Lazy Days in Norway

As I mentioned before there isn't a whole lot to do up here. At least not unless you are ok driving at least an hour and half or more and taking multiple ferries across the fjord to get to other parts of the country. Personally I am not all that excited to take the ferry back across the fjord when we are heading back to Oslo so we are just sort of spending our time here in Norway exploring the Jostedal area and relaxing after running all over the place in the UK for two weeks. After spending the majority of the day relaxing we did decide to drive around the lake to Vassenden which is another small town about a half hour drive away from the apartment. It was here that we tried to find a restaurant to have dinner since we were out. In Skei the only restaurant is the one above the Christmas shop, but they aren't open after about noon. In Vassenden the only restaurant is at a large combo location that is a grocery store combined with a gas station and a cafe. Surprisingly the restaurant was exceptionally fancy for being part of a grocery store and a gas station. They offer complete meals that are plated well and are very flavorful. In most of the grocery stores there is also the option to eat standing. After dinner we drove around the other side of the lake back to Skei which is the much faster route. 

Lunde Turiststasjon (or our apartment here in Norway)

Lunde is the beautiful farm where we are staying at here in Norway and it is run by the super friendly Linda. It smells of cows but when we took a walk around the property they were no where to be found. Apparently they bring their cows in for the entire winter and they won't be let back out to pasture until around March. Its not a hotel or even a motel, but instead a small collection of cabins and a larger farm house that the entire upper level has been renovated to accommodate three rooms and two full apartments. Originally when I made our reservation through Booking.com we were supposed to be staying in one of the smaller red cabins with grass growing on the roof, but since we were her only patrons she upgraded us for free to one of the full size apartments. After being here a few days I can honestly say that was a blessing as having our own kitchen and bathroom are much preferable to having to walk up to one of the larger buildings to cook dinner or use the toilet. The grounds are large and very green. Beyond the main housing area with the farm house, barn and cabins there is a hobbit house sauna with a hot tub along side the river that is fed directly from the melting snow and ice from the Jostedalsbreen Glacier. We explored the grounds and discovered that there is an archery area and even an outdoor dining room complete with lanterns and animal furs to keep warm on cold nights. Beyond the fields is the river which feeds the lake in the center of the valley. And yes the water is ice cold funny enough haha. The views are just stunning and I am sure that during the summer this area is just filled with people hiking the mountains and swimming in the lake. According to Linda during one of our many conversations, they had such an unusually warm year that the lake reached up to 33 degrees Celsius. Thats about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Imagine swimming in that crystal clear water at that temperature. I think I would spend my entire vacation in the water. But alas its too cold for us to swim this late into the season.

More family roots discovered

To say there isn't much to do here in Skei during the off season would be an overstatement. Especially on a Sunday. Essentially the only places open in town on Sunday's here are the Christmas store and the gas station. After realizing this fact we decided to take the opportunity of nothing to do to explore the area. As Scotland  was my chance to discover my family history of distant generations so is Norway for Tim. You see on tims grandfathers side the family originally emigrated to the United States from this very area and there is even a sign that has the family name boldly painted on it. According to the owner of our apartment the town of Stardalen is basically inhabited solely by Flatjords or relatives of the Flatjord family. It's a pretty drive west of Skei and the first large farm you come to is owned by a Flatjord that is directly related to Tims family. If you continue along the single road west you will also have beautiful views of the valley, mountains and the glacier. It was exciting (at least to me) to be able to see the exact village where Tim's family comes from. It's like a homecoming of a long lost son. What a special day. 

A painting called the view at Lunde.

Have you ever stayed in a place that honestly looks as though you were inside of a painting? The view out of our bedroom window here in Lunde seriously looks as though it could be a famous painting. Perhaps one that you would find in the Louvre halls. I have been to many amazing places and seen many amazing things but this view, even with the rainy day we are having looks like it should be with other impressionist paintings. After our breakfast of eggs and bread we decided to drive in Skei, the most immediate town up the road from our apartment. It's a small town with one gas station and two grocery stores as well as what we have dubbed the Christmas store. We aren't actually sure if they always have Christmas items on display or simply if it's because it's November now, but this store is essentially anything and everything Norwegian you could ever need. From beautiful hand knit sweaters and furs to souvenirs (and of course the Christmas section) they have everything you could possibly want. Keeping in mind they are the only "shop" in town they have some interesting prices on their items. Now that we have picked up some items from the grocery store we are going to head back to the apartment and check out some Norwegian television. 

Such a long drive.

According to both the locals and Google maps the drive from Oslo central station to Skei should have taken us about 6 1/2 hours. Add to that time an hour for a nap and about an hour for dinner, bathroom and smokes breaks, plus two hours due to heavy snowfall and it's more like a ten hour trip. Included in that drive were some beautiful towns and some quirky wooden carvings at gas stations followed by seriously the most terrifying experience any driver can have. Taking a ferry across a fjord in a manual car. All I could do the entire ferry ride was hope that my emergency break didn't go and cause my car to lurch forward down the ramp into the back end of the next car. But all in all the actual drive wasn't that terrible despite ferries and snow on winding mountain roads. Now that we are here though I can honestly say that the bed here looks to be either the strangest or the most comfortable bed in the world. 

Norway we arrive

After a stressful night of wondering whether or not we would even make it to London for our flight, we have finally made it to Norway. Yes, it is cold here and it's raining. As we drive through the mountains heading even further north towards our destination we have seen snow as well. However the weather can't exactly decide if it wants to rain or snow but the higher up we have gone the more snow it's become. I will say one thing about driving here. At least you drive on the right side of the road. The general speed limit on open road from my research before coming is 120 kph so you can drive decently fast, but at the same time you don't actually wind up driving that fast because of the weather. We have only been here a few hours and already we are noticing how expensive things are. Like 35$ for two packs of smokes or 38$ for two hamburgers. But we will survive. Time for a nap before I drive the rest of the way north to Skei. 

Trains, buses, and taxis.

A lesson from the now ever wiser. When you are planning your tracked through the United Kingdom make sure that you have several hours between trains and buses and planes. Why you might ask? Well here's the answer. Delays. Almost every single form of transportation that we used during our time here in the United Kingdom has experienced at least one delay. Our train from Inverness back to London had a stop and change from one line to another in Glasgow that required we switch stations. That would have been fine if two things hadn't happened. The first being that our train intow Glasgow queen st station hadn't been delayed by a half hour. The second that on that very same night the Labour Party had decided to protest in the streets of Glasgow causing severe traffic jams and bumper to bumper traffic making us even later for our connecting train. Both of these factors caused us to miss our connecting train back to London and for my stress level to absolutely skyrocket. Thankfully though the people at Virgin Trains (our connecting train company) took care of us and made arrangements for us to get halfway from Glasgow to London where they had then hired a private taxi to take us the rest of the way directly to Heathrow Airport to catch our early morning flight to Norway. However, had we hired the taxi ourself and paid for it or had another connecting train in Crewe, we would have been back up shits creek without a paddle because that train was delayed over an hour as well due to a major fire between Glasgow and London that has put a stop to ALL trains north and south bound. So. Always provide yourself ample time between connections and taxis or busses because more than likely you will need it.