kroner! I was over the moon and it looked and smelt so good, I gleefully handed over the cash and I now have a cool hat to wear when I get home, well I also have that russian military hat, I'll be spoilt for choice! I was in high spirits and decided to check out this 'Stave Church' id read about. The booklet said it was burnt down by arsonists in 1992, it clicked that this was
the church from the glory days of
Svart Metall so I hopped on the bus for an extreme price of nok;31 (for a one way 15 min ride!) to pay homage to a place with alot of memories attached to it. I walked in the rain getting lost for 15 mins before finding the place but it was worth it. The place was locked up for the winter and had a fence to keep out black metalers who wanted to burn it down again. The place got rebuilt after being totally destroyed but the kult feelings of juvenile Varg and Samoth and their Kristan haat from almost 15 years ago could still be felt. The church was in a semi rural area with a cool little forest but people's houses and apartments were located on either side of the trees. I could imagine the chaos of that one fateful night. Utter madness that changed the face of black metal, for better or for worse. Ill leave that for you to decide. On my way back down I ran into Kaitlin, she was also going to check the place out. She heard of black metal only because it was mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide (poser!) so I informed her on the importance of this place she was going to see (doubts on whether she gave 2 shits haha) I waved a goodbye and headed back into town. I spent the evening chatting to my 2 swedish friends before retreating to the Net Cafe again, I walked 15 mins extra in the rain just to save $1aud per hour, now that's dedication to saving money! After I completed my last journal successfully I went back to the hostel for my last night's rest in Bergen.
I had already bought my ticket to Stavanger the day before. I worked out a while ago i'd catch the ferry to Stavanger instead of the bus, it was cheaper anyway because I got a hefty discount due to my scanrail pass. My plan was to hit Stavanger for one night and see 2 sights, the swords in my first pic and also to hike to the top of the Pulpit Rock, a bizzare rock formation along the Lysefjorden, which is the main fjord closest to Stavanger and the cities biggest draw card, attracting almost as many tourists as the Flåm valley and trainline. The boat ride was quite cool, it was on a modern catamaran (spelling?) and was quite nippy along the seas but also jumped around a fair bit. Nowhere near as exciting as the boat from Narvik though. The rains continued to fall as we sailed through the suburbs of Bergen along the coastline and still kept raining as we passed smaller towns but after 3 hours, the sun began to shine and as wel pulled into Stavanger, the sun was at full force. Arrival in Stavanger began panic stations. I had no accomodation. The hostel here was closed and the one outisde the city at the Pulpit Rock was also closed, so I knew i'd have to fork out lots of cash for a bed but for a once off it's no problem. I tried to locate the tourist office and instead got lost and took a scenic tour of the dock area. Stavanger itself sure looked nice, almost the same as Bergen but without the darker rainier edge and class of Bergen (I guess some may prefer Stavanger then...) I was in no mood for sightseeing just yet, I wanted to remove this giant bag and get a bed for the night so I could plan my trip for tomorrow. Lonely planet failed me and had the Tourist info place marked at the wrong place but it's not their fault as the whole city is being reconstructed for some 'european culture expo' or something like that in 2007, im sure it will be very exciting. After some 30 mins or so of being lost and frustrated I found the tourist office. The nice girl behind the counter informed me on how to see the swords. Easy I could do that this afternoon. Sedondly, she informed me that public transport to the pulpit rock had finished for the season and i'd need a car. Yes, there's a ferry to the small town of Tau, but no bus going the extra 8km to the trailhead. I was 5 days too late. One of the only thing that shits me about this 'out of season' foolishness, seeing as though it was so warm and great weather everyone has to miss out. She informed me though that I could take a fjord cruise for nok;300... I felt like crying but I came all the way here to see Lyesfjordem, I may aswell fork out the extra cash for the excursion but i'd wait and see whether it was raining in the morning or not. The next news was the prices for hotels. She had one marked for nok;450, or $90aud ... pretty bloody steep but it was the cheapest one. I thanked her for the assistance even though I was very angry and slowly walked under the weight of my backpack to the bed and breakfast place. The price had been increased to nok;550 by the time I got there and I got the last room. I handed over the card and thought that it might be a good night's sleep away from dorm rooms and diseased hostels for once. The price also included a breakfast buffet and free internet access to that made me feel slighlty better. I left my gear there and headed to the bus stop to catch the no.7 bus to these swords id seen on postcards since Stephen showed me in Narvik. I waited at the wrong bus stop for 45 mins before I asked someone smarter than me to help me out and then I was on my way. The bus driver told me where they were and which stop to get off and once we got there he pointed and said, theyre just over behind the trees. I was shocked, I thought they would be in a more kult place, not just behind some trees on a public beach but as I walked through those trees the things came into view. Apart from an annoying asian couple taking a million pictures around the swords, the whole place was rather cool and once they had disapeard I managed to capture some awesome pictures of them myself but they're just swords and not much else so after 10 mins I left. I had another overpriced hamburger at an unfriendly burger place near the beach. Oh yeah and the burger sucked too and the amount of chips was laughable. So if you're ever in Stavanger and decide to eat at the 'Surf Cafe' near the beach or whatever it was called, don't, just go somewhere else. Back in the city I just walked around aimlessly, I had no intention of doing anything but I really liked Stavanger, infact I really liked all of Norway's 4 big cities, each one had their own charm and were all immediatley livable. Not to mention Norwegian girls, they're very nice and make a nice stroll around the town quite easy on the eyes. I walked through the Old town of Stavanger, an area with identicle wooden houses for blocks on end, all with old fashion lamp posts and tiny cobbled walkways (again) and it was very cute and interesting but apart from my stroll I didnt see anything else too enthralling and headed back to the hostel for the free internet. I hopped on there and booked some hostels for Gothenburg (which didnt work) and for London and then I hit the journal and got 2 and a half hours of journal entry done before an old lady requested to use the net, I felt like telling her to go die but realised that I hogged it for 3 hours and was insanely tired. Perhaps it was time for bed. I read my book for a little bit and then slept, happy that the stress of today was now behind me. Sad that tomorrow would be my last full day in Norway 😞
The Sun was out, I wolfed down a huge amount of breakfast and had a conversation with some weird Norwegian poltician and book author (or so he claimed) and then I was out, I said bye to my charming hosts (one quite an attractive norwegian lass... ) and went to the station to dump my gear in a locker. I had to be back here at by 4pm to get the train to Kristianstand, which is where my ferry would take me back to Sweden the following morning. I walked and took in the beautiful sunshine, id been blessed once again. The perfect day for a fjord sightseeing trip. It began at 12pm and would get me back to the dock at 1530pm, perfect time to get the train. I was confident that today would work out like clockwork (oh yeah and it actually did this time! hurrah!) The fjord cruise was pretty cool, we learnt lots of things from voice overs and things about the surrounding areas of Stavanger. We eventually made it into Lyesfjorden and it wasn't as spectacular as I expected. I mean it was totally amazing but not mezmerizing. The pictures you see are distorted somehow to make it look like you're down a narrow valley but the actual span of water is a number of kilometers so you're pretty much just sailing alongside a huge cliff face on one side while the other not so high edge is clearly visible some distance away. I was mildly disapointed but the whole experience was pretty cool. They played classical music at the most 'breathtaking' spots which was a nice touch even though slightly dumb at the same time, I believe the Flåmsbanen also has some weird musical touch added to the trip, from what people have told me it's pretty shitty aswell. So what did we see besides clean water and cliffs? Oh yeah some goats down by the water, put there over summer to graize apparently and for what reason, only god knows. We also saw some waterfalls, possibly all variants of Bridal something or rather as usual and 'some people' saw seals but by the time I got to the front of the boat they were gone. No fair. We got to drink water from the waterfall which was a nice touch, it tasted remarkably like water which was a surpise let me tell you. Overall the best part of the trip was heading back to Stavanger. Not that the fjord was bad at all it's just that the sun was radiating and created such a warm and pleasent feeling and mixing with the sea winds, it was such an awesome relaxing time and the most perfect way for me to remember Norway with. I feel bad, I wish I could expand on this feild trip some more but ive said it all, I think and im pretty sure anyone who reads my journals is sick of me carrying on about the natural beauty of this and that and how many different descriptive words have I got left to use? My creative energy is almost all used up. I really need a holiday from all this work. All up ive written about 300 or so pages, enough for a small book but im not sure how writers can keep it up for such a long time even with fictional places. The boat made it to Stavanger and I left pretty satisfied and made my way to the train station for my VERY LAST european train trip (2nd to last, I actually caught the train to London from the airport but that doesnt count) 3 hours of more scenery to behold before hitting Norways 5th largerst town, Kristiansand (not to be confused with Sweden's northen metropolis Kristianstad) The ride was pretty standard but I wasnt so interested in scenery anymore. I sat there reading and listening to music for the entire journey. The only oddity of this trip were the sheep I saw outside. They had... huge flapping tails. Ive never seen such a bizzare creature. Perhaps they're special Norwegian sheep like the ones that lead to my hat being made! After the journey it was time to find the hostel and after a 2km trek through yet another new town, I got a room no worries and then hurridly set out as the sun was setting to find a cheap pizza place listed in my Lonely Planet. I had a brief moment to observe the town and I must say it's a pretty scummy hell hole for Norwegian standards. It's reported to be Norway's 'beach resort capital' or something, well it has nice beaches and it seems like there's a club or pub on every corner (complete with at least 2 bouners at every door) but the place just looked rather ordinary, I guess this was just my hurried impression and as there was hardly any light left in the day, perhaps not the best time time to make judgments but I would probably not come back to this region of Norway again anyway unless if just for a ferry connection which is why I came here this time, anyway, you see! I found the pizza place and it only cost nok;65 for a normal sized pizza! Had to be a new record for cheapness and Lonely Planet really got it spot on this time. I had a very bizzare Taco pizza (dont ask) and well... it seemed okay I guess but I almost choked on Corn Chips. The reason it was that cheap is because I got it take away, which cuts nok;35 off the price and to save $7aud I could eat on the street like a bum. At first I was going to eat at the station but as I walked around I noticed a man walking towards me, he abrubtly turned towards the train tracks below the platform and began yelling abuse at the dormant rails in Norwegian, I decided to choose another place to eat. I decided the steps of a Flyfishing store would be sufficient for my last meal in Norway and apart from the worried and scared looks of passes by and people crossing the street to avoid me, the meal was quite a pleasurable experience. I found another netcafe and continued chugging away at a journal and I also downloaded soulseek and managed to download some new music including the new ISIS album, shows how desperate I am for new music! After that was done, so was I, totally ready to pass out so I walked on back to the hostel avoiding eye contact with the locals, the place was alive with drunken teenagers, some crying and others holding puke back and it was only about 11pm, what would the place be like in 3 or 4 hours? I didnt stick around to find out. I hit the sack after a brief talk with a british guy but really I had no interest in anything apart from sleep and feeling sad. Tomorrow i'd leave Norway.
After the alarm and a nice shower I headed down to the docks and bought my ticket to Gothenburgm, got a discount too but not too much this time (but im not complaining) I went to the supermarket and spent up big on goods to last me my 8 hour trip accross the sea to Sweden, this gave me time to reflect on these last 3 weeks in Norway. Did I manage to achieve everything? I don't know really... I didnt see everything I wanted to see, namely, the midnight sun, nordkapp, the other western fjords, the northen lights and most important
that someone.... It seemt like I hit this country too late for all the goods and too early for the Nordlicht however, what else is there to do in Norway in Winter besides gaze at the Northern Lights and be cold? Ski? Snowboard? me? well maybe id have to learn because my skills havent improved since the slopes of Utah. The upside of being here in the off season is the lack of tourists (read: American backpackers). I didnt manage to meet a Norwegian girl and get married and live happily in this country but that was just a very faint dream 😉 however I did meet some great folks in Oslo and also some black metal people. Some 'pop idols' on a different scale I guess. I also saw and experienced the most beautiful scenery ever, making Switzerland look 2nd rate on occasion. Hell I dont know how I feel right now as I try to describe Norway, but all I can say is I was not disapointed and this was the pinnacle of the entire 7 months, the place I planned would blow me away and it didnt fail me at all. The loneliness was only rare as I managed to usually meet some great people to keep me company through conversation or more during my stay but it was still there, so next time I come back i'd like to bring someone along, so im offering my tourguide service and experiences for anyone out there reading whose interested and cashed up. Next time i'd like to fill the gaps of this Norwegian trip and become very aquainted with this captivating and inspiring country that has moved me like no other country apart from my own homeland has l. Which brings me to Horse's comment to me back in Trinidad, Colorado over dinner:
I don't see what you see in Scandinavia, really
As the boat sailed for Sweden I sat and reflected and felt an emptiness within but i'd be back, I swear I'd be back and not too long from this moment I promise you that.
Oh yeah that brings us to the end of my Journals, well while im travelling, Ill do a final one from home covering Gothenburg, London, Singapore and the ride home plus i'll do a full reveiw of the entire trip and see how much I can remember and what lessons ive learnt (if any) or if ive improved at all as a human. I think some people will be suprised in which direction ive gone, so if you're interested then I offer you a chance to read the final one, which I probably wont do for a while but I'll leave you now with this final journal and I hope you enjoyed the ride even 100th of the amount I did because that would only be fair.
Thanks all for reading and also not for leaving comments, I love comments, I would murder for comments, just leave ANYTHING but if you're too afraid, I understand, too ... but i'd do it for you 😞
Bye!!
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Anja
non-member comment
im so glad you enjoyed your stay it means a lot to me:)