We returned from Norway late Monday evening - filled with awe and gratitude for God's beautiful world... and completely exhausted.
The journey (and exhaustion) for Mommy (Andrew and I are now at the super sophisticated point in life where we constantly refer to each other as 'mommy' and 'daddy') began on Thursday when I took a solo 4+hour journey with Laska and Kitty to Laska's country estate. The process of getting Laska to Oakwood Ranch is rather extensive, involving a 20 minute bus-ride, a 45 minute train ride, and a little more than a mile walk through (stunning) Swedish country side- no sidewalks! This is a bit difficult when there are two of us- so I felt like super-mom doing the journey alone. I left the apartment at 9 am, and returned a bit before 2, just in time to meet Andrew and hurry to catch our 3:50 high speed train to Oslo.
Traveling by train with a baby is terrific. It really is. Even thought this was a five hour trip, it was so stress free and comfortable- we were free to roam from car to car, and Kitty was super pumped about the kids play car, where she could pull ALL the books off the shelf again and again and again.
Once in Oslo, our real 'Norway in a nutshell' tour began- Friday morning we boarded a train on the famous Oslo-Bergen line (supposedly one of the most beautiful in Europe).
(There were waterfalls EVERYWHERE, sparkling down the mountainside, we didn't even try to count them, there were so many, all full of very cold VERY CLEAR delicious mountain water. It was my goal of the trip to drink from a waterfall, which I eventually achieved thanks to my devoted husband, more on that later)
The journey (and exhaustion) for Mommy (Andrew and I are now at the super sophisticated point in life where we constantly refer to each other as 'mommy' and 'daddy') began on Thursday when I took a solo 4+hour journey with Laska and Kitty to Laska's country estate. The process of getting Laska to Oakwood Ranch is rather extensive, involving a 20 minute bus-ride, a 45 minute train ride, and a little more than a mile walk through (stunning) Swedish country side- no sidewalks! This is a bit difficult when there are two of us- so I felt like super-mom doing the journey alone. I left the apartment at 9 am, and returned a bit before 2, just in time to meet Andrew and hurry to catch our 3:50 high speed train to Oslo.
Traveling by train with a baby is terrific. It really is. Even thought this was a five hour trip, it was so stress free and comfortable- we were free to roam from car to car, and Kitty was super pumped about the kids play car, where she could pull ALL the books off the shelf again and again and again.
Once in Oslo, our real 'Norway in a nutshell' tour began- Friday morning we boarded a train on the famous Oslo-Bergen line (supposedly one of the most beautiful in Europe).
We had to consume quite a bit of coffee to feel truly energized for our 8 am departure- we had a less than perfect evening in our Oslo hotel, playing "hide from our daughter while she screams at us because she is sleeping in the same room as us, two feet away from our bed" late into the evening. We actually did hide underneath the blankets- and Andrew had a not so brilliant moment where he returned from the bathroom hiding behind a towel (blatantly ignoring my advice to army crawl to and from the bathroom, he instead just looked like a ghost, Kitty definitely wasn't fooled, and she definitely resumed her cry/yelling at us) ANYWHO- soon enough the scenery out the window provided enough incentive to keep our lids wide open!
After about 4 hours climbing west into the mountains on this particular train (again, Kitty was a dream, thoroughly enjoying the 'kid car' which also had great big windows and excellent views).we arrived in a little town called Myrdal, where we were welcomed oh so appropriately with sleeting snow and switched train lines to get on the 'world famous' Flåm line- a breathtaking winding trip down the mountain, full of stunning views, huge waterfalls and sheer drops to the little town of Flåm, where we stayed the evening.
Flåm is situated at the very end of one of Norway's gigantic fjords, pretty isolated- there wasn't much to do there except soak in the fresh air and gorgeous scenery. And walk! We walked and walked and WALKED, we followed signs to a little farm that was a town over, and part way up the mountain- and closed, unfortunately, but we were able to meet some sheep and goats... goats who were climbing trees!
Kitty slept the whole way, so we had to tell her about those crazy goats while we feasted on local reindeer and pork at the viking restaurant next to our hotel. Then it was early to bed for round two of "hiding from our daughter" so that we (fingers crossed) would be fresh for round two of Norway in a nutshell tour, the ferry ride through the UNESCO protected 'narrow fjord' to town where we catch a bus (and then another train, uffda!!) to our final destination, the bustling town of Bergen.
Photos cannot not do justice to the majesty of the views... and we didn't even really try, we were busy feasting our eyes and filling our souls, as long as our bodies could handle the crisp breeze.. and then going inside the boat making sure our little girl (apparently unimpressed with National Geographic's number one destination for beauty) didn't fall off the table on which she chose to sleep:)
and then we arrived in Bergen!
this post will be continued...
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