The Fjords: "What fresh hell?!"

November 1, 2012:

We said an early morning goodbye to Daniel. It was still dark when we made it to the train station. Danielle was thrilled to find the best coffee she's had so far in Europe.

The sun came up during the train ride and then we got on a bus (with panoramic views!). I noticed the boys behind us getting onto the bus sounded French, but had been speaking English for so many consecutive days already that I couldn't be sure they were French.

Once on the ferry, I noticed that they kept sort of eyeing us. We, however, were casually eyeing the views of the Nærøyfjord:

And obviously taking lots of photos:

A Japanese man even came up and asked to take with us as if we were part of the tourist attraction (I guess I am maybe sort-of Norwegian....) Eventually, the two French guys got up the courage to ask us to take a couple of photos of them. When they asked me, I had a bit of difficulty with their camera. I am not much of a photo taker. My family bought me a very fancy functional digital camera when I was 14 years old before my trip to France. It was a hundred dollars (back in 2004). We paid for durability. I know this because this is the camera I still use. They handed me a fancy thingamajigger.... a camera or a phone or something. It was touch screen. I tried three times to take a picture just by touching the screen like they told me before I realized I had to take off my glove. Enfin, trop compliqué. I had to say "OK, the gloves are coming off!" in order to seem less completely useless with technology. I don't have too much trouble with computers, but I am no good with touch screen things. Danielle will attest to this.

Anyway, they decided to strike up a conversation and told us that they had been creeping my bag tag when we got on the bus. They were confused that we were from Lyon, but that we didn't speak any French. We explained that we just hadn't spoken any French for about a week. They too, it turned out live in the Lyon area: Maxime is from Lyon and Alexandre is from Grenoble; it's a small world though because they are originally from Chalon-sur-Saône, the closest city to my host village when I did an exchange in 2004!

When we arrived in Flåm, they invited us to eat lunch with them and since all of the restaurants appeared to be closed or crammed with the other tourists, we opted to have a picnic. We went to the grocery store and bought sandwich food, and Heineken (which was our first mistake). We had a lovely lunch in the train station, until they announced that the Bergen-Oslo train had broken down. What fresh hell?! Our second mistake, was apparently not speaking to them in time to find out that we had to take an earlier train than was scheduled on our itinerary if we wanted to do the famous Flåm railway. I went to speak to them 15 minutes before this train left and they spent the whole time arguing with some other travelers, so the train was gone before I had an opportunity to speak with them. As a result, we were told that we would have to take a bus from Flåm to Oslo for six hours.

To say the least, we were not happy. Our new friends from Lyon left on a different bus to get back to Bergen, and we waited for our bus to arrive. We vowed never to drink Heineken prior to an important travel-related event again, since it had been involved in our missed flight catastrophe on our way to Barcelona. I was mad. I told Danielle that if I could make my own magnet for Flåm, it would be the word Flåm with a giant X through it. This made me feel slightly better. This whole situation reminded me of the film Leap Year (2010), where Amy Adams gets angry that she paid to go to Cork in a tiny boat and ends up in Dingle instead because of the enormous storm. I told Danielle that we had better turn out to meet the loves of our lives on this bus trip. I pointed the only other tourists still waiting for a bus, an elderly couple (who were clearly American), and told her to take her pick. We died laughing and felt much better in spite of our situation. (I hope this isn't one of those had-to-be-there things, and even though I suspect that it is, I thought I'd share).

We got on the bus, took the back two seats, and were the most obnoxious passengers taking ridiculous photos, laughing loudly and having a picnic with the left-over lunch meat and crackers. I even took off my boots to air out my feet a little.

We caught glimpses of the gorgeous views we had been promised on the train trip in between black tunnels but soon night had fallen and we both passed out. When we got near to Oslo, we almost missed the train that would take us into the city because the bus driver didn't announce anything. All of the English passengers had no idea what was going on and we got onto the train just as the doors were closing.

We walked to our hostel in the rain, checked in and proceded immediately to bed as it was already past midnight. Our linens cost us 50 Norwegian Crowns and it turned out someone had stolen my pillow again! Not to mention, whoever was sleeping above me snored all night. Oh the joys of being a student traveller! Please note: I actually love it. The cruise in the morning had been so beautiful and it had been really good fun to meet some Lyonnais and to practice our French. I used a towel as my pillow, had an excellent sleep and got over the whole thing.

Bags-in-my-Boots Bergen

Daniel, our host, had been nice enough to sacrifice his bed to us, and it was super comfortable, but we woke up in the morning to pouring rain. We put on our warm clothes and finished off our outdoor outfits with ponchos and bags in our boots.

Our first stop was the famous Fish Market in the main square where Danielle had lunch. It is no secret that I am not a huge fan of fish, but I am working on it. She had smoked salmon, so I tried a small piece. In the quest to find fish that I like, this was a failure. I ended up eating something from a grocery store nearby for lunch.

Our plans for the day included climbing the mountain in Bergen to see the spectacular views... in the pouring rain. We opted to take the funiculaire up to the top instead, and then to walk down. At the top it was incredibly windy and cold, so we looked at some views and then hid out in the souvenir shop for a bit.

The walk down was not as cold and it was beautiful. We came across some strange sights, however. First, there were trolls interspersed among the trees which were super creepy. Then, there was a sign banning witches on broomsticks. Finally, there were mountain children. They were just casually toddling along the mountain roads avoiding the slippery spots and being all cool and stuff.

When we reached the bottom, Eirik joined us to show us around Bergen. He had once worked in some sort of tourist-related thing in Bergen, so he knew lots of random facts, or alternatively, he made them up.  He showed us the castle, which was pretty cool, and told us a bit about the history of the monarchy in Norway and how it used to be ruled by Denmark. He showed us the buildings along the pier that are restored versions of buildings that have been there for centuries. He told us about special boats that can only be constructed in Norway because of the size/depth of the harbours or something. At this point, a giant bus came by and sprayed us with water that dripped into our boots.

He showed us the students' union for his University and explained how those unions actually have a lot of power over the university ("evil socialists!") because the unions own about half of the University property. The building where the union is housed was enormous. I was so jealous on behalf of the Brock University Students' Union.

We stopped at a grocery store and picked up ingredients for a typically Norwegian meatloaf... which hilariously turned out to be spaghetti and meatballs. No complaints though, because it was delicious and Eirik cooked it for us. We passed the time waiting for Daniel to get home from work by sharing more stories with each other and watching funny videos, such as this one:

Ring på spring is like "nicky nicky nine doors", "ding dong ditch" or "ring and run", but these guys have added the rule that you can only take three steps once the doorbell has been rung. We we were in hysterics. I kveld med YLVIS, the group that was responsible, is a variety show from Bergen. (Other notable Bergen-ites include Sondre Lerche and DOLK, a popular street artist; fun fact: Québec City, Canada is one of Bergen's sister cities).

Daniel brought his friend Martin over, and so we just hung out for a bit. Danielle and I ended up talking to Daniel's other great roommate, Analin, who is studying to be a French teacher. After only a short time out of France, it was so strange to speak French again. I really felt rusty and Danielle said that her host family would definitely make fun of her when she got back. Analin was really nice and even taught us some Norwegian: "Jeg heter Tessa" (My name is Tessa; sounds a bit like "yo hater"); and "Tusen takk" (A thousand thanks).

Before we knew it, it was bedtime, and we said goodnight to everyone, really sad to leave, but still excited for the "climax" of our trip... the fjords.

Viking Weddings & a "Tessa Fiesta"

October 30, 2012:

Early Tuesday morning, Danielle and I packed our bags and said goodbye to Andreas in the metro. In just a few short days, we felt like we had made a really great friend, so it was sad to say goodbye, but we were excited to continue our journey to Bergen. Keeping with the trend of being on time for our flights, we made sure to be at the train station ridiculously early to get to the airport.

We asked helped from the information desk and the man there was very serious about his job. He pulled out a map and wrote down the time the next train left. Then he wrote down the times of all the following trains in case we missed the first one. We had to transfer to a bus at a certain point and so he drew the bus, the trajectory and a stick-man onto the map as well as all the times that we could catch the bus. And then, he spent a long time doing math trying to figure out what times that meant we would arrive at the airport. He forgot to tell us how to get to the proper train platform, so naturally, we got lost, but we made it to the airport with plenty of time in the end.

On the train, we remembered that it was my birthday.

Our flight to Bergen was delayed by an hour due to the weather in Stockholm, but we occupied our time by sending our postcards (and not eating Pizza Hut). Our flight was really spacious and comfortable compared to Ryanair. However, when welcoming us onto the plane in English, our pilot sounded like he was about to collapse.... comforting. Regardless, I slept through the flight until the descent, when we got our first glimpses of Norway.

We were so excited because the weather had been predicted as being really terrible, and all we saw was sunshine. Our first stop once we got off the transfer bus in Bergen was the tourist office. We decided to walk along the tramline to get to our meeting point with our host, rather than pay a ridiculously high price for public transit. The city is beautiful. We had some issues contacting our host, (my phone wasn't receiving his responses apparently), so we found a restaurant with wi-fi where he eventually found us. The first thing he said was "Congratulations!". I was so confused, until he gave me cookies and I remembered once again that it was my birthday. All of his roommates also said "Congratulations", so I imagine that is what you say in Norwegian on someone's birthday.

We went to the grocery store and bought ingredients for fajitas, which Danielle and I were planning to cook again, because they had been so delicious the night before. Also, starting last year, my birthday was coined as a "Tessa Fiesta" by my friend Kerri, so we were keeping with the theme. Danielle insisted on baking me a cake, so we also bought Disney Princess candles (I felt special). When we actually ate the cake, I was presented with the Princess ring that was included in the candle package which I had to wear for the remainder of my stay in Bergen... and according to Daniel (our host) for all of my birthdays from now on. It has also become a Tessa Fiesta tradition.

While we Danielle cooked (in my defense, I tried to help, but I am notoriously slow at chopping vegetables), Daniel (our host) showered, and we met his roommate Eirik (like Eric, but pronounced with a hard "I" sound at the beggining). One of the first things he did was smell my sweater, which was ill-advised, and then he told us he was a Viking. From then on, practically until we left Bergen, he entertained us with stories about Vikings, Norway's history, the time he spent after being conscripted to His Royal Majesty the King's Guard and dealing with tourists, and also educated us about more serious things like economics and social policies in Norway. He loved referring to Norwegians as "those evil socialists", jokingly.

 

He taught me a bit about my own family history. People often asked why we chose to go to Norway and Sweden (especially at this time of year). A number of years ago, my Dad and Grandpa had been looking at a website that outlined our family tree. For fun, they traced it back as far as they could go, from the time my family lived in Pennsylvania (I attribute my love of the Pittsburgh Penguins to this!), to the migration through the Netherlands, England, Germany, Denmark all the way back to Norway in the 1700s. See my genealogy here. I had a friend who once lived in a town called Lofthus (which translates to Lofthouse) in Norway and who had asked me about the possible connection saying that families were often named after the villages where they lived.

I mentioned this to Eirik, who said that the village of Lofthus is not far from where he is from in Sognefjord. After explaining that Lofthus was a style for building houses involving wooden beams, or something, he suggested that we might be distant cousins, then proposed marriage with the hope of having crazy Viking children. Bring it on....

He had us believing that "Norwegians" was a politically incorrect way to refer to citizens of Norway and that they had better be called "Norsemen". He liked to add to his jokes by saying "You see, it's funny because...." and simply repeating the joke. We had missed the rough-around-the-edges sense of humour that was so familiar in Canada, and welcomed the opportunity to use innuendo and other things that are not as common in France. We felt as though we were old friends ... and engaged to be married.

Update: Apparently Lofthus is not that close to Sognefjord, making our Vikin marriage more legitimate?

Sweden for Hipsters

October 29, 2012:

Andreas worked Monday, and Rachel returned to Ireland on Monday, so we were entrusted with the appartment key. We freshened up and then attempted to leave. Those tricky Swedes have to lift the door handle for the door to lock. That only took us 15 minutes and an emergency Facebook message to figure out (ie. we didn't figure it out until Andreas told us what to do).

We had a cinnamon bun for breakfast (kanelbulle) which is a Swedish invention, but their cinnamon buns are badass compared to ours. They put Canadian cinnamon buns to shame:

Before lunch we bought some postcards and found my magnet! I decided it needed to reflect the way the sun hits the water. I lack the vocabulary to describe how beautiful the city of Stockholm is.

In 2009, I participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award program and in 2010 the International RYLA convention took place in Montréal, so I had the privilege of attending and meeting over 130 participants from countries all over the world, including Sweden. I had the opportunity to meet up with one of my friends from this conference, Celia, for lunch. She gave us some choices and we left it up to her to decide where we should eat. She decided to show us the "hip" side of Stockholm. We had lunch at a gourmet burger restaurant called Vigårda BBQ which was exceptionally good and reasonably priced (even for Scandinavia!), and had coffee at a shop that looked like a lodge and had faux-fur covered stools.

Celia told us that H&M is a Swedish brand (I love this country more and more) that used to be composed of two brands. H stands for Hennes, meaning hers, and M stands for Mauritz, meaning Mauritz. In the centre of Stockholm they have a four-story H&M with another store across the street for H&M Home. Danielle and I decided not to tempt torture ourselves. She also gave us some excellent advice for the rest of our day. It was such a pleasure to see her again!

We made our way to the area of the city that Celia had recommended, which was, what my Dad would call, the yuppie quarter of Stockholm. We fell in love with everything in sight. We started out by casually window-shopping the second-hand stores and trying not to spend too long in each one.

Then, we couldn't resist any longer. I bought a sweater (which turned out to be really useful because my Canada sweater was starting to smell) and a Swedish children's book (OK, so I also have a weakness for children's literature... I'm going to be a teacher!). It was perfect timing too because Stockholm had had enough of the good weather and it started pouring. We looked in record shops, strange furniture shops, antique shops and more second-hand clothing shops.

In order to avoid the rain, we opted to do a pilgrimmage to Ikea Stockholm. The city offers a free bus from the tourist office every half hour and we were just in time. We were almost in two accidents and our bus driver was insane. Unlike this Danish bus driver:

We thoroughly enjoyed all the kitchens and random things you could buy, like pepparkaka (gingerbread), and "Swedish holiday drinks". We ended up buying ponchos, which was the best decision of the trip, and frozen pizza to eat for lunch the next day. Andreas was perplexed when we told him we were at Ikea, wondering what tourists could possibly find interesting about that.

We met him back at the flat and we decided to make fajitas for dinner. To finish off our stay in Stockholm, we watched the film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. I have a huge crush on Steve Carell (Dan in Real Life is my favourite movie ever because I am probably a romantic hipster at heart) and I also love Keira Knightley, so as strange as this coupling is, I was thrilled with the movie before I'd even seen in. It is, however, an excellent film despite my bias.

In conclusion, Stockholm is an amazing city and if you have the chance (make a chance for yourself), you should definitely visit. I wish we could have spent more time exploring the Kulturehuset and learning more Swedish. I would have spent a fortune in the hipster district of Stockholm if I'd spent any longer though, so it's probably a good thing we were moving on in the morning to Norway!

 

Photo Credit: Danielle Ambs

Sigtuna, Sweden

October 28, 2012:

We started the day with the intention of seeing the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, and we were almost late. When we got there, we were confused by the lack of people in the square and waited for 15 minutes before realising we'd forgotten about Daylight Savings Time and had to wait an hour before anything started. To pass the time, we set off on a quest to find the perfect magnet.

I am not much of a picture-taker (that's Danielle's specialty) and I don't generally like collecting stuff. Souvenirs are cool in theory, but I don't like having unnecessary "junk" blocking my chi or whatever. However, without meaning to, I started collecting magnets. My first magnet was one of the tower of Pisa when I was 16 and at 19, I picked up a beautiful magnet in the shape of Australia. They've turned my fridge into a sort of fridge-passport!

I like to have a magnet for each city that I have spent some time in. However, I am very picky about my magnet choices because I want them to be unique and I want them to represent something about my trip. We didn't find my magnet on this one-hour hunt, but we did find a new filter for Danielle's camera (since it broke in Barcelona) and some other interesting souvenir items.

After the changing of the guard which was a lot of "pomp and circumstance", as Danielle put it, we set off to Sigtuna, the oldest town in Sweden. From the windows of the bus, it looked like we were on our way through Northern Ontario.

 

The town itself looked like a Disney recreation of a medeival village. The houses were all small. And apparently, the Chinese once came to Sigtuna, took photos and then built an exact replica of it in China. We had a delicious lunch in a cafe and then walked around taking photos. It's a town on the water, like Stockholm, but it really felt like we were on a lake somewhere north of North Bay.

Before the sun set (at 5pm), we walked up to a 13th century church. It was pretty cool. There was no entrance fee, no evidence of any effort to make it a tourist destination, hardly even an information plaque, but you could walk right into the castle and we had an interesting discussion about religion in Scandinavia and the tower had a moustache.

 

For the sunset, we walked back out to the water. I love natural bodies of water. I just wanted to stand on the end of the dock forever and pretend the world didn't exist. It was so peaceful there.

We went home before it got too cold, and decided to make Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time: Meatball Massacre for dinner. Us North Americans failed when it came to actually cooking our meatballs. We needed the touch of a real Swede to make them turn out properly, so we had one plate of "meatcrumbs" and one of real meatballs. Andreas also made a special sauce that was so delicious and you typically eat them with lingonberries.

 To finish off the day, we cleaned up the dishes and decided to watch a movie. Andreas really watched to watch this Finnish film called Iron Sky. He described it as a Nazi alien invasion. I'll admit I was very skeptical, because that is about the strangest concept for a movie I've ever heard.

It turned out to be a really good film. I would definitely recommend it.



Photo Credit: Danielle Ambs and Rachel Haussman