Days 14-16 & Home

I'm writing this from home, but wanted to share the fact that I did make it home safely, and I saw a few neat things I wasn't able to write about earlier. 

We left Oslo by an early train that took us through the countryside, basically from the south eastern tip of Norway to the old capital of Bergen on the west coast of the country. We went above the treeline, and I scanned the farms we passed for signs of the picturesque sod roofs I've come to love.

One of the many many waterfalls from glacial melt

We changed the train for a smaller train and then a ferry that took us through the fjord. I lost count of waterfalls we passed during the journey--dozens. At the largest waterfall we disembarked briefly, and two swirling dancers popped up and danced to music broadcast over the crash of the falls.  The ferry was pretty crowded, which was a little annoying.

We got into Bergen at night, but of course the sun was still up. Our B&B host heard the suitcases rumbling down the cobblestone alley and jumped out to help us up the two very narrow staircases to a room in the attic of this early eighteenth-century house. The custom door to the room would have suited Sapphire perfectly, but we had to duck pretty seriously to get inside.  I'm not complaining--this was the only reasonable place to stay in Bergen other than a hostel, and it was cute, uncluttered, clean, and had a pile of Norwegian waffles on the breakfast table.

The Bryggen, or Hansiatic Quarter of Bergen, Norway

Bergen was the center of Hansiatic business for 400 years starting in the 1400s. The Norwegians invited the German traders in when the plague took half their population and they needed help, but soon the locals came to resent the cod-trading Germans and their special set of rules.

Bergen's obsession with fire is pretty evident from the city's history and architecture. The wooden buildings were so close together, and they had so many city-leveling fires, that they made rules that row homes could only have fire in a separate, slightly safer building. This made for chilly winter nights.

The Rosencrantz Tower in Bergen

We also saw a fortress built by the Dano-Norwegian kings. This one, like most of the harbor-area, was partially destroyed when a Nazi armaments ship exploded in the harbor in 1944.  They are pretty sure it was an accident. 

A random impression: Norway is expensive. A regular sized Snickers bar was $4 (not that I bought any). Sandwiches you grabbed from the 7-11 store (which they had there) were $12 to $20.  Regular cups of coffee were $4.  I really enjoyed shopping at the Shur-Fine market today! 

The final day was a long 20 hours in transit.  This was bearable because of the interesting people I met and chatted with along the way, as well as a viewing of "The Hobbit."  I reminisced over a spot near the Dulles arrivals area where Ruby had her first tantrum on American soil 10 months ago. I got home at what felt like 4:30am to me, but was just 10:30pm Eastern time. 



Ruby was still awake, and we had a sweet reunion. The other girls welcomed me this morning, and it has been a very sweet day, both because I'm back home with my family, and because it is Pearl's birthday.