Hallo, Norge
Beautiful people, beautiful place, beautiful art, delicious coffee, empty wallet
After surviving London-Gatwick Airport’s duty-free gauntlet and a short flight to Norway, I touched down in Bergen, a small city on the west coast of the country. There was the immediate shock that this was the first place I had visited (on this trip at least) where I didn’t speak the predominant language. Spoken, I still don’t understand almost any of it, but after spending almost a week in Norway I could pick up on written things much better than when I arrived, and not embarrass myself too much when pronouncing things.
I stayed with my friend Meredith in housing where the common areas were shared with a bunch of university students studying in Bergen, some of whom were so supermodel-pretty that I felt like I wasn’t allowed look at them directly for too long. They didn’t really look at me much either, though I don’t think for the same reason. Some of her roommates were very friendly though, and we had good conversation in English about music, psychology, and brewing.
Highlights from Bergen
The evening I got in, we walked up Fløyen, the second highest of the seven mountains surrounding Bergen. The sunset was muffled by the clouds, but the views (both before and after the sunset) were extraordinary.
The following day was a rainy one, which is apparently typical for Bergen. We made the most of it, walking around downtown and getting some coffee before and buying groceries to make a delicious salmon and roasted-veggie dinner.
So what’s happening in Norway’s second biggest city on a Saturday night? A student-organized music festival, of course, featuring Lætecia Sadier, singer for the 90s alternative group Stereolab, and Michael Rother, co-founder of the influential (arguably the first) krautrock band Neu!. We went and enjoyed some local Norwegian brews along with the imported tunes. Krautrock is a genre that greatly influenced much of the music I enjoy today, and that I forget to listen to on a regular basis. It was cool to hear such a legend in the genre in person.
The following day we took the Bybanen (“city train”, aka light rail) out to some of Meredith’s favorite greener areas outside of town. The first was a reconstructed Norwegian stavkirke, or “stave church”, carved completely of wood and nestled in the forest. One of the more unique structures I’ve ever seen; almost East Asian in some ways.
I say reconstructed because a black metal musician burned down the original one, claiming it was placed on sacred pagan grounds. He used a photo of the burned out shell as one of his album covers. Definitely very metal, but also definitely a dick move.
It was really great to see Meredith and get a feel for her new home, which is really a beautiful place. When we met a few summers ago, who would’ve guessed we’d be hanging out together in western Norway?
Holy crap, this country is beautiful
Departing from Bergen, I wanted to get the full Norway experience traveling across the country to Oslo. Any route is a scenic one, but I came all this way and wanted to see some fjords, dammit, so I got on a ferry that went down the Sognefjord (sone-yeh-fiord), the deepest and longest fjord in Norway, to the small resort town of Flåm. Apparently at one point the water was deeper than 1300m, but I didn’t verify that claim. Water looked chilly.
From Flåm, I took the Flåmsbana, a steep scenic railway that climbs a valley to get you up to Myrdal, on top of the mountain plateau that covers most of the middle of Norway.
When I arrived in Myrdal I had a few hours to kill before the next train to Oslo. What I didn’t realize is that Myrdal isn’t really a town; it’s a train station, a B&B, a couple houses and that’s it. Luckily there is also a trail, left from the construction of the Flåmsbana, that winds down into the valley I had just climbed by train. That hike, heavy pack on my back, cold, clean air filling my lungs, and the late afternoon sun casting light on the valley and the glaciers in the mountains above Myrdal, was one of the most blissful moments I have experienced in a long time.
Highlights from Oslo
I spent a couple days in Oslo, exploring the city. Some interesting highlights:
Frognerparken
A large park on the west side of Oslo, the center of which serves as a sculpture park populated by many sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The focus of Vigeland’s work, for this park in particular, is “the human condition”. The sculptures, both bronze casts and granite carvings, are of nude humans at various stages of life, sometimes alone but often interacting with others.
Most of the art I have seen and enjoyed on this trip is about things like light, color, geometry, atmosphere, and reality. It was refreshing to see these sculptures, which are about us, as a species. All the good things we do, all the bad. Physical and emotional violence, proud and loving relationships, and perhaps most of all compassion in times of hardship. A lot of visitors were “taking pictures with the naked people”, but for me the place felt almost sacred. If you’re ever in Oslo, you need to check it out.
Delicious coffee
You also need to check out the coffee scene. I had some of the best coffee I’ve had on my trip in Oslo, both espresso and regular “filter coffee”. The first of my favorites was Fuglen, a small espresso bar that turns into a cocktail bar at night. The whole place, from wallpaper to furniture, is vintage 1950s Scandinavian design. Apparently the Norwegians are on the mid-century modern bandwagon as much as folks in the US are; I read somewhere that they’re considering opening another Fuglen in NYC. Oh, and the espresso was fantastic; bright, acidic, and flavorful.
The other one worth mentioning is Tim Wendelboe, a café/“coffee training facility” named for its owner, who’s been World Barista Champion (yes, that’s a thing) multiple times. As soon as you walk in, you’ll notice a small coffee roaster dominating the center of the room. When I visited they were roasting a batch, dumping raw beans into the hopper and carefully monitoring temperature curves on a Macbook. The smell of coffee fresh out of the roaster is incredible.
Tim is well known for roasting his coffee on the extremely light side. I have to say, I like light roast coffee, but this took some adjusting to. Super-light-roast coffee is delicate, and tastes almost more like a tea. The light roast Kenyan espresso was my personal favorite, a good compromise of the strongly flavorful American microroasteries I’m used to and Tim’s unique approach.
The Oslo Opera House
is pretty cool architecturally; you can literally walk all over it. I took a hyperlapse video of it for your viewing pleasure:
A closing haiku about Norway
Very expensive
But full of natural beauty
You should go someday
On to Denmark…
