Day 3 - Stavanger, Norway (Hike to Pulpit Rock!)

09/12/2009

This morning we were up bright and early for our hike to Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock)! We began with a great breakfast at the hotel and then a walk to the harbor to catch our ferry. The morning was cloudy but not too cold and there looked to be some hope for sun. The ferry from Stavanger to Tau was fun and the scenery was misty and fjord-y and gorgeous. The ride to the town of Tau took about 45 minutes and then we had to catch a 25-minute bus ride to take us to the trail head for Pulpit Rock. William was in heaven on this trip simply because of all the forms of transportation we got to ride!

On the ferry from Stavanger to Tau.

Little Norwegian islands between Stavanger and Tau.

Arriving in Tau. Boarding the bus to Preikestolen ("Pulpit Rock").

Once at the trail head, things started to go downhill a little bit. It started to sprinkle and the sky looked a lot more foreboding that it had in Stavanger. John and I had one raincoat between the two of us (John's) because the weather had seemed so mild when we left the hotel (mistake #1) and when packing for the trip, I had left the weather-proof baby backpack cover back at home in CA (mistake #2). Notwithstanding, we started up the mountain, ignorant to what lay ahead.

On the bus between Tau and Preikestolen.

"Base camp" where you start the hike up Pulpit Rock.

The calm before the storm.

So happy, so naive. ;)


The first section of the trail was all boulders and the incline was pretty steep. We were all out of breath by the time we got to the first stopping point -- we still had a loooong way to go! Thank goodness I had been training for this hike for a few months (walks up steep hills with Will in the backpack!)

The hike is supposed to take 2 hours (between 1-3) each way and the trail varies in difficulty. Some sections were completely flat on a wooden walkway, others were slight inclines on gravel/dirt and others were strenuous climbs over giant boulders. It sprinkled on-and-off but was not too bad and William slept in the backpack nearly all the way up the mountain.

First steps of the hike.

Still pumped up and excited!

Getting harder...and more cloudy...and more wet.

Push on, soldiers.

Still finding time for art.

Hiking up a steep face of boulders.

As we got higher the weather continued to get worse. We didn't feel very confident that we'd be able to see anything once we reached the top but we tried to stay positive. Meanwhile, the rain started getting steadier and heavier. Luckily, Eric had been brilliant and got some big trash bags from the guy in the store at the trail head. We were able to put William's legs inside a bag and tuck it all up so that his legs and feet stayed dry. I was getting pretty soaked, myself.

Cara, aka Sacagawea...with William, aka Jean-Baptiste. Yes, that's my son wrapped in a garbage bag. (Thank you, Eric!)

At one point an emergency helicopter landed just ahead of us on a flat part of the mountain. A few minutes later we arrived upon an older lady who had fallen off of a ridge onto the trail below (she had followed the wrong path). She was laying face down and did not appear to be very coherent. It was really horrible and I hope that she ended up being okay. I'm still kind of spooked by the whole incident.

William certainly was excited by the helicopter though. We got to watch it fly around and then land and walked quite close to it. He wanted to ride in it so badly! It was really cute and he was really upset when I told him we couldn't go for a ride. He actually cried. I told him that it was just for people who got hurt. Now, whenever we see a helicopter he tells me that he is hurt and needs to go in the helicopter. Ha!

Finally, we neared the top of the mountain. Just as we were coming upon it there was a break in the clouds and we could see quite a bit of the fjord below us. We were so excited that we would actually get to see something from the top!

Into the white.

Emergency helicopter rescuing a fallen climber.

A glimpse of the view about 2/3rds of the way up...right before everything turned completely white.

Clinging to the side of a cliff.

Working it.


However, in the 3 minutes it took to get to the very top, the clouds had rolled back in. Everything was completely white and it was pouring rain. I was absolutely soaked through (I was just in a hoodie) and soon even those who had raincoats would be soaked as well. We tried to take refuge from the rain in a space between two rocks to wait it out. Meanwhile we were starving (Mistake #3: we packed only a few small snacks, but it was too wet to eat anything anyway) and Will was crying. I don't know why we didn't think of it earlier but we made a poncho out of another trash bag for me. Some sweet Norwegians gave us their umbrella before heading back down the mountain themselves.

The rain continued. We were freezing, wet and tired. Finally, we decided that we couldn't wait any longer. We got our photos at the top to prove that we did it and then hastily started back down the mountain.

Yeah, if that mist wasn't there...John probably wouldn't have gotten that close!

Money shot #1! The big one.

Money shot #2! Proof that it's really us. :)

William was pretty miserable at this point but only cried for a few minutes. Eventually he fell back asleep as I hurried as fast as I safely could back down the mountain. At one point I slipped on a rock and fell -- barely managing to keep myself on hands and knees so that I wouldn't fall on William. He slept through the whole thing! I think all of us fell at one point but nothing serious.

Two hours later we arrived back at the bottom of the mountain. Hooray! We survived! We bought William a sucker in the little shop and took him out of the backpack. He was very cheerful and happy about the sucker, but the poor kid couldn't walk! He had been in the backpack for nearly 6 hours and his legs were like jelly. I felt so bad. The plan had been to let him walk around once we got to the top but that just wasn't possible. He was dry, though, thank goodness, and in a great mood.

Will is super happy and in a great mood even after being in the cold and wet and strapped to my back for nearly 6 hours! This is moments after getting we finished the hike and got back on the bus. Such a great kid!

All of us were wet and freezing and tired but we still had almost 2 hours of travel ahead of us before we would be able to get out of our wet clothes. The bus and ferry ride were pretty miserable, but the good company made it bearable! Once at the hotel, the hot shower and heated floors of the bathroom were heavenly. We put on dry clothes and were like new again.

Recovering in our hotel room.

Being exhausted out of our minds, and starving (none of us had eaten since breakfast!), we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant. The breakfast had been really good so we were very disappointed with the mediocre dinner we ended up with. It was also one of the most expensive meals of the trip! I can't remember what any of us ate (I think we all were half-asleep).

After dinner we immediately went up to bed -- first thing in the morning was a flight to Bergen!

Day 2 - Oslo, Norway

09/11/2009


Will is ready and excited to go sight-seeing.
We woke up bright and early on the second day of our trip and started with a really good breakfast in the very pretty restaurant of The Grand Hotel. I love European breakfasts! Instead of a buffet of fried foods they offer really good bread (all of the bread in this country blew my mind -- it was soooo amazing), meats and cheeses, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, lots of juices and fruit, raw vegetables, muesli and sometimes some hot meat and potatoes. Plus a million different condiments, including pickled herring (which I did not try!). Oh yeah, and the butter was really good, too! (My trainer is loving reading this! Haha!)

Just look at that table full of bread!
Our first stop of the day was up to the Akershus Fortress which was just a few minutes walk from the hotel. The fortress was so beautiful! It was built in 1299! Unfortunately there was no tour of the inside on the day we were there but just walking around outside was amazing and offered lots of opportunities for photos. It was here that we really got cobbled by the cobbled streets -- it was nearly impossible to push the stroller so Will got the monkey backpack on and had fun running around.

The Fortress
Will at the Fortress
Next up was the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. We walked all the way to the other end of Karl Johans Gate which was probably close to a mile and uphill (and luckily Will fell asleep in the stroller on the way despite the bumpy ride!) While waiting for the thing to start we talked to some cute Taiwanese girls who were visiting Oslo from Denmark where they were going to school -- they were hilarious! The actual changing of the guard was, as expected, not super thrilling but still something we had to go do.

Guys. Marching around.
A walk through a gorgeous, green, tree-filled park took us to Vigeland Sculpture Park. But this time William was awake and ready to get out of the stroller. There was a really cute wooden playground and sandbox near the entrance to the sculpture park so William and I stayed there while John, Ruth and Eric went to see the sculptures. After seeing the photos of the sculptures I was glad to not have gone in -- they are really creepy! While William played I had fun just watching the locals with their children. I noticed several differences in how the Norwegian parents interacted with their kids: first, all the parents were actually WITH their kids in the sandbox or playground, instead of watching from a bench on the side. Every parent was actively involved. There were also a lot more dads there than I've ever seen at any American playground, many even alone there with their children. Also, public breastfeeding without any huge sheets or even a blanket! Very interesting to observe the cultural differences (I love stuff like that).

Uh...what's supposed to be going on here exactly? Glad I protected my child's innocence and kept him out of the sculpture garden. :)

Ruth and Eric in the sculpture garden. That is one angry baby.

William happily plays in the sandbox with some Norwegian kids and a French girl.
Once John, Ruth and Eric were done with the sculptures we decided to hop on a bus to ride back down to our hotel area. Since all the signs at the bus stop were in Norwegian we weren't sure how it all worked. So we just got on the next bus that came. And we accidentally stole a free ride. Oops! Didn't know we were supposed to pay before getting on.

For dinner we found a really beautiful little restaurant called Cafe Skansen that had super delicious food. I wish we had taken photos of everything we ate on the trip. John and Ruth had turkey with cabbage and sweet potato puree that was incredible. My open face chicken sandwich was very good. Eric had the Arctic Char which he also enjoyed. The building itself was so adorable.

Can you find us in this photo?
I was ready to move right in. How lovely is this restaurant?
After dinner we found dessert at a fun cafe on the way back to the hotel. I had a chai latte and a little marzipan filled chocolate (had to get it cause it says 'William'!), Ruth had hot chocolate and the boys went to the bakery next door.

Cute cafe!

Good chocolate.
By this time we had to head to the airport for our first (of many) domestic flight of the trip. We picked up our bags from the hotel and then walked all the way back down Karl Johans Gate to the train station for the 20 minute train ride to the airport. It was just a short plane ride to Stavanger and a bus ride to our hotel -- The Myhregaarden. Our room was quite small but really cute with a black chandelier and gas fireplace. We had to get to bed right away because in the morning we were going to hike Preikestolen -- Pulpit Rock!

Day 10 - Arctic Road Trip! Kilpisjarvi to Henningsvaer, Norway

Day 9 - Arctic Road Trip! Tromso to Kilpisjarvi, Finland

Day 8 - Tromso, Norway

This was Ruth and Eric's last day of the trip! So sad! After a quick breakfast in a little shop we split up for a couple hours while they went shopping and we went on a cable car. The view of Tromsø was beautiful and cold and of course the cable car was very exciting for William.

Once back downtown we met up with Ruth and Eric again and stopped for lunch. We failed to get a photo or the name of the sandwich shop, but it was so good! I had another sandwich that I think of often -- Italian salami with olives, onions and tomatoes on one of the best wheat baguettes I've ever had. After lunch, a stop at the Polar Museum was in order, partly in homage to my dad who loves anything and everything to do with the Poles and Polar expeditions. It was quite interesting to learn more about the crazy lengths that these explorers went to to reach the North and South Poles! Brrr!

We also managed to cram in a visit to the Polaria Museum which mostly had exhibits on different animals living in the Arctic. It was slightly interesting but we probably could have skipped it altogether.

Unfortunately, it was then time for Ruth and Eric to catch their flight back to Oslo and then back to LA. We were so sad to see them go!

After we said our goodbyes and had relaxed at the apartment for awhile, I decided to venture out on my own. I wanted to find William a new little blanket to replace his fox blanket that had met an untimely end during our run to the train station in Bergen a few days prior. John gave me his wallet with the credit cards and his ID and I headed for the mall that was just a couple of blocks away. I was having a fantastic time walking the streets in the cold with the lights shining in the store windows and lots of people out shopping and walking around. I stopped by a few stores in the mall before finding the blanket and buying it. As I was leaving the store I put John's wallet in my pants pocket rather than my coat pocket, specifically thinking about the possibility of being pick-pocketed. I left the mall and then walked about 1/2 a mile to pick up some dinner to take back to the apartment. However, when I went to pay for our food I realized that the wallet was gone!

Day 7 - Tromso, Norway

Wow! Tromsø. This was one of my very favorite places in Norway -- loved this city. It's such a cool town. It's a college town so it feels very young and a bit indie with lots of cool shops and cafes. Plus, it's in the Arctic!

On our first morning in Tromsø we grabbed some breakfast at the restaurant across the street (over-priced and not very great, but they had a "deal" with our hotel) and then set off to see some stuff. Our first stop was Blast Glasshytta, a glass blowing shop. It was so awesome! So many pretty glass things. We even got to see one of the girls there make a piece of stemware and she told us about each step as she worked. It was amazing to see.

We had lunch at super cute little cafe/pub called O.L. Aune where I had the best sandwich I've ever had in my life (and I had a lot of really great sandwiches on this trip). It was so good that I still think about it sometimes, and I can't even remember what it was in it exactly!

After lunch we took a bus across the bridge to see the Arctic Cathedral. It was neat to see, but definitely not worth the $10 each it cost just to go inside, especially since I was stressed about keeping William quiet the whole time. We then made a quick stop for Softies stop (cause, you know, it wasn't cold enough already) and then decided to walk back across the 1-mile-long bridge instead of paying for the bus again. It was freezing! And very windy! But it was fun, William loved it, and it's fun to see that bridge in pictures and on the map now and know that we walked it.

By the time we got back to downtown Tromsø it was approaching dinnertime so we went to grocery store just down the street from our apartment. We got baking potatoes and things for toppings, made dinner in Ruth and Eric's apartment and then hit the sack!

Day 6 - Travel from Bergen to Oslo to Tromso, Norway

09/15/2009

After our experience the previous day (the refreshing jog to the train station) we planned our timing out better and were able to leisurely stroll to catch our train, and even have breakfast at the train station once we got there. Breakfast consisted of a waffle for William and sandwiches for John and I. The sandwiches were so tasty that we went back into the cafe and bought 2 more sandwiches and another waffle for lunch on the train. Ha! (More about the waffles and sandwiches we ate all over the country in a later post)

The train this day was to take us from Bergen to Oslo on what is reported to be one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. It delivered! The scenery really was incredible. The only downer was that there were so many tunnels (I think the announcement as we left the station said there were 200) that we'd only get 5 second glimpses of mind-blowing scenery before going into yet another tunnel. Most of the time there was no time to even snap a photo before we were plunged back into darkness. What we did see was gorgeous and just cemented Norway even more firmly into the Most Beautiful Country in the World -- in my opinion, anyway.

We rode in the Komfort car of the train which meant that we had little tables at our seats and AC power for laptops plus free hot chocolate and coffee. The car in front of ours was the Family car where everyone else who had kids was riding and it was a mad-house! Toys and kids everywhere! In that car there was also a play area with tunnels and ladders which was a nice break for Will.

The ride was uneventful, just beautiful, so just take a look at these pics.



Once to Oslo we had a couple of hours before heading back to the airport to get on our flight to Tromsø in Northern Norway. The dinner we had at Skansen Cafe when we were in Oslo a few days before had been so good that we went back for dinner again. It was just as good the second time.

After dinner we walked around a bit more, checked out a mall, and then headed back to the train station where we caught the airport express train back to the Oslo airport. We got on our flight to Tromsø and arrived there in the Arctic at nearly midnight. An airport shuttle dropped us off across the street from our apartment, City Living Hotel, where there was a guy waiting specifically for us to arrive. They even upgraded our rooms for free! City Living ended up being a really amazing place to stay -- very nice and clean, perfect location to walk to everywhere we wanted to go, free laundry and very nice staff!

Day 5 - Bergen, Noway

09/14/2009

This day was mine and Ruth's birthday! And it turned out to be quite an adventurous one!

The day before, we had purchased tickets for a bus/boat/train tour through the fjords called Norway in a Nutshell. We made breakfast in our apartment and then headed for the train station. Unfortunately, we hadn't realized how far the train station actually was from our apartment and we ended up leaving much later than we should have. This resulted in us making a mad run, a mile or so over cobbled streets, to catch our train. John pushed the stroller with William holding on for dear life (he loved it!) -- I truly don't know how that little stroller made it all that way on those streets but I suspect that it was actually flying most of the time. We were hauling. With just 3 minutes to spare we made it onto the train with only one casualty -- William's little fox blanket must have flown out at some point. I was, and am, still pretty heart-broken over it. Losing that blanket also caused a chain reaction of other, nearly disastrous, events later on in our trip.

But anyway, we made it onto the train and started our beautiful day of Norwegian scenery. The train took us to the town of Voss where we got on a bus. The bus took us up and down steep, incredible mountain roads where we saw waterfalls, lakes, little villages and the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen in my life -- so far.

The bus dropped us off in Gudvangen where we then got on a boat for the fjord cruise. The views of the fjord were insane. Amazingly beautiful. It was pretty chilly outside so William and I stayed inside while John, Ruth and Eric spend most of the time on the top deck. Will took a nap at one point and I had a great time watching the lovely view by myself -- it was a really wonderful experience.

The boat ride from Gudvangen to Flåm was about two hours long. Once in Flåm we did some souvenir shopping and had lunch before getting on the train that would take us back to Bergen. The train ride was just as beautiful, or more, than the fjord cruise had been and we got to go through lots of tunnels which thrilled William.

When we finally arrived back in Bergen it was dinner time and we went to a pretty restaurant that had been converted from a bank -- thus the name Banco Rotto. There were very pretty chandeliers and we were the only people in the entire restaurant. After a tasty dinner we stopped by Deli de Luca for some birthday dessert and spent the rest of the evening at our apartment.

Day 4 - Bergen, Norway

09/13/2009

Our fourth day of the trip began with a flight from Stavanger to Bergen. The flight was short and sweet and we landed around 10:30am. We easily caught the airport bus which took us right to the center of Bergen at the fish markets. We set off to find our apartment up steep, cobblestone streets hauling all of our luggage and the little stroller that could. The apartment turned out to be on a little tiny street inaccessible to cars which we found after consulting Google maps (which was wrong) and asking several people. We finally found Stolesmaut, the street we were looking for, and walked through the cutest little residential area you've ever seen.

Motz, the owner of the apartment, was a young guy who helped us get our bags settled, pointed out some things on a city map and gave us keys before we took off again to explore the city. Lucky for us, there was a food festival (basically a farmers market) being held just down the hill at the Bryggen (the harbor area). We had a great time trying the cheese and honey and reindeer jerky and fruits and pancakes. We bought apples and cheese to go with dinner and then had polsers for lunch and Softies for dessert (more about those later).

At a hotel very near the harbor there was a crowd of people all in traditional Norwegian dress. A family on our flight that morning had been dressed in costume, also. Apparently they were celebrating a sort of baptism or something. It was really really neat to see their traditional costumes -- they were so beautiful!

Earlier, when we had arrived at the apartment, Eric realized that he had left his iPhone on the bus from the airport. After making some calls he found out that someone had turned in the phone! He ended up having to go back to the airport to retrieve it and was gone for about 2 hours. This was just the first time that we got lucky with nice Norwegians turning in things that we lost!

While Eric was gone we visited a kid clothing/toy/things store where I tried to buy everything and also the tourist office where we learned about an amazing bus/boat/train tour (Norway in a Nutshell) which we decided to take the next day (mine and Ruth's bday!). We also window-shopped at a lot of incredible looking stores which were all, unfortunately, closed because it was Sunday.

Eric finally rejoined us and we walked a short ways to ride on the Fløibanen Funicular up to the top of Mount Floyen. The ride was very fun (and of course William was going nuts over it) and the view at the top was beautiful -- overlooking all of Bergen and the harbor. After spending an hour or so at the top enjoying the view, playing at the playground and visiting the gift shop, we rode back down.

Since we had a full apartment with a kitchen we decided to just make dinner rather than go out. Since it was Sunday, though, the large grocery was closed and we had to make-do with what we could find at 7-Eleven! Granted, the 7-Elevens in Scandinavia are much different than they are in the States. They really do have a small selection of real groceries. We got weiners, potatoes and some things for breakfast. We then went to Deli de Luca (convenience store/baked goods/deli) and got a loaf of bread (which I probably ate 75% of single-handedly).

Back at the apartment we cooked our dinner and figured out that we spent as much on all of the groceries for dinner for all 5 of us as it would have cost for one of us to eat out. Yikes! After dinner, cleaning up and messing around online for a bit it was time for bed.

Day 1 - Oslo, Norway

09/09/09-09/10/09

On the plane.
We did it! We survived over 13 hours of airplane travel with an almost 2-year-old! I was really nervous about our flights to Oslo but everything went more smoothly than I thought it would. Naps, snacks, airplane books and Little Einsteins on the iPod made it easy -- as did the extra seat we got lucky enough to score for the longest flight from New Jersey to Oslo. Will fell asleep and slept for the night in the extra seat which meant that we could get some sleep, too!

We landed in Oslo, Norway at about 9:30 am. The airport was beautiful -- all glass, vaulted ceilings and light wood. Definitely Scandinavian. We caught the airport express train into the city -- our first experience with the outrageously high prices of things in this country! -- which also gave us our first little taste of what Norwegian culture is like. The train was very quiet. No one was speaking and even though there were television screens on in the train, there was no sound. There were also no advertisements in the train. It was all very refreshing compared to the bombardment of advertising and constant audio everywhere in the States. People even respected the "no cell phones" signs in the part of the train we were in and took their calls outside the compartment. Amazing!

Karl Johans Gate in Oslo -- the main drag, also where our hotel was located.

The Grand Hotel Oslo
The train ride to the center of Oslo was only about 20 minutes. From there we had about a 10-15 minute walk up Karl Johans Gate to our hotel. We were able to leave our luggage since we were too early to check-in and then immediately went out to hit the sites! We knew we'd have a long day ahead of us trying to catch up to local time (9 hours ahead) so our plan was to stay busy and power-through.

Ready to see some stuff!
This stroller was not designed for cobbled streets, to be sure. Cobbled!
Now here I have to talk about strollers and European streets. I bought this little travel stroller at the last minute before leaving LA (I was originally going to backpack Will around the entire trip - what was I thinking?). I wanted something lightweight and portable as we were trying to pack as light as possible. Well, this stroller is light and portable -- but not so great for cobblestone streets. This stroller, with its small, swively wheels and non-existent shocks, was definitely designed for American sidewalks, pavement and ramped curbs. It's been quite the adventure trying to push this thing over the very cobble-y streets of Norway. Everyone here has these prams with large wheels and shocks and I have definitely wished for one of these guys every day of the trip.

The only advantage to having the small stroller is that when traveling by plane we can push Will all the way up to the door of the plane and then just fold the stroller up and put it in the overhead compartment. I saw a family checking their pram on our most recent flight and it was actually quite an ordeal -- it has to be broken down into two parts, bagged, and then checked like luggage.

So, there have been advantages and disadvantages to this little rickety thing but overall, I'm just glad to have brought anything! The compromise between the big pram and a tiny stroller would actually be our normal stroller we use at home that has larger wheels that can also be locked into a fixed position (so they don't swivel and get stuck in between cobbles). If we ever travel in Europe again with a stroller-aged kid, this is definitely what we'll do.

Stave churches are sooo cool!
First on our itinerary was a visit to the Norwegian Folk Museum. It's located on a little piece of land that juts out into the harbor. To get there we had to take a 10-15 minute ferry ride and then a short walk through adorable neighborhoods, which I loved. The Folk Museum is a collection of structures from different time periods and areas of Norway all moved to this one area. It was incredible. The time span of these buildings was from the 1300s up to examples of present-day decor. This museum was a highlight of Oslo for me as I love historical things that represent day-to-day life and any kind of house in general. There was also a Stave church at the museum which was very cool to see. Stave churches are completely wooden and very dark inside -- there are just a couple of small windows to let in any light at all. I'd like to learn more about them.

This grass-roofed cottage is from the 1300s!! Too cool.

Walking around the neighborhoods.
I love me some white houses!
Viking ship!
The next stop for the day was the Viking Ship Museum which was just another short walk away. The museum is quite small but worth going to. The building itself is beautiful and the ships are really cool. There are also several other Viking era artifacts to see there.

After the ferry ride back across the harbor, we had dinner at a hopping but disappointing (to be expected) Tex-Mex restaurant and were definitely ready for bed at about 8:30.



A review of our hotel: The Grand Hotel is beautiful and historic (opened in 1874). The rooms were small but very clean and comfortable (love Scandinavian beds)! The breakfast was amazing, the concierge and desk staff were very nice and helpful and the location could not be beat. The only complaint I have is that our room faced the back of the hotel which also happens to share the street with a bar and the delivery area of the hotel. The first half of our night was spent trying to sleep through loud music and voices and the second half was spent listening to delivery trucks drive in and out. Luckily we had earplugs, which helped a bit, but I would definitely recommend getting a room that is not in the back. It was not the most restful night I've ever had.

This concludes the first day of our grand adventure. Stay tuned for more fun!