“Norway in a Nutshell” DIY – If There’s No Rain, There Will Be No Rainbows

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OMG, I feel a bit guilty for neglecting my own travel blog half way through. But I have a very good reason (or so I told myself that). I’m going to UK in several weeks from now! It wasn’t really part of my travel master plan, so I’m scrambling to develop itinerary, make all the bookings, etc for a place I’m not prepared to go to. And in all honesty, I never thought in a million years that I would be back to Europe just 3 months shortly after I just got back. But I guess that’s life, full of surprises. I “accidentally” found a cheap return flight for year end, London is well known for its extravagant fireworks party, my visa was approved, my brother is currently studying in Manchester, so I guess I’m going there after all. Anyway, for now – back to the Scandinavian + Eastern Europe trip report!

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For once in this backpacking trip, the apartment is sooooo fab! I totally made the right choice booking this deserted ski resort in the summer; making the price to get slashed by 50-60%. M slept comfortably at the attic room, while I slept at the other room near the pantry. I told M let’s indulge ourselves with a late start for once. We treat ourselves with fresh boiled eggs, yoghurt & instant noodles while watching Giuliana & Bill (never thought I would watch G&B so far away in Norway!). This apartment seriously got the most complete TV cable channel throughout my 2 weeks trip.

We finally drag ourselves out of the apartment around 11 (because the max check out time was 11.30 he he) and started to drive to Flam. Today’s itinerary is basically doing the “Norway in a Nutshell” route independently. From Myrkdalen Voss, we are heading to Gudvangen, then Flam with slight detour to Myrdal, before continuing our journey back to Oslo.

The sky is (unfortunately) still very gloomy. I pout and asked to myself, hey where’s my luck? I’m usually (thank goodness) blessed with fabulous vacations. But this time around, why is it one rainy day one after another. And just as I ask that to myself, right around the corner – there’s a rainbow! It perfectly arched above this small village across the lake - just couple of hundred meters from the hotel that we just left. We took few pictures with the rainbow at the background, and even with the fancy Audi rental car (free upgrade!).

We continue to drive to Flydalsjuvet, initially trying to find the famous scenic vantage point but somehow cannot find it. Had fun passing through the crazy hair pin roads though! I think its called Nayrodaylsvegen. Not sure though. Even the GPS map shown on M’s iPhone is so curvy. If I thought seeing ONE rainbow is lucky enough, we saw more! From afar I could see there’s another rainbow so I asked M to follow it, and we actually detour from the original route. At the end of the winding road, found a small village called Unredal. With the red houses near the waterfront, short apple trees dotted along the village – it’s like a Norwegian village from a fairytale book came true. After admiring at least 3 rainbows there (seriously), again I sigh why the rains still pouring down. But then again, if there’s no rain – there will be no rainbow. As we left the village – I ask for another stop to take pictures of wild mountain goats. When I looked back – ANOTHER RAINBOW! OMG, I lost track already how many rainbows we saw in one day.

When we finally got to Gudvangen, unfortunately it’s too late to catch the ferry to Flam. But hey, as I always say – having limited or no options, is actually making life simpler. Besides, we just got our dose of scenic ferry ride at Geiranger yesterday (and it was longer, and cheaper). As I was about to leave Gudvangen, I saw this very long queue of tourists. I took a peek, thinking that it was something very interesting & worth queuing. Apparently it’s just the queue to the ladies room – LOLZ. Grab myself a cute reindeer mini doll and continue the journey.

There’s no scenic journey between Gudvangen to Flam if you are driving. Why? Because you need to drove under a tunnel. A very long tunnel. Like, 25 km. Seriously. I kept the chat topics very light, not to disturb M’s concentration. It’s amazing engineering though. A team actually drilled through the mountains just to make the transportations a little bit easier. Wow!

Arriving at Flam, unfortunately – it’s still parade of rains. This is a place that I heard so much about that I set a very high expectation in my mind. But then again, looking around… Mmm… I don’t see how this is significantly prettier than the other villages that I’ve seen in the past week…

As it rained, M chose to stay in the car and write some postcards. We made appointment what time we should meet up again and I make my way to the iconic Flam red train station. I regret that I wasn’t persistent enough to seek help from other people to take my pictures there. I really need to go to the ladies room, but Flam was so touristy – that the bathrooms are not clean. And how did I know? Well, if you can smell it from 25 meters away, and a GUY walked out with his DOG from LADIES room – you know it’s bad news. I decided to hold it in instead.

The legendary Flamsbana train pulls in, and based on the pricelist, it’s 390 NOK to Myrdal! That’s… super expensive for 1 hour return journey. I decided to just visit the free train museum before heading back to the car.

What’s so special about Myrdal anyway? To find out, we drove up this very small beaten path. When I say small, it only fits for ONE car. I don’t know what would happen if we meet up with another car from the other side. Lucky we didn’t meet any, though. Stopped a bit here and there to take picture of the waterfall, and taking Flam village picture from higher view point. Interestingly, found Scottish highland cattle which were very tame. There were sheep as well, but not as many as in New Zealand. And there were FEW MORE RAINBOWS! OMG! Super lucky!

As we drove down from Myrdal, M said – no more pictures. We’re already way off track. I was a bit pissed off, particularly when I saw several wild mountain goats walking down from the nearest hill – so cute! But… I can’t take pictures *sigh*. On the way down, I saw several people that were walking up to Myrdal. Some take bikes. I admire their will power. Hope they don’t get disappointed when they got up there. The weather is very cloudy and honestly – I don’t know what to admire at Myrdal. It was okay, but I was not blown away.

As we drove nearer to Oslo, the weather gets better. Much better. In the late afternoon – everything becomes sun kissed color… So pretty… We passed by this curvy lakeside road, and I gasp as I saw the perfect setup. A white church, at sunset, with lake & blue sky at the background, and oat field surrounding it. Kissed by the sun, it’s the most stunning view I saw that afternoon. As there’s absolutely no picture stops anymore, I clicked my camera away from a speeding car, wishing that some of my camera setup is “correct” and produce a worthy picture.

It was the longest sunset I’ve ever experienced in my life. From sun kissed color, it becomes a warm pink. Near the lake, I saw 3 wild horses! Too bad it’s too far to take picture.

The day ended with a nice Spanish tapas dinner in Sandvika, a small town outside Oslo. There’s no English menu at all and the visitors are locals. All are good sign for a good meal. And it was. M was a bit pissed that the waitress thought we were a couple ha ha… I glanced and just realized that day we both wore similar shade of blue ha ha… Well, that doesn’t help to erase the prejudice.

As we passed by another line of pine trees, I quietly say goodbye to Norway – as I know it’s already counting down the hours. I think total that day we saw 10 rainbows or something, literally! What a way to close the journey in Norway. I never thought that my first Europe countries that I would visit is Norway… and that it’s Norway that becomes the gateway for a broader travel experiences after my previous visa rejection. Well, yes, technically I was in Turkey and stop over via Finland – but I’ll just look the other way and consider Norway to be my first European country to visit *grin*. Next, off to Sweden!

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Photos

Wheel & Rainbow
Check out the rainbow at the background! The Audi car was free upgrade

Rainbow @ Flam
One out of the 10 something rainbows we saw that day :)