Travel Break One: Norway

One of these posts I swear I'll actually talk about Copenhagen.  But before I forget everything I did two weeks ago (and go on my next travel break in 5 days) I figure I should write about my trip to Norway and Berlin.  The program I'm in, Danish Institute for Study Abroad, is pretty much nothing short of amazing in terms of how much time we get off for travel.  We never have more than two weeks of classes without a week off for traveling (sorry Mom...it's a different type of learning I promise).  So, two weeks ago I was in Norway and Berlin, Sunday I leave for London for a week and two weeks after that I'm off to Milan, Budapest and Madrid for ten days.

I think it's safe to say that Norway was the prettiest place that I have ever been.  And also the coldest and rainiest.  I got rained on every day of my break.  In Berlin I think it was just bad luck but in Norway that seems to be the norm.

Day One:
Saturday of our week off the group of us going on the Norway trip flew out and landed in the Bergen airport.  It was raining.  From Bergen we took a bus about two hours to Flam where we stayed for most of the trip (Saturday - Tuesday).

And this was just on the bus ride there.

Once we got to the hostel that we were staying at and unpacked a little, we went to lunch where I had a salmon sandwich (I think it's safe to say I had salmon in some form for every meal in Norway except maybe breakfast).  Then we went on a boat ride through the fjords which was unreal.

After that we had dinner (giant buffet...I had five different types of salmon. I counted) then we all went to bed.

Day Two:

We woke up pretty early, had breakfast and packed a lunch because we were heading off to go hiking all day.  We took a train ride that claimed to be the most beautiful in all of Europe up to the top of a mountain.  I wouldn't doubt it.  

The train took us up to Myrdal (at the very top) and we walked back down to Flam (...very bottom)

The hike was about 13 miles.  It was mostly downhill.  But 13 miles is 13 miles and I have not been to a gym since July.  I was definitely feeling it the next morning but, again, Norway is the most beautiful country ever and by some miracle it didn't rain on us once the whole hike (which took about 6 hours).  I took nearly 100 pictures of this hike alone so I'll spare you and just put a few of my favorites on here.

Meredith hiking the trail

It might not have rained but it was definitely still cold up there

Water was unbelievably clear

After we made it down the mountain we all put our feet up for an hour so before eating a well-deserved dinner.  More salmon of course.

Day Three:

The third day started with a climb up to a waterfall.  It rained.  There was mud everywhere.  I will admit to falling flat on my butt twice while climbing down the mountain.  But then again I think everyone fell at least once.  The rain stopped for a little at the top - long enough to snap a few pictures - before it started again during our descent.

A rare sunny moment in Norway

No, this was not taken against a green screen

After our waterfall hike we ran over to our kayaking trip.  We were a little late because everyone took forever getting down the waterfall hike because of the whole mudslide situation.  The following pictures are courtesy of Meredith since I was too scared to take my camera out of its extremely water proofed bag during the kayak trip

We always seemed to end up in the back of the group

Another rare sunny moment

We kayaked to another waterfall hike then kayaked back to where we were staying.  It rained on us off and on and we must've been kayaking wrong because Meredith and I somehow managed to get soaked during the trip too and no one else really did.  So after we put the kayaks away, Meredith and I ran back to the hostel where we each took the longest and hottest showers of our life.  Then it was off to our salmon buffet again.

Day Four:

This was our last day in Flam and we spent it on a farm.  Definitely different than the other days.  We biked up another mountain to a woman's farm.  When we got there the woman gave us a tour around the place and we helped her make cheese for a little before eating a lunch that was all made from things on her farm.

On the right you can see everyone walking their bikes up the hill because it got too steep

Some of the houses on the farm

After lunch we biked back down the mountain (in the rain) and got a train to Bergen where our flight would leave from the next day.

Day Five:

This was our final day in Norway and we had most of it to ourselves to wander the town of Bergen.  After a little tram type ride up a mountain in Bergen, Meredith and I decided to hike back down instead of taking the tram down. 

Post tram ride, pre hike

From there we pretty much wandered aimlessly all day.  In the rain.  We saw the fish market and a few other touristy things before heading back to the hotel to catch the shuttle to our flight.  Landed in Copenhagen around 10 pm.  Got back to my kollegium around midnight.  Had to be at the airport again at 7 the next morning for my flight to Berlin but more on that to come...