"Oh yes," said Slartibartfast, "Did you ever go to a place.... I think it was called Norway?"
"No," said Arthur, "no, I didn't."
"Pity," said Slartibartfast, "that was one of mine. Won an award you know. Lovely crinkly edges. I was most upset to hear about its destruction."
With expectations high, and having heard much praise from its creator and its Prince, I went to Norway over the weekend for my first taste of Scandinavia. Success! Norway ruled!
Trond was going home for the holidays and I went to visit for the last wekend. Another fantastic host in another fantastic country.
Friday was explore Bergen day.
Its a very colourful and very clean city. We walked past the 'postcard houses' which are in downtown Bergen and are really old and are sinking into the ground. They aren't actually called 'postcard houses' they are called Bryggen - and are a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings that are really really old!
In the centre of the photo is the military fort where Trond was stationed for a bit during his military service. I'm not exactly sure why I find this fact so hilarious, but I do. Excellent. We went into a social history museum there - man I love museums like that. And we took the cable car up Mount Fløyen, one of the seven mountains that Bergen is nestled between, such amazing views from up there. 
Oh aaaand we went to the Bergen aquarium! We discovered an excellent career opportunity for Jacqui - a seal trainer! You perhaps had to see them and know Jacqui to understand that one but it was most amusing at the time.Later that day Trond, Marianne (Trond's lovely girlfriend) and I drove north to Marianne's cabin. It was beautiful up there. Such amazing scenery and the sun was shining and Norway was clearly pleased to have me. :) (Considering a series of power failures the night before had lead Trond to accuse me of 'breaking Norway' I was very pleased the sun was out.)
The cabin is the red one. (A cabin to a Norwegian is a bach to a kiwi.)
That night we made tacos and played board games. My Norwegian vocabulary now includes 'skiftenøkkel' (wrench), 'kjøkken' (kitchen) and 'dolk' (dagger). Excellent.The next morning we had breakfast at the cabin and I tried some caviar in a tube. I'm not kidding.
Huh?? Very.... fishy. And also another weird Norwegian food which Trond and Marianne called a 'plane crash' because that's what it looked like. (Wee bit insensitive that particular morning...)THEN we went out on Marianne's boat. So cool. We attempted to fish. But they were not interested in us. Someone, I think it was Ben, told me that only way to see Norway is by boat. I see what he meant. It was beautiful.
What a pro.Then we drove back to Bergen and had dinner and Trond's mum's house and talked about Eurovision. Which, by the way, I now think New Zealand is the worse for not having. Awesome.
Oh and I think it was that day that I went to see Trond's dads house and his grandparents house - I saw lots of Norwegian houses actually, Trond was very keen that I saw how normal Norwegians live which was really cool. Common themes among these houses: bare light coloured wood inside, tapestries on the walls (not like all over the place, but each had at least one), spinning wheels, old chests, and photos of Trond as a wee boy and as a teen in his bunad. :))) I enjoyed that very much. Aaaand, everywhere we went we were offered hot coffee and some kind of delicious something - ice cream, pikelets, cake... num num. And his family is lovely. We were staying at his Mum's house, and I also met his Dad, his sister, his Dad's parents and his Mum's Mum. All lovey and friendly and hospitable. I met his Granny (Mum's Mum) on the Sunday and she gave us coffee and pikelets and she reminded me so much of my own Granny. They would get along very well I think.
Trond and his Granny :)Norway generally reminded me a lot of New Zealand. Certainly a lot more than Scotland does. The houses are made of wood and the interiors and more... New Zealandy... and the fjords could be fjords in Fiordland.
Sunday we went on a big drive (via Trond's Granny's place) to the farm that his Dad has inherited and is renovating. The views were incredible.
And the sun was shining again. We had rice porridge for lunch. This is apparently a very Norwegian thing to do - every Friday Marianne said the cafes around Bergen serve it and most people would have some on a Saturday afternoon. Hmmm... It was yummy - the butter, sugar and the cinnamon helped. The drive home was rather spectacular.
This could be New Zealand don't you think? Maybe an alpine version... New Zealand's distant alpine cousin.Monday we went to Edvard Grieg's house which isn't far from where Trond lives. So cool. Edvard Greig is a famous Norwegian composer. That statue is life size!
This was his composing hut near the house. Amazing views. His house was in such a beautiful area, and there was a really cool museum display. Again - Niki digs museums. (Look out Jess - Europe may involve quite a few.)OH I nearly forgot!! Monday was also the day that I got to see Trond's bunad- his national costume. And he tries to deny he's the Prince....
We flew out on Monday evening on a tiny tiny plane that took us across the North Sea. Such a lovely relaxing long weekend. Couldn't have asked for a better tour guide. :) Hopefully I will have the chance to return the favour soon.TOP FIVE: Norway does it better.
1. Caviar in a tube
2. Coat hanging areas
3. Heated foot paths (How frigging cool is that!!)
4. Brown cheese (my new favourite cheese)
5. Flags.
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