Norway

August 2-16, 2009

Since it has been nearly two weeks since my return, I decided I should get something onto my blog about this trip. Todd, Kim, Sonja and I spent the better part of the two weeks car touring around, car camping and hiking. We landed in Trondheim (where Todd and Kim are living for a year) and went west and south making it as far down as Bergen. In lieu of a full write up of our travels, here are a few of my impressions about Norway (in no particular order).

- Much of the scenery is spectacular, often rivaling what we have here in Canada

- The vertical nature of the mountain in some areas is awe inspiring. You can find places where it goes from a flat valley bottom straight up over 1km (and I do mean strait up!)

- While it is not a tourist destination for North Americans, it is very popular of Europeans and Asians

- It is very expensive. Most things are twice as much as here in Canada, some are more. How would you like to spend about $30 on 1 liter of motor oil or close to $1,000 on a winter jacket? (I'm not making it up).

- Amazing waterfalls and streams are everywhere. There were so many great ones that after a while, a waterfall that would be the destination for the day here, wouldn't even warrant a photo - Norwegians are generally polite, but somewhat reserved

- When buying food there, selection and more importantly quantity is limited. What 4 liters of milk? Forget it, 1.5 liters is the biggest they sell. How about a kg of peanut butter? Nope, better get used to 350g jars.

- There was surprisingly little wild life. The most exciting thing I saw was a fox, but it was actually in town. While hiking in the mountains, we mostly saw livestock (cows and sheep) and not anything wild

- Norwegians are avid hikers and cross country skiers and have set up an amazing network of trails and hiking/skiing hostels (where you can sleep, buy food, take showers, etc - all for a fee of course).

- Likely a result of their outdoor enthusiasm, they also seem to be fitter than the average Canadian

- The selection of interesting cars (particularly small wagons and hatchbacks) it much more extensive than it is here. There are also diesel options for many models. Diesel Toyota Yaris, check, Diesel Ford cars and vans, check.

Here are a few photos. You can find many more here.