We'd looked at doing this trip other times, and I reckoned we needed a minimum of 3 days - that allowed for a single day in Oslo and Bergen, which seems very token-gesture-ish but I didn't think there was much to do in either of these cities. We had taken an extra day off next to the 3-day weekend allowing us 4 days. That gave a bit more time, but how to use the extra day? what to do? Sasha discovered a bunch of the hiking trails were near or accessible from Bergen, but we discovered we were going too late in the year to be able to do those. This was a disappointment because Sasha had really liked the idea of doing them when we realised they could be a possibility - so perhaps we'd be best not to do Norway now at all and save it as part of another trip post-OE, or in our end-of travels? But if so, where to go for this weekend? Finland perhaps - it would be just as pricey as Norway to be there, but the flights there and back were also very pricey and at least one direction would not be direct, with long layovers. Estonia? cheaper to stay in, but flights were just as bad - these two countries are a ferry ride away from each other so a day trip to one or the other would have been possible too. Can't do Russia without getting a Visa and can't do the non-Visa way thanks to timing; Iceland? again, flights were expensive and/or indirect, and besides Sasha has a want to hire a car and drive around there in summer for a week including the interior, something you can't do this late in the year. Where else? where else is left, actually - Morocco? Georgia? Moldova? no, none of them work either with flights. What about if I plug into Skyscanner "Everywhere" as a destination for those dates and see where the cheapest flights to anywhere outside of Germany are to...
Norway. Norway was actually the result - specifically, Oslo and Bergen (and actually might have been cheaper than flying to somewhere else in Germany too). How about that, huh? That pretty much settled it, and in fact the flights better aligned for those dates than any of the other dates we had looked at - and helped dictate the order we would do it all in, which we hadn't been sure of. We'd fly to Oslo the Friday night, and fly back from Bergen on the Tuesday afternoon - giving in effect 3.5 full days in Norway to play with. Everything fell into place rather easily after that!
Day 0 - To Norway on Norwegian
After landing at Oslo's Torp airport (one of 3 for Oslo - but the only one actually in Oslo, the rest are rather far away) we got ourselves tickets for the train into the city - not the fast train that takes 20 minutes, but the slower train that takes 30-40min at half the price as we had nowhere to be in a hurry and Norway being Norway, the trains were not especially cheap anyway - but everything is relative, the bus wasn't any cheaper either. Once we arrived at Oslo's central station, we walked the few blocks to our accommodation. I was quite glad to be inside once we arrived - the weather over the course of the month had decidedly changed, and the prolonged summer across Europe (which enabled us to experience 30+ degree temperatures in Portugal at the beginning of October) had come to an abrupt end and now we were in Norway where the temperature outside was a balmy 0 degrees. The weather had taken such a turn over the month that we were not even sure if we would get to see Norway "green" now - winter was definitely on its way and with a vengeance at that. Our accommodation was rather nice, ultra clean and comfy - but was basically the fanciest private dorm room with 2 bunk beds that we'd ever stayed in!
Day 1 - Exploring Oslo
We then headed out to the square in front of the Central train station, next to the statue of a big Tiger, and waited. This was where the walking tour would begin, in about 10 minutes - there was already quite a large crowd around, but no-one identifiable as belonging to the walking tour company which was unusual. The time for the tour came and went, the crowd grew bigger, and still no-one. About 10 minutes later someone showed up and apologized for being late - but just 1 person, whereas there was a crowd of 50-60 people which under normal circumstances you'd expect to be split up into 3 or 4 groups, each with a guide. The guide, an American student living in Oslo, had a loud voice which helped - but even with a group this size it was difficult to hear, and also difficult to walk around.
Day 2 - Norway in a Nutshell
Day 3 - Exploring Bergen
Day 4 - Bergen and Back to Berlin
Summing Up
Oslo was nice - probably nicer than I expected, but I don't think there was anything more I wanted to do there that we didn't already do and as nice as it was, in general I don't think I'd make a point of going back there. I always expected Bergen to be nicer than Oslo, and that it certainly was - Oslo perhaps had more "personality" than Bergen, but Bergen had the looks and the activities. I could see us going back to Bergen sometime on a future trip post-OE - for the hiking that can be done near there, and also there is an interesting steam train railway that runs in Bergen during the summer months (though that one is hardly essential and would not be top of my list of train things to do - but certainly, if we were around and it was running, would be worth having a look/ride). As for the in-between - the Norwegian countryside is quite spectacular, and reminds me in many regards of travelling through the heavily forested areas of the Southern Alps or Fiordland National Park back home. The scenery doesn't change as rapidly as it does in NZ though - certainly that's one thing that's been true of any travels I've done through Europe. I'm quite glad to have done the Flam Railway and seen its pretty views, I'm quite glad to have seen but not eaten Whale meat, and I'm glad to have eaten tasty Reindeer once again - though my friend Debs ended up telling her children that their Christmas presents might not come this year because Sasha and I had eaten one of Santa's Reindeer!
Would we go back? its possible in the future some time, but I don't think Norway would be a priority country to go to. We have covered quite a swathe of it, and really aside from some of those hikes there's not much left unturned of the country for us and what we would want to do. Actually I just remembered, that's not true - the island of Svalbard high up in the arctic circle would be a place we'd like to do, a place we've looked at a few times and in particular would be a good place (maybe even the best place) to go see Polar Bears before they become extinct. But for Norway, I would say its definitely a "never Say never" country - perhaps next time we will go in the middle of summer when its guaranteed to be green and warm, and have long daylight hours? Apparently June is a good time to go and see Polar Bears in Svalbard because that's when the little baby ones are around...