Norway in a Nutshell

Hey all! So, it's been a while since I've posted...and once again, I can't upload pictures. No worries, you're all invited to view my slide show when I get home...I only have 2000+ pictures right now...and there are still 3 weeks of vacation left!

So, let me update you a bit on what's been happening the past week. I am feeling much better. The strep throat left the next day, Monday. I feel blessed! I really do. I headed downtown...which had me a little concerned, since I'd never really wandered downtown alone. Oslo is a beautiful city! I was a little sad that i had such a short time to explore it!

I took a busboat to the peninsula Bygdøy. There are a few museums there that I wanted visit. I went to the Norwegian folk museum first. It was very quiet and sleepy...it's like a recreation of old Norwegian life. There are little houses and demonstrations...much like Old Nauvoo if you've ever visited. There are people in costume doing typical tasks of old Norwegian life. I participated in some folk dancing and singing. One guy was being lame about not wanting to participate and used the excuse, "I can't dance in flip flops" and I held out my flip-flopped foot and said, "Now that's a poor excuse, because I am!" Haha...he came and danced!

While I was resting outside one of the buildings, enjoying the summer heat and sunshine (an unusually warm and sunny summer for Norway), a girl came by and asked if she could sit by me. Her name is Femmy and she's from Holland. We walked around together and ended up spending the rest of the day together. She's 26 and just traveling Norway on her own as long as she feels like she wants to. It was great! She was so cool! We were laughing the whole day!!

We visited the Kon-Tiki Museum that documents the journeys of a Norwegian explorer who made several trips across large bodies of water (seas and oceans) on reed rafts. It was pretty awesome...I enjoyed it because there was a whole section dedicated to his exploration in the 1950's to Easter Island. Because of my time in Chile, I have a bit of a love of Easter Island.

We walked around town, toward the less expensive, ethnic area and got chicken tikka masala at an indian restaraunt. We talked about life, boys, jobs, family, everything...she was AWESOME! I really want to keep in touch with her!

I arrived at the apartment and talked with some of the kids hanging out there, packed up and got to bed a little after midnight...only to get up about 4.5 hours later to catch my early morning train from Oslo to Bergen. I got a ticket for one of the most scenic train rides in the world...and promised everyone that I wouldn't sleep on the train :)

Tuesday, I did "Norway in a Nutshell" which is this great train tour. I took the train from Oslo to Myrdal which is absolutely gorgeous! I met a really nice kid named Paul. We talked for 5 hours about life, love, politics, and school. He was only 21, but quite wise for his age. From Myrdal, I got on another train line and went to Flåm...you'll just have to see the photos. It's AMAZING!! I was kinda ticked because of all the tour groups that "reserved" cars even though there was a sign that said no seats were reserved. People kept kicking me out of seats (I should have been a brat and pretended to not understand them and rattle off something in Spanish). Eventually a nice couple from Brazil let me sit by them. We chatted a bit, me in Spanish, them in Portuguese.

From Flåm, we took a boat to Gudvagan (I think that's what it's called) and then a bus to Voss...and a train from Voss to Bergen. I met a really nice American girl from CA named Laura. We talked the entire train ride from Voss to Bergen and then grabbed dinner together. She was hilarious! I think we became fast friends as soon as she told me I looked like a homeless baboushka. Yeah...my style these days is non-existent. :)

While eating dinner, we noticed people across the park dancing and playing country music. So, we walked that way and there was this small group of people with a DJ dancing a funky swing style. I really wanted to dance, so when the guy came around passing out fliers, I asked him about it and then blurted, "Can I dance with you?" He put the fliers down, and there I was, in Bergen, Norway, dancing this funky Norwegian swing with a random Norwegian guy! Cool! Laura got it on video for me, so hopefully I'll have that if I hear from her again!

I went to the apartment of Lisbet and Nina. Camilla, a girl at Anne's apartment in Oslo, is from Bergen and called her friend, Nina, to see if I could sleep on their couch for a day or two. They were so nice! They're sisters...in their 30s. We sat up and talked until late...it was just like being with my sisters! They were great!

Wednesday morning I was supposed to meet Laura...but it didn't happen. I hope she's all right. I haven't heard from her at all. So, I spent the day on my own. It was rainy in Bergen (rains 280 days out of the year). I went to the Stave Church, an old church made of wood...it's the type of churches they built in Norway back in medieval times. It was so small and cozy. The ticket man knew so much about it, too, and explained some of the wood carvings and beliefs of the early Christians at that time.

I walked down by the fish market, saw whale meat (didn't get to try it, though!) and other amazing seafood. I walked Brygget (I think that's what it's called). They are these old buildingson the harbor that were built in the 1400's or 1500's and have survived but are getting more and more crooked as their foundations sink. They're pretty and very "Bergen." I hiked Mount Fløyen instead of taking the tram. It took me about an hour...and view was beautiful. The rain had quit, the sun was peaking through...it was nice. It would have been more fun to hang out with Laura, but sometimes things just don't work out.

It started to rain again...I'd bought an umbrella the day before as my souvenir from Bergen. I grabbed a sandwich for dinner and headed back to the apartment. Lisbet and Nina helped me do laundry (yahoo! Clean laundry!) and I talked with them until late that night.

I got up and gathered my clean laundry and headed to town. I had a ticket on a boat to go from Bergen to Stavanger at 10 a.m. It was a highspeed boat...which means you didn't spend much time on the deck. It was very loud and cold and windy! The fjords are beautiful, but 5 hours on the boat, I did eventually get tired of looking out the window and took a nap instead. The route leads to open waters (the ocean) and it got quite choppy. I don't get seasick, but I was close. I headed to the deck and sat there, in the cold and rain, talking to Jack, a 13 year old kid from Denver. He was a really neat kid, travelling with his grandma and sister. We chatted for about an hour and then headed back to our seats. He reminded me a lot of Eric, in a way. :)

I arrived in Stavanger, kinda rainy and overcast. I didn't know where to go, so I wandered a bit until I found the tourist information. I'd gone to Stavanger to do this incredible hike to a place called "Preacher's Stool." My guide book, however, was not very helpful. It said the hike would take 2-3 hours, so I thought I could do it that day and catch the night train to Oslo. Well, what the book didn't say is that it takes about 2 hours just to get to the hike and 2 hours to get back. I had a major scheduling problem, then...because I wouldn't be able to do the hike and catch a train back to Oslo in time to catch my flight out of Norway to Germany. I was bummed. It was quite an expensive detour!! But, Stavanger was a nice town and I had some friends there who met me for dinner. I met up with Bjarte, Moses, and Lathan...we ate kebabs and Moses and Bjarte walked me around the city, down by the harbor, and old Stavanger. It was a nice evening and they were sweet to hang out wiht me until my train left at 10:30.

Remember how much I adore the night train? That's only if you get a bed! It would have cost me over $100 to get a bed on the night train, so I opted, for experience sake, to sit up the whole night. AWFUL! I barely slept...and am paying for it now. The train stops all the time, my seat didn't recline, and every time the person next to you moves, you jolt awake. I'm glad I've experienced it so I never have to again now!

I have been trying to figure out what to do today in Oslo until my plane leaves. It was rainy this morning, but the clouds have cleared and the sun is shining. I am going to head to the art museum and then the airport to arrive in Hamburg, Germany tonight! It's strange to be leaving Scandinavia! I've been here for 3 weeks! And I haven't had to stay in a single hostel!! I've just met awesome people who are willing to help me out! Being in Scandinavia is like being at a supermodel convention, but people are so nice! [The photo REALLY was taken in Oslo. While I was sitting in the main square, I think they were shooting for America's Next Top Model or maybe an European version. Whatever it was, they were hilarious to watch. I was sitting next to two British girls and we mocked and joked about it for a good 20 minutes. It was great fun...and got even better when a MAN came out to show these amateurs how to walk on the catwalk. Wow.]

So, it's back to the continent tonight!

Strep throat!

All right! I get it! Obviously my body is trying to tell me to slow down because it's rebelling by not fighting this nasty case of strep throat that has attacked me!

As you might have read, the whole world kept rocking for me yesterday...and not in a "rock my world" sort of way. More of a "if this doesn't stop soon, I'm gonna pass out" way. I turned in pretty early, chills and hot flashes racking my fevered body.

I woke up before anyone in the apartment was up this morning, wanting to go back to sleep, but not being able to. It hurt so bad to swallow and I had the distinct feeling that I may be battling strep. I grabbed my flashlight, took a peek at my throat in the mirror...and what to my wondering eyes should appear? But little white patches all over my throat and swollen tonsils. Gross!

I painfully choked down breakfast and my antibiotics and tried to rest some more. My head, neck, and shoulders were tight and sore. I got ready and, semi-deliriously, shuffled my heels to church.

I couldn't concentrate in the classes because it was so hot, my head hurt, and I just wanted to lie down. I ended up waiting in the foyer until church was over.

I am feeling much better...my fever is gone and the world has stopped teetering back and forth. I think I will take a nap, though, and try to convince my body that I really am taking care of it and it can go back to fighting off bacterial infections!

Good morning, Oslo!

Ahhhh!! The night train...one of my favorite inventions! Not only that, but the beds on the night train! You want to be rocked to sleep like a baby, take the train! I refuse to sleep sitting up which means I pay a little more for a bed. That's fine by me. The compartment I was in last night not only had a bed, but had access to a shower! Score! One thing I've learned as a backpacker is that you take advantage of the situtation RIGHT then! Don't sit and think about it...or the opportunity may have already passed you by.

I didn't hesitate to take a shower...you never know when you'll find the next one. I couldn't help but fret, a little, about the potential of the train jerking to one side and my naked body flying out the door into the hallway. Haha...good thing there are strong locks on the doors!

I stayed in a cabin with 2 other female travelers: Li Ping, a Chinese woman from Switzerland, and Christine, a 19 year old finishing her month long Europe stint. We got into Oslo at 8 a.m. I felt like a million bucks! Clean, ready for the day, a full night's sleep behind me. Ahhh! I sat in the station for a little while, reading my guide book about Oslo, trying to get my bearings...waiting until it was a little later so I could call Anne, my contact here in Oslo. Chris and Katarina, the couple I stayed with in Stockholm, hooked me up with Anne...a single girl who is so sweet! She came to the train station in her cute Peugot convertible and drove me, a complete stranger, to her apartment. She's moving to a new place and will stay there while I occupy her bed! She's amazingly nice!

She and some friends were going to go boating on the fjords around Oslo and they invited me along. Again, another split second decision: go to a museum by yourself, or go boating with 10 other Norwegians?! Easy! I grabbed my swimsuit and headed out the door with them!

I may start to sound redundant, but I met so many nice people today! Everyone on the boat was really cool! It was quite funny to see all of us, 11 in total, crowded onto every flat surface of this small boat. We putted out to a calm area and went swimming! I swam in the fjords of Norway! Check that one off the list of things to do before I die!

I got toasted a bit...it was warm and so deliciously summer outside! We all had a great time! I even tried a traditional Norwegian boating sandwich. Strange but true. They eat them open-faced...so I had a piece of bread, topped with mayo and shrimp that had been freshly caught (not by us), boiled in seawater, shelled and plopped on the sandwich! I can't remember the name of the sandwich in Norwegian...and it really just tasted like a lot of mayo, but hey...it's all part of the experience!

We got back to the apartment and Anne and Tone, the girls I went with, got ready for a wedding reception. I showered and walked down to the Vigelandsparken. It's a park near the apartment that is covered in statues by a Norwegian man named Vigeland. They are all men, women, and children, in the buff, in strange positions. No, it's not a sculpted karma sutra park...they're just in everyday poses...naked. There's one piece called the Monolith which is probably 30 or 40 feet high...naked body wrapped and tangled around naked body. It's pretty amazing. AND, unfortunately, I can't get this computer to upload my pictures! Again, sorry!

I sat down a bit, my head dizzy, the world rocking, my stomach rumbling. It was time to go. I hope it's just dehydration from the boat today. I bought some chicken curry on the way home and am here at the apartment, ready to crash into bed.

Tomorrow will be good...hopefully somewhat relaxing. I would like to go to the art museum tomorrow...maybe another museum, if there's time. I met Camilla, a girl who is staying at the apartment as a visitor as well...and she mentioned going to some island nearby on Monday morning. So, I may be doing that! I don't know how I'll find time for everything here in Norway! So much to do, so little time! It's been great, though! I just hope I can get the floor to stop rocking.