The Nutshell
I'm writing now from the hostel in Stryn, Norway, a small town in the fjords south of Trondheim. I got out of Oslo ok yesterday morning, just without very much sleep. Today I am doing "Norway in a nutshell", the touristy, cover it all program that gets tourists the very basic Norway package in one day. I threw my gear together and got of my hostel and to the train station relatively fast. A word to describe the Oslo train station - Dodgy. There was a man checking me out in the 7-11 where I was buying a quick breakfast. I turned my back from him and he seemed to tray and move behind me at all times, keeping a distance until he could approach. Which he never did. He wandered out of the 7-11 without buying anything, presumably to stalk someone else. Oslo has a real drug problem, and you can see it in the train station. I saw one guy being escorted out by the cops, shaking on a bad trip, and just yesterday, I saw some guy shooting up at the train station bus stop. All cities have it, I was just at the place and time to see it in Oslo.
Getting out of the city at 6:30am was an excellent move, I board a relatively quiet train (The 8:11 train is a tourist zoo), and the ride to my first switch, Myrdal, was relatively relaxed and I was able to catch up on some sleep (in 15-second increments). As the train progressed the lakes, mountains and trees grow starker as we climb above the treeline. We peak at Finse, a train station about 4,000 feet above sea level. The larger peaks are ice-capped, and a few hardy shacks dot the landscape (I could not imagine existing here in winter, never mind living here for a prolonged period). We arrive at Myrdal and switch to a special train that takes us from the dizzying heights at the top of the mountains, down to sea level where we will catch a ferry through the Sognefjord. The train descent is nice, not as dizzying as I had anticipated, and we break in the middle to view a waterfall which is nice, but made somewhat cheesy by the dancing sirens they bring out to entertain tourists. They dance on rocks 100 feet away from the crowds in the middle of a waterfall. That has to look weird on a resume.
I'm going to post now. This place is a bit expensive to blog from and there's a line forming behind me. I'll finish the nutshell and catch up on Stryn soon.
And I am continuing this now in Andalsnes, but I will have to make it short as I just discovered free internet and I have to catch my train in 20 minutes!
So We continue along the spur down into the Flam Valley at a very sharp angle, eventually reaching the port where all teh tourists board a boat. I am one of the few backpackers, and it's hard being jammed in with all my gear. I spend the 2-hour ride from Flam to Gudvangen snapping photos of fjords, waterfalls (I think I shoot way too many photos of these), and chatting with an elderly British couple and a guy from San Diego (His wife, sitting next to him, is not talking, they are having some kind of fight). It's a beautiful ride and a nice view of the fjords. I will say I think the Geirangerfjord, which I saw the next day, is far more striking, but that's for another post. When we reach Gudvangen we are loaded onto buses to the town of Voss, which is on the Oslo-Bergen rail line, and we wind our way on this massive bus up one of these switchback valley roads that turns back and forth at 180 degrees along a cliffside. We are rewarded with a 10 minute photo stop at the Stalheim hotel. I am really hoping we can make the 4:41 train at Voss to Bergen but I know it's not going to happen. We arrive in Voss at 4:55, one hour before the next train is to leave, so I go into Voss with three young women who work at the American Consulate in Frankfurt. We browse for souvenirs, chat, and have snacks at a local shawarma shop, where they get hit on by a drunken brit. Once we're on the train to Bergen, we decide to hang out for the night. I'm staying in town and they're catching the overnight back to Oslo. So I check into my hostel ("Crowded House" - I'm a fan of the band and couldn't resist). I get a simple single room, just enough. We meet at the funicular at 8pm an go up to the top of Mt.Floyen for a picturesque view of Bergen, followed by dinner at Peppe's Pizza (A chain, but a good chain, and I have been Jonesing for Pizza). After soft Ice Cream, I see them to the train, and head off to reconnoiter the bus station. I will have to be up early to catch the bus to Stryn at 8am. Bergen is a beautiful city, but I've seen the central area in a few hrs. and I'm generally done. I head back to my hotel to get some precious hours of sleep before I head off into the fjords!
And with that I will leave my blog character two days in the past, cause I have a train to catch!
Getting out of the city at 6:30am was an excellent move, I board a relatively quiet train (The 8:11 train is a tourist zoo), and the ride to my first switch, Myrdal, was relatively relaxed and I was able to catch up on some sleep (in 15-second increments). As the train progressed the lakes, mountains and trees grow starker as we climb above the treeline. We peak at Finse, a train station about 4,000 feet above sea level. The larger peaks are ice-capped, and a few hardy shacks dot the landscape (I could not imagine existing here in winter, never mind living here for a prolonged period). We arrive at Myrdal and switch to a special train that takes us from the dizzying heights at the top of the mountains, down to sea level where we will catch a ferry through the Sognefjord. The train descent is nice, not as dizzying as I had anticipated, and we break in the middle to view a waterfall which is nice, but made somewhat cheesy by the dancing sirens they bring out to entertain tourists. They dance on rocks 100 feet away from the crowds in the middle of a waterfall. That has to look weird on a resume.
I'm going to post now. This place is a bit expensive to blog from and there's a line forming behind me. I'll finish the nutshell and catch up on Stryn soon.
And I am continuing this now in Andalsnes, but I will have to make it short as I just discovered free internet and I have to catch my train in 20 minutes!
So We continue along the spur down into the Flam Valley at a very sharp angle, eventually reaching the port where all teh tourists board a boat. I am one of the few backpackers, and it's hard being jammed in with all my gear. I spend the 2-hour ride from Flam to Gudvangen snapping photos of fjords, waterfalls (I think I shoot way too many photos of these), and chatting with an elderly British couple and a guy from San Diego (His wife, sitting next to him, is not talking, they are having some kind of fight). It's a beautiful ride and a nice view of the fjords. I will say I think the Geirangerfjord, which I saw the next day, is far more striking, but that's for another post. When we reach Gudvangen we are loaded onto buses to the town of Voss, which is on the Oslo-Bergen rail line, and we wind our way on this massive bus up one of these switchback valley roads that turns back and forth at 180 degrees along a cliffside. We are rewarded with a 10 minute photo stop at the Stalheim hotel. I am really hoping we can make the 4:41 train at Voss to Bergen but I know it's not going to happen. We arrive in Voss at 4:55, one hour before the next train is to leave, so I go into Voss with three young women who work at the American Consulate in Frankfurt. We browse for souvenirs, chat, and have snacks at a local shawarma shop, where they get hit on by a drunken brit. Once we're on the train to Bergen, we decide to hang out for the night. I'm staying in town and they're catching the overnight back to Oslo. So I check into my hostel ("Crowded House" - I'm a fan of the band and couldn't resist). I get a simple single room, just enough. We meet at the funicular at 8pm an go up to the top of Mt.Floyen for a picturesque view of Bergen, followed by dinner at Peppe's Pizza (A chain, but a good chain, and I have been Jonesing for Pizza). After soft Ice Cream, I see them to the train, and head off to reconnoiter the bus station. I will have to be up early to catch the bus to Stryn at 8am. Bergen is a beautiful city, but I've seen the central area in a few hrs. and I'm generally done. I head back to my hotel to get some precious hours of sleep before I head off into the fjords!
And with that I will leave my blog character two days in the past, cause I have a train to catch!
posted by Steven at 1:40 PM
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