I Am In Woollens

Hotel lobby, Bergen, Norway, 3.20pm

Up here in good old Scando, it's like going back in time three weeks. The weather is back to being (at an absolute stretch) 17 degrees, the first wave of tulips and daffodils are just happening and I've had to put my new purple Budapest Tshirt back in the bottom of my suitcase. Was beginning to regret (again) bringing my ski jacket when I got a little bit sunburnt in Prague, then I was out at 6.45am in Bør in -1 degree yesterday morning, praising the wise and intelligent people in my life (ie Mum) for making me bring it. More thanks to Nicola as well, had the beanie on all day yesterday. Although to be honest, once it goes on it doesn't come off - I give new meaning to the term hat hair.

So where am I and what have I been doing? Well you'll be pleased to know that I'm younger looking and more intelligent due to all the salmon I've been throwing down! Started the Salmon Fest of '09 on Tuesday night in Oslo with a salmon and cucumber sandwich from 7-11 - and before any of you freak out, no I didn't get food poisoning. 7-11 is a godsend to travellers, they are always open and always have food and it's cheaper (generally) than going to a restaurant or cafe and sitting down for a meal.

Oslo was pretty, I didn't realize that it, and Norway, had such a small population. Or that they were completely povo till they discovered oil in the North Sea in 1969.
There are only about 550 000 people in Oslo, 250 000 in Bergen where I am now and it's the second largest city in Norway. At least it makes it easy to get around the cities and our hotels have always been in great locations. Oslo is quite pretty, wrapped around the Oslofjord, pretty little boats and wharf area. Their city hall, I'm afraid to say, is the ugliest building I've ever had the misfortune of being forced to go into and spend eons listening to descriptions of the whole place. We had an included city tour with a local guide and she was great, we saw some nice bits and pieces and then I guess they consider the city hall to be a bit spesh, but someone really should've let Edvard Munch loose in there and done more gloomy, crazy looking works (like 'The Scream', which I saw).

The best part of the city tour though, was going through the Vigeland Statue Park. It was a lovely big space and directly through the centre was a bridge, fountain and monolith, all designed by Mr Vigeland. He had a lovely simple style, we're not talking Michaelangelo type stuff, and all the works in the gardens were on the theme of the circle of life. I just missed my Contiki friends who would've happily posed AS the statues in lots of photos with me!

After the city tour, a few of us hopped on a ferry across the harbour to visit the Vikingskipshuset. Oh yeah, Viking ships! They found three in burial mounds in about 1905, completely covered in mud which meant they were incredibly well-preserved, especially one which had been used to bury a queen. They were so cool, exactly what I wanted to see!

We left Oslo that afternoon and drove to Bø (pronounced BURR, I am never learning Norwegian, too hard). After a very short night there (wake up call at 5.30am - ow, that hurt), we headed for Bergen. First stop was a quick photo stop at Heddal Stayvkirke, a stave church. Most of them (all over Norway) were built about 700 years ago, without nails. The Heddal one was amazing, very creepy looking, like I can imagine the Salem witch trials happening in.

After that we had the most incredible drive across Norway, past rivers, lakes, FROZEN lakes, until we ended up deep in the snow and above the tree line. It was so beautiful and exactly how you think Norway will look. Meanwhile the weather was perfect, COLD, but clear blue skies. Saw a few people heading out for a spot of cross country skiing. Stopped by a frozen lake for lunch and by frozen I mean you couldn't actually see the lake because it was frozen then covered in snow. It's the end of April and I'm guessing if they're lucky, that lake will unfreeze for maybe two months of the year. Crazy.

Stopped to take photos at a couple of waterfalls in the afternoon, took a quick ferry ride across a fjord, arrived in Bergen in the evening. Really long day, but incredible scenery. Took a gazillion photos out the bus windows all day, have been going through them today and deleting all the blurry ones, ones with trees in the way, ones with reflections off the glass in them. I did get a couple of good ones though!

Today we had a city tour of Bergen, bit of a waste, honestly. The city isn't that big and we could quite easily have taken ourselves to see the best bits. Never mind! Afterwards I STUPIDLY went into a shop called Ting. After about 5 minutes, the two girls with me suddenly realized what was going on and were like 'Nicola! What are you buying? How MUCH have you got there?!' Yeah, it was verging on ugly. I had stupidly realized this morning that I had way too much Norwegian cash on me for the short amount of time we have left in Norway, so was thinking I'd either spend it or I'd have to change it to Swedish dosh next week. Instead, I found the Best Shop In The World and decided to spend a lot there! To the point where I now have to go to the supermarket to do budget dinner and lunch for tomorrow! And I now have about 80 kroner left, for emergencies. 80 kroner is enough for a 7-11 sandwich, ie not much. But the stuff in Ting was FANTASTIC. Loved it loved it loved it. Oh and on the plus side, I can get some of the money back when I leave Norway, tax money, squee!

Tomorrow we're off to do our ferry ride on the Sognefjord, it's the longest, deepest and narrowest fjord in the world. Oh and I almost forgot! The position of the sun in the sky here is totally noticeable. It's up seriously early in the morning and doesn't set till after 9pm, wish I was here in July for some midnight sun action!