I am embarrassed by the fact that it has been 5 days since I last did a proper update to this blog. I have just been SO busy since getting back from Norway and I couldn't find any places to do an update in Bergen.
So, I guess to fill in the gaps I'll tell you about the second day I was in Norway. On Saturday morning I woke up around 6:30 to go catch a train for the "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. The first leg of the trip was a 3+ hour ride on a high speed train through the lovely countryside towards the town of Myordal. On the way to Myordal we stopped ever so briefly at the highest point on the Bergen Railway 1222 meters above sea level. At that hight the weather was quite cold and misty -- essentially we were in a cloud. Shortly after that we made it to Myrodal. In the little town of Myordal we switched trains to the Flam railway. This train was very cute, it was green and had a wood grained interior and it took us from 842 meters down to 2 meters. The ride was relatively spectacular. I saw an amazing waterfall (check out the photos) and several glaciers etc. When we reached Flam, we transferred over to a boat and took a cruise around the fjords. They were equally amazing. The ship twisted along through the little valleys between the peaks and the edges of the cliffs were nearly 90 degrees straight up and very very high! We passed by a few different villages that had a couple of houses in them and within 2 hours we were at Gudvagen.
From Gudvagen, we boarded a bus to go back up the mountain. That was the most harrowing ride ever! The road was SO steep we literally had to drive about 200 feet...take a VERY sharp turn and drive 200 feet in the opposite direction. We did that 13 times before we made it to the summit of the mountain. On the way we saw beautiful waterfalls but I was pretty busy gripping my seat as I am quite terrified of heights and this was VERY high.
From there, we drove on to the town of Voss where we boarded our last train of the day and took it to Bergen. By the time I made it to Bergen I was hungry and exhausted. I found a cab to take me to the hotel and crashed.
Sunday morning I decided to go to Bergen for the day before my flight. The first thing that I did was take a cable car up to the summit of the mountain that boarders the town. It was neat, 7 minutes going straight up and you reach an observation deck where you can view the entirety of this lovely seaside town. After taking photos of the city (which was covered in a cool fog) I went back down the mountain and walked around the annual market. The market sold primarily foods (lots of vendors selling something that looked like a pancake that people were eating with jam on top) and fish etc. It was very interesting. I also walked through the shops that were selling various local wool items (sweaters & hats mainly) and bought a minuscule amount of gifts for friends. Norway is so expensive that everything was ridiculous when you do the conversion. Basically you can divide everything by 5 (exchange rate is 5.50kr to $1.00) so for example McDonalds was 72kr just under $12.50.
The least expensive thing I ate there (which is very popular thing to eat) was a hot dog...to be more specific...a foot-long hot dog with cheese inside wrapped in bacon. A cardiologist nightmare but it was quite tasty!!
So, after a couple hours in Bergen I had to get to the airport to get back to London. The airport was not too far away and on the bus I made small-talk with the kid sitting next to me in his Norwegian Air Force uniform. He was talking about being in town to party with friends and having to go to Stavenger. We talked about the states and he had been over a few times and said he liked it a lot. Especially because everything is so CHEAP!!
When I got back to London, I just slept and tried to play catchup on my homework assignments.
Tuesday though, I went to the Empire Casino to see if I could run into any Celebrity poker players. I was in luck and met two HUGE names in the poker arena: Doyle Brunson & Daniel Negreanu. I got photos with each of them and Doyle even invited me to his private party last night but I had to decline since it started at 7pm and I didn't even get off from work until 10. Oh well...next year I won't turn down any offers like that.
So, that was basically my week in a nutshell. Next week I have HUGE plans. I was planning on going to Stockholm but after seeing the price of things in Norway decided that I would try someplace cheaper. Everyone advised that I try Eastern Europe so that's what I am going to do. I will head out on Wednesday to Ljubljana, Slovenia and spend 2 nights there...take the train to Zagreb, Croatia and spend a night there, then train to Budapest, Hungry for 2 days and finally home via Vienna, Austria where I will spend 2 days as well. I hope that I remember to pack enough memory cards and batteries so my camera will be sorted for the entire trip!
So, I have a lot of work to do on my classes before then so I will probably not blog much in the meantime, however as soon as I get a chance I will tell you all about my amazing trip to Eastern Europe.
Until then,
~Jenn
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1 comment:
Wow. Sounds like you've got a pretty ambitious trip ahead of you. Are you going alone? Be careful! Make sure you give someone your itinerary in London so they can make sure you return safely back.
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