February 24, 2016
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Up and awake with plenty of time before the train left, we took one last look at the wonderful view of Bergen from the living room, said farewell to our host, and started our walk to the Bergen train station.Since we had an excess of Gouda cheese from the day before, we stopped by the local Kiwi supermarket (in bright green decor) and picked up some fresh bread. The best part about buying bread in Norway is using the automated bread slicer. Here’s how it works: loaf of bread goes in, sliced loaf of bread comes out. It’s pretty awesome.📷The best thing since…
We made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare, picked up our tickets, and located our seats. When we reserved the seats, it showed a table shared between two pairs of seats, however there was no table where our assigned seats were. It was disappointing only because we had intended to play ticket to ride on the train. Without a table, this wasn’t an option. Fortunately, since the scenery was supposedly fantastic, we had plenty to look forward to.📷Mornings are rough
Once the train started, within a few kilometers, we had entered a long tunnel (5 miles long, if I recall correctly). During this time, I took the opportunity to buy ourselves a couple of Norwegian waffles. We had one with strawberry jam and the other with Gudbrandsdalsost, a delicious Norwegian cheese. I vowed to find more of this cheese once we arrived in Oslo…📷Goodbye Bergen
📷WAFFLE!
Once we exited the tunnel, we were treated to a spectacular view of the river and bridge near Trengereid. Heather and I began to furiously snap pictures in between tunnels and tree cover. As a disclaimer, I should mention that we may have taken more pictures on this train ride than the rest of the trip combined. We did our best to choose only the most interesting ones, which I will leave you to view without any further explanation, below.📷And the pretty begins
📷Voss
📷Hallingskarvet nasjonalpark
📷More pretties
📷Geilo
📷Running water
After nearly 7 hours on this incredibly scenic train ride, we were happy to be walking around outside. Even though it would have been faster to take the bus, we opted to walk the 25 minutes to our stay. We picked up the keys from the local Deli de Luca and found our way to the apartment.Having walked uphill most of the way to the apartment, we were grateful there was an elevator that could take us to the fifth floor. When we arrived, the previous Airbnb tenants were still packing up, so dropped off our bags in the kitchen, sat down for a few minutes, and then ventured back out into Oslo.📷View from our Oslo flat
Compared to the other cities we visited, Oslo seemed like the most spread out. Not having a metro may have contributed to this perception, but, in general, the buildings seemed smaller and spaced farther apart, and the monuments and museums were much farther away. In any case, we made our way to the Royal Palace, wandered along the harbor, and stumbled upon Akershus Festning, a castle park open to the public.📷Royal Palace
📷“Folkets kjærlighed min belönning” “Det norske folk reiste dette minde” Karl Johan
📷Oslo harbor
📷Golden hour in Olso
We explored the castle for some time, walking along the ramparts, soaking in the views of the harbor, and basking in the evening sun. Towards the end of our impromptu tour, we encountered a set of a cannons with ornately decorated handles shaped like elephants. We thought it was rather odd that Norwegians would engrave an animal on their cannons that is located so far away from their home country.📷Looking mysterious
📷Akershus Festning
📷Elephant handles?
As we journeyed back towards the flat, we realized that even though it was only 4:30 PM or so, we were getting pretty hungry. Since Heather hadn’t had a proper meal since Copenhagen, we caved and got ourselves some quality Indian food. Even the Indian food is excellent in Norway – probably some of the best we’ve ever had. We both suspect the tastiness of all the food in Scandinavia is due to the superb quality of the dairy used. But regardless of the reason, the food is still fantastic.On our way back to the apartment, we crossed Karl Johans Gate, a street that goes straight towards the Royal Palace. We took the opportunity to take a photo and then booked it the rest of way back since it was getting cold. Once we arrived back at the flat, we met our host, Gaby, who we chatted with for a few minutes. We then played Ticket to Ride – Scandinavia and I won my very first game! Sadly, nobody purchased the route between Oslo and Bergen.📷Looking down Karl Johans gate
📷We were on a train today!
Our train route (approximate):📷On train
Our walking route in Oslo (also approximate):📷On foot
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