Norway 10th July – The extreme hour
We arrived in Norway at midnight. We got off to a great start by accidently purchasing two train tickets from the airport to Oslo using a trainline that wouldn’t be operational until 5:30am the next day. Immediately after purchasing our non-refundable tickets, we realized our error, contemplated briefly whether it would be worth staying at the airport for an additional 5 hours, and then promptly purchased two more train tickets for an express trainline that operates every 20 minutes.
Before you read this and think “classic Matt”. I should tell you that we weren’t the only people who made this mistake. We saw a woman on the deserted platform who made the same mistake.
Once we arrived at Oslo train station we waddled our through the city center in search for our hotel (that’s not a typo, I actually mean hotel). Even though it was very early in the morning, we were still amazed to see how empty the city looked. It had a semi-modern feel featuring large roads, low rise buildings and the occasional small supermarket. We heard the faint yell of some drunk British footballer yelling something about the world cup in the distance, but that was it.
We got to our hotel at around 2ish, checked in and passed out. Fun fact, in Norway during summer it gets dark at 11:30pm and light again at 4:30am.
Norway 11th July – Viking Biking
We were pleasantly awoken by the smell of free breakfast hanging outside our door; two ham sandwiches and two bottles of orange cordial. Once awake, we bolted into town to join a free tour around the city. The tour was led by a Slovenian woman who told us mildly interesting stories about a 3-day fire that raged through Oslo in the something hundreds which destroyed half of the wooden city. This claimed this was why Oslo looked half traditional and half modern. There was also some brief mention about the origin of the Nobel Prize, and a few infamous people, but nothing too interesting.
On our way back we stopped by the fast food chain “Los Taco” to enjoy some traditional Norwegian burritos. I’m only half joking, a few of the Norwegian people I’ve spoken to in the Netherlands have told me Tacos are by far the most popular food in Norway.
This is where the day gets interesting! We decided to go to a bike rental place called “Viking biking” and try and zoom around the city. Against the advice of the information center, we decided to bike ride all the way to “Bygdoy” (spelled with a weird o). The bike ride was amazing! It was bright, sunny and right along the shore line. We stopped at a Viking ship museum to finally learn something about Norway’s violent and barbaric past. If memory serves me right, Vikings pillaged and colonized eastern England, Greenland and Canada between 700 AD and 1100 AD. Perhaps what was most surprising thing was the quality of the Viking ships; they had perfectly curved wooden planks, fine engravings and well fitted ores. It was hard reconciling how a group of monastery pillaging, woman raping murderers could at the same time have such an appreciation of delicate trinkets and fragile engravings. I also liked the museum because it got me thinking a bit about the philosophy of territory ownership. In every blockbuster we see a group of underdogs valiantly defending their land from a group of foreign invaders. But I think the Viking conquests show that over the course of hundreds of years, the line that separates who owns what land gets blurred. Vikings landed their ships in east England, settled down in that area and eventually assimilated into British culture.
After the museum we rode down to the ‘beach’ (which was really just a small collection of rocks near some water) and then proceeded to go to the Holocaust museum. Apparently the King and Queen of Norway fled the country early in the war fearing execution by the Nazi’s. Supposedly in this power vacuum, a fascist prime minister took charge and allowed the Nazi’s free access into the country to use their oil supplies and deport their Jews to concentration camps. The museum definitely gave the impression that the whole country was betrayed by the fascist prime minister, but after learning a bit more about Norway’s popular view on eugenics and culture of anti-Semitism in the leadup to the war, I really wonder how much of the history museum was white washed. I mean, Norway was still a democracy, so this fascist leader must have still been elected…
When we finished with our bike riding, we decided to head to the nearest pub to grab a few drinks and watch the football. We ended up squeezing ourselves next to two 50-60 year old men; one from Norway, one from Sweden. They were really nice people and were equally interested to learn about Australia as we were to learn about Norway. They were drinking very heavily and at one point they bought us a shot of schnapps. We clinked shot glasses, shouted “skull” and then gently sipped on the liquor – apparently “skull” here just means cheers. By the end of the very engaging England – Croatia football match, the Swedish guy was quite drunk and was beginning to ramble in broken English about how lazy and self entitled the younger generation of Western kids are, and how India and China are going to overtake Europe eventually. I mean, he’s not wrong, but it was still interesting to hear.
Norway 12th July – Hiking Bessegen ridge
We woke up early to catch a bus to Gjendensheim (in Jotenheimen national park) to begin our 3 day hiking adventure. Just before we started our 5 hour bus ride, we decided to double check the weather. To our jaw dropping surprise, today was the first day in 6 weeks that was forecasted to experience heavy rain and thunder. With our backpacks filled to the brim with food, water and clothing, we simply squared our shoulders for the task ahead.
The bus dropped us, and a few other equally shaken hikers at the base of the mountain at 1:40pm. It was already raining and thick dark clouds were starting to gather in the distance. Undeterred we started our hike uphill towards Bessegen ridge. The uphill hike was easy at first – only light showers and the occasional slippery rock. However, once we ascended to the top of the first mountain, a crack of thunder ripped through the sky letting lose an army of water to batter us from above. Like Spartans bravely resisting wave after wave of assaults, we slowly powered on. Occasionally we’d run into an American or Russian straggler who was hiking the other way. With hardened faces, but beaten bodies we yelled advice to each other over the roaring rain. “STEEP DESCENT! SLIPPERY! BE CAREFUL” one screamed at us we marched on. He wasn’t wrong. As we approached the edge of mountain we witnessed the descent that lay in front of us. Illuminated only by the periodic crack of lighting, we saw the maze of jagged slippery rocks we would need to navigate down to reach the closest camping site. At this point, Kaz was hysterical, unsure what to do, but sure we had to do something. I bravely comforted her with my deep voice of reason: there was no going back now, we had to go down. Reluctantly, but bravely, she agreed, and we began to step down the stairway to hell together. One at a time we hopped down each ledge of fragile rock silently wondering with each step whether it would be our last. Then, without warning, mother nature released a sudden powerful gust of wind directly at us. Kaz tried to hold on, but her weak arms were unable to overcome the sheer power of the icy wind. She slipped and fell. Without a moment’s hesitation I ripped off my shirt revealing my 6 pack and modestly chiselled shoulders, constructed a pully like mechanism with the cloth over one of the pultruding rocks, and swung over to her, grabbing her hand, preventing her from an inevitable gruesome death. As I pulled her up to safety by my side we noticed the clouds begin to clear and the camping ground, only a few hundred meters in front of us, reveal itself as the curtain of rain began to separate. “What a day” I sighed in relief. Kaz cracked open a faint smile and then proceeded to weep uncontrollably. I consoled her as we stepped into the safety of the camping ground, knowing full well that this was just the beginning…
Ok some of that may have been exaggeration. Here are the facts, this is a 3 day 2 night hike. For the first day we intended to start at Gjendensheim, hike along Bessegen ridge and camp at Memrubu. For the second day we intended to hike to Gjendebu and take a ferry back to Gjendensheim. This seemed doable on the map since the first part was only a ‘family friendly’ 14km walk. However, there was some bad weather and some scary steep declines which slowed one of us (not going to say who) down a lot. Instead we ended up camping in the middle of nowhere about 5 km from the village.
Norway 13th July – Memrubu
I awoke at around 4:30am just as it started to get bright. In the hazy distance I witnessed 3 mountain lions only 400m from us walking over Bessegen ridge and behind a mountain! In a frantic fury I woke Kaz and pulled all the leftover food from last night (canned sausages, corn and tortilla wraps) inside the tent. When fears had subsided and we were ready to move on, we packed up the tent and continued our hike to Memrubu. Our pace was a lot faster because the weather was bright and sunny. Along the way we passed 3 wild sheep, leading us to the obvious conclusion that these were a special breed of Norwegian killing sheep that must have eaten the mountain lions I had saw earlier.
When we eventually arrived at Memrubu village we decided to set up our tent and relax with a much needed cider. The village is located right by the lake. The view was tremendous. We met 3 locals there and struck up a conversation. They were in their 50’s and were farmers growing potatoes. We asked them for a second opinion about traditional Norwegian food and were glad to hear they had some suggestions; reindeer beef cake was the only one I can remember. So far every person I have met from Norway is a proud patriot – they were tremendously trusting in their government and talked fondly of their people and their countryside. It was nice. However, characteristic of true patriots, they seemed quite clueless about other parts of the world; one of them asked why Australians can speak English so well.
Later on in the day, I decided to challenge myself by climbing the nearest mountain from the village. God I missed non flat surfaces.
Norway 14th July – Back to Oslo
We decided once again to stay put in Memrubu for the remainder of our time in Jotenheimen national park. Even though the “hike” had turned more into a camping experience, it was a welcome one. Memrubu is beautiful, and we used the time we had to go swimming in the icy lake. But all good things come to an end. Our food supply of corned beef, tuna and cheese was all gone and we needed to catch our ferry then bus back to Oslo.
We arrived back in Oslo at around 4:30pm, dropped off our bags at our new hotelish thing and then went on the search for traditional Norwegian food. We found a place that made raindeer meat cakes and cod. Once Rudolph and Nemo were eaten we headed back to our accommodation for some much needed sleep.
Norway 15th July – Ski slope
This was our last day in Norway, and so we decided to make the most of it by renting a few hybrid bikes from Viking Biking and travel to Frognerseteren and back. Frogerseteren is the last stop on the trainline and is located at the top of a nearby forest. It’s most famous for featuring the worlds largest and almost largest ski jumps. We visited both. As we bike rode around, we saw a bunch of young Norwegians on ‘ski rollerblades’. No wonder these guys are so good at skiing – they practice year round!
We then bike rode back to Olso via well travelled dirt path. I loved it! Kaz didn’t. I think it had something to do with her falling over and scraping her shoulder and hands.
Finally when we got back we had some cheap (well, as cheap as Norwegian food can get) Indian food and were ready to catch our night bus to Stockholm!
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