Last week I went on my last trip while in Norway.
For this trip I went with a girl Sonja who I had only met twice before and that was to plan our trip. We had met on our University's Facebook group for International students when she posted asking if anybody wanted to join her on this trip! Gotta love social media these days!
I have become very good at buying ridiculously cheap tickets, whether it be for plane or train I always manage to surprise people with how little I have to pay in such a pricey country! My train ticket for a 8 hour ride to SW Norway was around $20! While in Stavanger we stayed at a little place that's advertised online as a backpackers hostel. Stavanger is Norway's most expensive city for many things, especially hotels and even though we had the cheapest place in the city it was still around $60/night to stay in a strange-Norwegian-hippy-man's guest room. He was a bit odd but we got organic eggs for breakfast and 2 loaves of organic bread each day, so it worked out all right.
Stavanger is a tiny city that is Norway's oil capital and therefore business center. So pretty much there isn't much to see but we had Monday & Tuesday evenings, Wednesday morning and all day Friday to spend there. By the end I actually knew the city pretty well.
Tuesday morning we took a ferry across the fjord and then a bus to the starting point of our first hike. Preikestolen translates to Pulpit Rock and is this huge cliff with an almost perfectly flat surface that is 604 meters above the water. The beginning sign says to give about 2 hours each way but we were excited to accomplish it in 1! Sadly the day we went was very foggy and dreary so you could barely see the fjord. Either way it was an impressive site! I eventually managed to scoot myself up the edge and dangle one foot over and then scoot backwards, switch to my stomach and crawl up to peep over the edge! I was very proud of myself but other people watching were hysterically laughing at me. Besides getting the courage to look over myself I was a basket case watching other tourists do what I consider stupid and idiotic things near the edge! Every time a kid got close I had a minor panic attack.. Whenever someone sat over the edge and looked over, leaving only their buttocks on the rock, I had another panic attack! (I'm not sure how many times Sonja told me to relax!)
Wednesday morning we took a different ferry boat and this time cruised all the way down the Lysefjord and got to see the beautiful mountains from a different view. We even saw Preikestolen from the water! It was pretty cloudy and a bit rainy though so not the best weather again, which was starting to worry us for our next hike!
That night we met a Canadian who introduced himself because he needed a North American to European outlet converter and since I'm obviously a fellow N.American he thought he'd ask. Later that night he was trying to view the European fotball (soccer) game between Germany and Netherlands. Since Sonja is German we joined him and a then group of backpackers (2 guys from Germany and a girl from Netherlands), even later a group of 4 guys from Netherlands came over to join us. It was such an interesting group of people and a lot of fun! (Germany won by the way!) We found out that the 4 guys had a car and were willing to drive us up to the trail head so we could avoid an extremely steep 7km walk up the highway. (Thank God! It ended up including a one way tunnel through a mountain)
Even though the guy from Canada was the one who created our group, he didn't join us as he started very early in the morning. The rest of us, our 3 groups combined into 1, making 8 people headed out to climb 3 relatively steep mountains in search of Kjeragbolten. It was a good thing that we were all together as the hike was relatively difficult in places and the trail disappeared a few times (thanks to the thick fog and deep snow) and we were able to break up into groups to re-find the trail.
For the past few months I've been debating whether or not I'd be able to stand on Kjeragbolten. It's a boulder stuck 1000m (3000feet) above the water between 2 cliffs. I've even had a few nightmares where I climb on it and either slip off or the boulder comes loose (yes I have a crazy imagination!). I wanted to stand on the rock so bad but wasn't sure if I'd be able to! I was seriously freaking out. But with the help and support of my group I gave it a try. I had Sonja stand on the rock with her holding one hand, and then one of the guys followed me down the narrow path holding my other hand and as I was stepping onto the rock I had held on to both hands so tightly I'm surprised I didn't break them! Then I made the guy stay there with his hand outstretched in case I needed it again (you can see his head in the pic), but I was actually, physically on the rock! After I stepped off I was a shaking trembling mess but I was also so extremely proud of myself!
That evening the group of us relaxed in our hotel common room playing Norwegian board games that we had found and listening to Norwegian Christmas music (the only cd's available). Once everyone was hungry I somehow got roped into being the chef for the night with one of the guys to help me. Between everyone all we had was 2 small bowls of rice pilaf, half a package of noodles and a loaf of bread. After finding salt/pepper/butter (not sure if we were actually allowed to use it, but oh well) I managed to create a meal of some sort that everyone ate and claims was good and filling, so I was pleased with myself! (who says I can't cook).
The next morning we all got onto the same ferry but had different stops, by time we were back in Stavanger it was just Sonja and I again. We even had different trains back to Oslo and mine wasn't until 10:30pm (what can I say, I'm cheap!) so after she left for hers I spent my afternoon hiding in a bookstore reading until they closed, so then I bought the book and moved to a cafe where I sat until train time.
This trip not only providing some amazing hiking to two of Norway's most famous rock formations but I also got to push my comfort zone more than once dealing with steep hikes and standing on or near (extremely) high places. On top of that we made friends with a really cool group! The backpackers are still going and are ending up in Oslo sometime this week and we are hoping to meet up again.
I think this last trip was a perfect way to start the end of my time here in Norway and now I'm anxiously waiting for my mom to get here in 5 short days! So excited to see her and show her around (somehow the tourist became the local in the last few months)!!
For this trip I went with a girl Sonja who I had only met twice before and that was to plan our trip. We had met on our University's Facebook group for International students when she posted asking if anybody wanted to join her on this trip! Gotta love social media these days!
I have become very good at buying ridiculously cheap tickets, whether it be for plane or train I always manage to surprise people with how little I have to pay in such a pricey country! My train ticket for a 8 hour ride to SW Norway was around $20! While in Stavanger we stayed at a little place that's advertised online as a backpackers hostel. Stavanger is Norway's most expensive city for many things, especially hotels and even though we had the cheapest place in the city it was still around $60/night to stay in a strange-Norwegian-hippy-man's guest room. He was a bit odd but we got organic eggs for breakfast and 2 loaves of organic bread each day, so it worked out all right.
Stavanger is a tiny city that is Norway's oil capital and therefore business center. So pretty much there isn't much to see but we had Monday & Tuesday evenings, Wednesday morning and all day Friday to spend there. By the end I actually knew the city pretty well.
 |
| "Near" the edge of Preikestolen |
Tuesday morning we took a ferry across the fjord and then a bus to the starting point of our first hike. Preikestolen translates to Pulpit Rock and is this huge cliff with an almost perfectly flat surface that is 604 meters above the water. The beginning sign says to give about 2 hours each way but we were excited to accomplish it in 1! Sadly the day we went was very foggy and dreary so you could barely see the fjord. Either way it was an impressive site! I eventually managed to scoot myself up the edge and dangle one foot over and then scoot backwards, switch to my stomach and crawl up to peep over the edge! I was very proud of myself but other people watching were hysterically laughing at me. Besides getting the courage to look over myself I was a basket case watching other tourists do what I consider stupid and idiotic things near the edge! Every time a kid got close I had a minor panic attack.. Whenever someone sat over the edge and looked over, leaving only their buttocks on the rock, I had another panic attack! (I'm not sure how many times Sonja told me to relax!)
Wednesday morning we took a different ferry boat and this time cruised all the way down the Lysefjord and got to see the beautiful mountains from a different view. We even saw Preikestolen from the water! It was pretty cloudy and a bit rainy though so not the best weather again, which was starting to worry us for our next hike!
That night we met a Canadian who introduced himself because he needed a North American to European outlet converter and since I'm obviously a fellow N.American he thought he'd ask. Later that night he was trying to view the European fotball (soccer) game between Germany and Netherlands. Since Sonja is German we joined him and a then group of backpackers (2 guys from Germany and a girl from Netherlands), even later a group of 4 guys from Netherlands came over to join us. It was such an interesting group of people and a lot of fun! (Germany won by the way!) We found out that the 4 guys had a car and were willing to drive us up to the trail head so we could avoid an extremely steep 7km walk up the highway. (Thank God! It ended up including a one way tunnel through a mountain)
Even though the guy from Canada was the one who created our group, he didn't join us as he started very early in the morning. The rest of us, our 3 groups combined into 1, making 8 people headed out to climb 3 relatively steep mountains in search of Kjeragbolten. It was a good thing that we were all together as the hike was relatively difficult in places and the trail disappeared a few times (thanks to the thick fog and deep snow) and we were able to break up into groups to re-find the trail.
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| On Kjeragbolten! |
That evening the group of us relaxed in our hotel common room playing Norwegian board games that we had found and listening to Norwegian Christmas music (the only cd's available). Once everyone was hungry I somehow got roped into being the chef for the night with one of the guys to help me. Between everyone all we had was 2 small bowls of rice pilaf, half a package of noodles and a loaf of bread. After finding salt/pepper/butter (not sure if we were actually allowed to use it, but oh well) I managed to create a meal of some sort that everyone ate and claims was good and filling, so I was pleased with myself! (who says I can't cook).
The next morning we all got onto the same ferry but had different stops, by time we were back in Stavanger it was just Sonja and I again. We even had different trains back to Oslo and mine wasn't until 10:30pm (what can I say, I'm cheap!) so after she left for hers I spent my afternoon hiding in a bookstore reading until they closed, so then I bought the book and moved to a cafe where I sat until train time.
This trip not only providing some amazing hiking to two of Norway's most famous rock formations but I also got to push my comfort zone more than once dealing with steep hikes and standing on or near (extremely) high places. On top of that we made friends with a really cool group! The backpackers are still going and are ending up in Oslo sometime this week and we are hoping to meet up again.
I think this last trip was a perfect way to start the end of my time here in Norway and now I'm anxiously waiting for my mom to get here in 5 short days! So excited to see her and show her around (somehow the tourist became the local in the last few months)!!
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| Game Time! |
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| Everyone on top of Kjerag Mountain |
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| Preikestolen from the ferry |
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