The Beautiful $ights of Norway

Last weekend, Aaron and I flew to Norway to meet up with my dad, Marie and her parents. We didn't really know what to expect since we don't know many people who have been there. Here are a few things we found out about the Scandinavian country:

The fjords look a lot like the Pacific Northwest - Let's face it, we are incredibly spoiled in the Pacific Northwest. We have an abundance of mountains, trees and water that is very picturesque. So maybe it was the dreary rain, lush green scenery or huge bridges spanning beautiful water, but the Fjords reminded us a lot of home.

Vikings, waterfalls, tunnels and trolls... oh my! - We drove from Bergen to Gudvangen where we caught a ferry and traveled through the fjords to Solvorn. On the drive we had to go through many tunnels because of the hilly terrain, and we passed by countless waterfalls. We also saw an old Norwegian viking longship, an incredibly narrow, light and wooden boat that vikings used to easily navigate through the winding waters. The troll thing surprised me a bit - every gift shop that we went to had troll knick-knacks, and a lot of restaurants and homes had trolls in the window. Turns out that trolls actually came from Scandinavian folklore.

Oslo is a huge city - We spent two nights in Bergen and one night in Oslo. The two cities were much different than I expected them to be. Bergen had a more cozy, small-town, relaxing feel while Oslo felt busier with more people and sights. In Oslo, we saw "The Scream" by Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch. This is one of my favorite paintings so I was really glad that we got to see it!

It should be called Nomonay - Norway is expensive. Don't believe me? Take a look at the Economist's Big Mac index or this article showing it's the most expensive city to visit. Even with knowing that it was expensive, we were still shocked by the prices: on average a beer was 90 kroner or $15... yikes! We wondered how people lived there until we learned that minimum wage was about the equivalent of $40.

The oldest hotel in Norway is 370 years old - And we stayed there! The same family has been running the Walaker Hotell since 1640 and ownership has been passed down through nine generations. It is in Solvorn, just across from Ornes which has the oldest Stave Church, built in 1130. I had never heard of a Stave Church but we saw another one on our drive. They are very unique because of the way they are built- by crisscrossing planks of wood and not with nails or other securing pins. If you're curious, you can view a few photos of Stave Churches here.

The daylight is true - Yes, it really does stay light until about midnight in the summer. The sun set at about 9:45pm, but we sat outside at 11pm one night and it still felt like dusk. The only downside to this was it meant that although we were far north and away from the city lights, we were not able to see the Northern Lights.

Norway was a beautiful country. The people that we met there were incredibly nice, the scenery was gorgeous and there was a lot to do. But there was a price to pay to visit!