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!