Back when Geoff and I were initially brainstorming/dreaming of all the destinations we wanted to get to while living in Europe, Norway didn't make the list. I'm not sure why. Probably because we just didn't think of it. It's a less common tourist destination compared to the other big spots in Europe like Italy or Greece. But thanks to the nearly six hour flight delay we had getting out of Santorini, Greece on Scandinavian Air back in May, we were compensated with free airline tickets to a Scandinavian country. Norway in the summer sounded like a pretty good option so we planned a very last minute (and by last minute, I mean we booked our hotels two night before we left) long weekend trip to see the Norwegian Fjords. Our flight from London arrived into the city of Stavanger, which sits on the North Sea, by late morning leaving us plenty of time for an afternoon boat cruise that took us around the gorgeous Lysefjord.
Welcome to Norway!
Entering the mouth of the Lysefjord
We asked an older gentleman to take the photo of us above. Sigh...definitely not one we will be framing on the walls. With all of our travels, we have asked a lot of people to take pictures of us and I'd say the majority of our family photos have turned out average. Granted, they haven't all been as bad as catching an old lady bending over in the frame, but still. People just don't know how to take decent portrait photos! So in my meager effort to make people of the world better photographed, I'm going to offer a couple quick tips for the next time you are asked by someone to take their photo when traveling (or really anytime):
1. Take a couple seconds to quickly assess the background/foreground and make sure there's nothing major (like a lady's bum) to distract from the photo. If there is, ask the subject to move or wait for said distraction to move.
2. Get closer! This is my number one frustration when I look at photos people have taken of us. Probably 80% of the time, we don't need full head to toe photos. Most people don't care whether their legs and shoes are in the picture (unless you're rocking some awesome Jimmy Choos) and most of the time you can capture the surrounding scenery quite fine without full body shots. Instead, what people care about are faces (Don't you instantly look at your face when looking at a photo of yourself?) and you can't see faces and expressions as well when you're getting full length bodies. So simply take a step or two closer or use the zoom function on the camera to get from the waist up. It makes a huge difference.
3. Take more than one photo. Especially if there are multiple people in the photo as the likelihood of someone not being ready for the camera is increased. It's a really big bummer when you look at the lone photo you got and someone has their eyes closed.
I'll get off my soapbox now. :) But if you have any other simple tips that work for you, let me know!
Arriving back into the port in Stavanger
Our adventure for day #2 was a bit ambition. We set out to hike to Pulpit Rock, which is a huge cliff close to 2,000 feet above the Lysefjord with an almost flat top, providing sweeping views of the mountains and the fjord.
View while waiting for a ferry to take us across to the other side on our drive to the trail head
Our drive was interrupted for about 5 minutes by a herd of cows walking down the middle of the road. I rolled down my window to snap a picture of this cow and he put his nose right inside the car! Unfortunately, the girls had fallen asleep and missed out on the cow action.
On the trail...and we're off!
Before we decided to do this hike, we read reviews about it on Trip Advisor to make sure it was doable for a toddler. Several of the reviews we read mentioned seeing other small children on the trail so we assumed it couldn't be that bad. The total round trip was close to five miles but Olivia is used to walking a lot and is pretty durable with lots of energy and we figured she could handle it. Well...it turned out to be a little bit more advanced hiking than we expected. Lots of climbing up, down, over and around rocks/boulders. Plus, the rocks on the trail were often wet and slippery from recent rain adding an extra complication. If the trail, even with an incline, had been more of a dirt trail rather than a rocky path, it would have been so much easier.
Further adding to the challenge was that most of the trail was pretty narrow and there we lots of people out hiking. Hiking with a 3 year old and carrying another small toddler on your body means you go so very slow. We almost always had a queue of people behind us as we slowly made our way along. Some people patiently waited until we reached a good spot to step out so they could go around. But many others had no patience and I felt like we were being running over as they passed. In hindsight, if we had known what the hike actually involved, we would have skipped it and spent the day doing something else. But once we got out there, we felt like we had come too far to simply turn around and make the 90 minute drive back to Stavanger.
Trying to keep the little hikers happy with lots of snacks
GORGEOUS
After hiking towards Pulpit Rock for around 2 hours with another 1/2 mile left to go (which for us would have likely been another 45 minutes each way), we finally called it quits and decided to turn around. We reached a spot where we could see the Lysefjord and that was going to have to be good enough for us. Pulpit Rock will have to wait another day.
This view definitely was worth the 2 hours of hiking
I have to give tons of credit to Olivia. She did AMAZING. Over four hours of hiking/climbing and I only remember hearing her say her legs were tired two times. She must have her daddy's superhuman endurance legs. Instead she kept saying "I am a really good mountain climber!". Yes, Olivia. You certainly are.
Our last full day in Norway was our big driving day. We left Stavanger and headed north towards our hotel for that evening which was 5-6 hours away. WOW! What an incredibly beautiful drive it was. Mountains. Tranquil inlets of water the entire way. Tons of waterfalls streaming down the mountains into the water below. And the greenness! Oh my goodness. The route wound along water, over the water (we had to take a ferry across at one point), under the water (drove through a tunnel under one of the fjords), around mountains and frequently actually into the mountains (many of the tunnels through the mountains were miles long).
The beautiful town of Odda where we stopped for lunch.
We didn't get in pictures, but on many of the gentle mountain slopes, we spotted so tons of sheep and cows grazing. Also a little further north there were lots of orchards and fruit farms, with accompanying roadside fruit stands, along the road. Very picturesque. Many times throughout the drive, I was mentally pinching myself to make sure I was really seeing all this. What an awesome world God has created and that He allows us to enjoy!
With the travel we've been able to do and some of the incredible beauty we've taken in, it frequently gives me pause to think about Heaven. We have such a physically beautiful world here, one that is truly awe inspiring. But yet this earth is nothing compared to what Heaven will be like. My mind cannot even comprehend! Wow. Plus, it will be without all the ugliness, pain and disease that accompany this earth AND we will be in the presence of God. WOW.
In the village of Eidfjord, where our hotel for the evening was
The next morning before heading to the airport in Bergen to fly back home, we drove a short distance to Voringfossen Falls, one of the most popular falls in the country. When we left our hotel, it was raining so we were a bit skeptical on how good the views would be. Thankfully by the time we arrived to the falls 20 minutes later, the rain had subsided but there were still some clouds lingering in the mountains. There were three different points you could walk/hike to to see the falls. At the first viewing point we stopped at, the fog would come and go providing intermittent views. But by the time we got to the third point, the fog had mostly pushed off providing not only full views of the falls, but the surrounding area too. So, so beautiful.
Vantage point #1
Vantage Point #2
The fog beginning to rise
Vantage point #3
Spotted this fellow at the visitor center near the falls. Olivia was quite fascinated
We couldn't resist pulling off to get good looks and photos at this little walking bridge
One final picture...
