Tuesday Oct 19th - Our first (and only) full day in Bergen! There was no real set plan for anything we were doing in Norway or Sweden, so the first day in Bergen started out with trying to figure out what to do. Our Hostel was at the base of a hiking trail that went up to the highest point in Bergen, and we were going to do that, but then it was rainy and gross out, so we decided not to. The rain also made me not take my camera with me (it's not as if I can just put it in my pocket), so no pictures from this day - my apologies! We decided to take this train thingy up to another part of a mountain, and it was awesome. I was still a little moody from the day before, but that quickly subsided! The train was awesome... I can honestly say I never thought I would take a train up a mountain - and I mean up, as in practically vertical! Not just going around the mountain! At the top it was gorgeous, and I was so sad to not have my camera, as it had stopped raining now. We were all running around exploring, and suddenly we'd been hiking around for an hour! I was really enjoying myself and wanted to hike (well follow the paved path) down to the bottom, but apparently it was a 4 hour hike, and other people weren't down. I was totally down, but caved to the peer pressure and we took the train back down. Then we strolled around and found a cool Viking museum, but it closed 15 minutes after we got there, which was a total bummer! We found a restaurant, and decided to treat ourselves to an amazing fish dinner, so we made a reservation for later that night. Then we strolled over to a little pond and hung out there for a bit until we saw an art museum and decided to go there. It was a great museum - it had a Munch exhibit and a few Picasso's. I saw one painting that I've been inspired to recreate, so look forward to that coming soon (look up Trine Folmoe's "Back" to see it)! After the museum we headed back to the hostel to change for dinner - no one got dressed up, we just put more clothes on! The dinner was absolutely delicious! I got Salmon (shocking!) and it was sooo good. Honestly, the best salmon I've had at a restaurant, except for maybe the Teriyaki Salmon from the Elephant Bar, but that was a completely different type of dish. I spent about 20 minutes trying to decide between ice cream or Bailey's and coffee for dessert, and finally decided to get ice cream, then get Bailey's at the bar. It was a great decision. We headed to a little Scottish bar, where we caught the second half of an Arsenal game (yeah, they kicked ass), then headed back to the hostel. On the bus, J and I got the giggles about something silly like vacuums, and then couldn't keep serious while we were playing ping pong... it was a great evening :) (Apparently this post is super long because I don't have any pictures... haha or something like that)
I stole this picture from Br's facebook. That's me, Br and J
at the top of the mountain we explored
Me and J chilling with a troll.
The painting I'm planning on recreating
Wednesday Oct 20th - Our last day in Bergen. Our flight to Stockholm wasn't until 9 p.m. so we still pretty much had the whole day to explore, which was good! We checked out of the hostel, and they were kind enough to let up put our bags behind the desk while we went for a hike! We hiked up the mountain that the Hostel was on (the one we couldn't do the day before), and it was intense! I don't think all the hiking I've done in SC had rightly prepared me for this hike. Hiking in SC is really more like taking a stroll through the woods. This involved climbing over rocks, up frozen streams, through marshes, not being sure if you were on the path, slipping on frozen streams, and finally making it to the top. The first 10 minutes I was absolutely miserable. It was freezing (it started snowing about 3 hours after we finished hiking... that cold), it was hard and it was challenging. And we were on the easy trial. After the initial suckiness though, it got a lot better. The view was spectacular, and rumor had it there was a lift at the top that would take us back down! M, D and I got separated from the rest of the group and went around the back. I think we got off the trail for a bit, and ended up hiking through half frozen marshiness. This is when I discovered that my "water proof" boots, were not quite water proof. My toes have never been so cold! When we finally made it to the top we discovered that the lift was not open that day. Cue the 5 stages of grieving.... Finally, one acceptance had set it, and everyone else had made it to the top, we decided to go down the faster, harder and steeper way. Only because it was faster. I'm definitely glad this wasn't the way we came up because there wasn't really anywhere to stop and look out, unlike the slow way. It was so steep that the only way to get down without killing yourself was to hold a rickety pole... only a little terrifying! At one point, we had to hike down through a running stream - again, the whole apparently not water proof shoes thing became an issue. We made it to the bottom completely in tact though, and I have to say it was a great way to start the day. Exhausting, but absolutely amazing! After that we headed back to the Hostel, gathered our stuff and headed into town. We stopped by the fish market, and apparently the plan was to eat there. Br, J and I were not down with this plan because it was absolutely freezing, and we wanted to be inside somewhere! So we split off from the group, and found a cute little restaurant that wasn't too terribly pricey (for Norway...). We ended up staying there for a couple hours, which was a little shocking. When we got there, our conversation was a little stagnant, but after we finished eating we suddenly found ourselves fully enthralled in conversation (we started talking about psychology and I couldn't help myself!). Unfortunately, because we lollygagged so long, the waiter assumed he could take his time with us, and it took forever to get the check, even after we asked for it (we were on of three groups in the entire restaurant). This normally wouldn't be a problem, but we could see that it had started to snow, and really wanted to go out and run around and play in the snow. By the time we paid, the snow had stopped :( It was apparently the first snow of the season too! Anyway, after that, we met up with everyone else, and headed to the airport. Much to all of our satisfaction, it started snowing on the bus to the airport, and we got to play in the snow once we got there! Then we boarded our flight, and were off to Sweden! One of the flight attendants looked like a stripper, and I was completely convinced he was going to start stripping during the emergency procedures presentation. Sadly, this didn't happen :( We landed at about 22:30 or 11, and took a train into central Stockholm, and then wandered the streets until we found our hostel. Once we were settled in, we all promptly passed out (i realize that every time I say that it sounds like I'm sugar coating things and passing over crazy antics, but really, we just went to bed).
Friday Oct 22nd - Our last full day in Stockholm! We started out by going to the cafe next to the Hostel for breakfast, which was delicious! And then we just sort of meandered around for a bit. We met up with Kr, who was coming to Sweden for two days, and then strolled down a big shopping street. Lh, Br, J and I got distracted by touristy stores and lost the rest of the group (yes parents, I did get you presents!). It was really fun, lots of silly hats, moose memorabilia, candy and scarves. We met up with part of the group, and then got separated again! Br, J and I tried to meet up with them, but for some reason our phones weren't working, so we went off on our own to a little cafe and got the most delicious chicken pesto pasta ever! And it was pretty cheap! After that we decided to just go back to the hostel and hang out for a bit. It really was too cold to really do anything, and it wasn't snowing, so therefore not worth it to be outside. We got some meatballs and rolls for dinner, and made an amazing pasta dinner (seriously, the only things we ate this whole trip - except for the occasional fish dish - were pizza and pasta. Pizza was the cheapest thing in Norway, and pasta was free in Sweden). At this point everyone was pretty haggard from the trip, and so we had a pretty laid back end of the trip. We stayed in and played trivia, which BR was awesome about and made for us! Then we all promptly fell asleep (getting sick of my saying that yet?)
Awesome Candy store... and so cheap too :)
Saturday Oct 23rd - The last day! We woke up early.... too early. We had to leave for the train station at 10. People started packing up at 8. I was perplexed, and didn't know the plan, so I got up with everyone else... and then realized I could have slept an extra hour. Not cool. In any case, since I was up, I headed to the cafe and got a sandwich for later that day. Then Br, J and I wandered down to the docks, where we found Hatty, and had a funeral. We ran into M, BR and K, and apparently M had seen Hatty the day before, on the docks, covered in snow, and thought it might be my hat. It was very sad. Anyway, we strolled on over to the train station, and took a bus to our airport. The bus ride was 80 minutes long, and our airport was sketchy as hell. But we made it home alive! The rest of the day wasn't too interesting... we took the S-Bahn home, I randomly ran into a girl I used to work with who was just leaving Berlin after being here for 2 days, and then I took the most glorious shower of my life. Later that night, Br, J and I watched Snatch and drank wine. Twas a nice relaxing way to settle back into live in Berlin.
No comments:
Post a Comment