Norway Road Trip: Story About A Girl Who Doesn't Realize She's Pretty

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I checked my watch and got worried. It’s already passed 9 and M is not here yet. He was supposed to get the car for our road trip. It’s out of his character to be so late. “Are you ok?” – I texted. He said – “yeah, I’m just outside… I’ll tell you all about it when you’re down” I was braising myself for the worse. Maybe we didn’t get the car? Or he got robbed? Or… what?

Apparently the surprise was that we got a free upgrade from some random Ford to Audi A4!!! Yayyy… M was explaining that this Audi is diesel, more fuel efficient, and bunch of car babbles I don’t understand (read: care). I’m just glad there were no hiccups.

Before going out of town, the first stop was Vigeland Sculpture Park. It was scheduled for yesterday but I figured it’s easier to visit with a car anyway rather than taking public transportation. Unfortunately there’s a trade off for that decision. The weather today is not as nice as yesterday. I had to wipe my camera lens every 3 seconds. The park itself was free, and it was HUGE. Since it was free, many tour groups were dropped there. The statues were quite realistic. Nice works I should say. After that, off we go with our road trip!

The route for this road trip is basically a circle, inspired by the “Norway in a Nutshell” but with a detour to Geiranger in the north side. If you open the map, the route is basically: Oslo – Geiranger – Trollstiggen – Bergen – Voss – Gudvangen - Flam – Oslo. And we’re doing it in 4 days. Pretty long journeys, as M has to drive about 6+ hours per day.

Initially I thought road trip in Norway would be pretty much similar with New Zealand which we just visited less than a year ago. Well, the key difference is probably on which side you drive. But the rest – should be pretty much the same. Right? Apparently I was wrong.

Of course, both of them have the majestic snowcapped mountains, with twisty roads hugging each and every curves. But it’s different vegetation. Norway has more patchy hills with dots of red houses. New Zealand’s houses I think don’t really have a theme. Norway got more grain fields, while in NZ I only saw it in certain areas.

But the biggest different of all – (I personally think) NZ infrastructure is more prepared for tourism. And the reason I’m saying this is because in Norway – as gorgeous as it is – there’s hardly view points or scenic stops provided. There are stops, but it seems like it’s either random, or just for safety purposes. They don’t necessarily be in the best spots to take in the view, or at the wrong side. I surely missed NZ’s well marked signs (they actually tells you – xxx meters there is a scenic stop, or you could walk xx meters to get to this waterfall, etc). They also have some of that in Norway – but just not as much. Well, I could be wrong. But to me, Norway is like a pretty girl who doesn’t realize she’s pretty.

As it’s difficult to find stopping place, this time around I mostly just take pictures from inside the car. Not so much random stops like we had back in NZ. M is driving; so sometime he gave his camera to me, to take picture for him. He kept repeating the ‘mantra’ that the car rental guy told him – “Turn left and stay to the right!” – as he was driving on the other side of the road.

Towards the north, the weather starts to get better. We stopped by Lillehammer for lunch. It’s funny how life works. I’ve always wanted to visit Marche; but for whatever reason never went to one – either in Singapore or Indonesia. Apparently I was destined to visit Marche in Norway out of all places! It was a cute place with the signature colorful cow in front of it and mini apple trees (which happens to be so common in Norway).

I was so happy to gobble on a Salmon Smorgasbrod (which is a typical open faced Norwegian sandwich) with quite tasty potato salad. My first taste of Norwegian Salmon. M kept reminding me, since we are in Norway – they just call it ‘salmon’ without the ‘Norwegian’ in front of it ha ha… Before leaving, I took a test drive of the Audi in the parking lot which was hilarious as I fumbled from one gear to another. And that car was smart enough to shut down its engine on certain state. M offered me to drive on the highway but as tempting as it was - I decided to pass. He’s a more confident driver (which will make me even more nervous to drive).

And just when that “Call Me Maybe” song played for the the xx times – I pointed out a sign that looks interesting: a wooden church on top of a hill. With such blue sky – it might be a good photo op. So we dropped by Ringebu Stavkyrkje (which I’ve never heard before during my researches) and definitely was the right decision. It was just the right time of the day – where the lights were in the right directions and the sky was so gorgeously blue. There were many tombs scattered around the wooden church and had it not been for the perfect blue sky – it might be very eerie. Unfortunately this particular church doesn’t have the dragon symbol which I heard was famous.

As we head towards Geiranger, the road becomes twistier and the weather was getting bad. The temperature dropped from 15 degrees to just 4 degrees. I snuggled in my jacket even in the car. But it was a nice surprise to see a real wild moose on the road side! Managed to take some shots although not Getty Images quality.

We kept saying “wish the weather was nicer” – as the view must be spectacular. Even behind the thick rain, I can see snowcapped mountains nearby, with the lake on the side, and the curvy road… Then the road actually gets scarier; hardly any car passed by. The road was so narrow that had that been the wrong direction; it would’ve been very difficult to turn around. I stayed quiet and not making any serious conversation as I know M need his full attention to drive. But we eventually arrived at our wooden lodge right beside the Geiranger Fjord. Although the weather forecast said it will be raining for the whole week, let’s just hope the weather fairy gives us miracle tomorrow…

To view more of my Norway pics - click here

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Photos

Ringebu Stavkyrkje
A pretty wooden church by the hill