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Norway
  • Jen Ritchey
Sep – Oct 2024

Norway

A 32-day adventure by Jen Read more
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  • Trip start
    September 5, 2024
    Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    On our way!

    September 5, 2024 in Germany ⋅ 🌬 31 °C

    Today we headed out on our way to Norway! I had picked up the car yesterday and phew that was a bit of a mess. Mine was missing things and couldn’t find some parts, the people couldn’t find them either, then of course they were in the one place we didn’t look (but it was good I went through everything there so we weren‘t trying to find it ourselves since they were in weird spots!). Once I got everything I went to leave…and the car wouldn’t start! The battery was dead and they jumped it but I was like why was it dead?? To try and make sure we don’t do the same thing and the guy wasn’t understanding me and was just like it‘s fine! I checked the battery and it is all good! So I finally drove off after just over an hour there (normally it is like 10min) and came home and started putting things inside, then went and parked it nearby overnight. I had forgotten something in the car and went out to get it after we parked it and it was good I did! I think I figured out what happened with the battery - the screen for navigation and everything does not turn on and off with the car. You have to manually do that and it was still on when I got to the car as I didn’t know that was a thing so I turned it off. Man if I wouldn’t have gone back out the battery probably would have been dead again this morning! But I felt better figuring that out.

    This morning we got up and packed the rest of the things and after lunch headed off! We got an earlier start than I anticipated so we drove farther than expected which is good so we don’t have to rush in the morning. We are parked in Hobro Denmark right on the water (the photo with the kayaks is right out our back door!) there is a nice trail along the water through the small town area so we wandered there and back which was nice. Good to get a walk in after all that sitting! Tomorrow we have about an hour to the ferry and then we will be in Norway!

    Oh I almost forgot - it was so windy today (and hot!! I am so glad we are heading to cooler weather!!) and we kept driving through little dust storms - the dirt field were so dry the wind was kicking up so much dirt it was crazy! I tried to take photos, but they didn’t look as crazy as it was!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Ferry to Norway!

    September 6, 2024 in Denmark ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Today we got up and had a relaxing morning which was nice. We walked into town again to spy in the light, had breakfast and tea and then headed on to the ferry. The ferry boat was giant! And we got a nice place to sit outside for the 4 hour ride. It was perfect weather! Sunny and warm and gorgeous!

    When we got close to Larvik (where we were getting off) it was so beautiful! All these giant rocks in the water, most with buildings on them, and I loved it so much! It was so pretty!! I thought we haven’t even made it to land yet and I am already loving this trip!!

    Then we started driving towards our first stop - Drammen. When planning I had seen there was a bakery there with vegan treats and we were going to be driving by anyways so of course we had to go spy. They had so many vegan things, but because we were there right before closing they were sold out of most of it, but there are other locations so we will definitely have to go when we see one again! We did get a potato burek which was so so good, and a danish-y thing with vanilla pudding in the middle which was delicious!

    The walk to the bakery was also really nice. We parked by this athletic center and that was fun to walk through, there was an underpass with lots of pretty art, and the town had lots of little statues and such. It was a pretty nice, quick stop.

    Then we headed on and the drive was so nice! All the mountains and water! We are parked at the Krøder fjord rest area for the night. We got here right at sunset and walked down to the water and it was so nice! Day one and I am already loving this trip! I told Raymond tomorrow is a lot of driving and he was like is any day not?? Which true, but tomorrow is mostly just driving with some viewpoint stops. No real stops till Sunday. But it should be a gorgeous drive!

    Oh, one other thing that made me laugh - I was talking with my friend before the trip and she asked if I had planned out where to stay every night and I said I have ideas, I need to guess to try and plan how much to do every day, but we shall see. When we went to Spain & Portugal last year I had planned places to camp and I think we only stayed at 2 places I planned. Well…this is day two and already we haven’t stayed anywhere I planned (though tomorrow I think we really might as it looks gorgeous, but we shall see)! It is just hard to know how long things will take or how far we will want to go and it is easy enough to find places last minute :) That is the nice thing about traveling with the camper - we can go wherever and it’s easy enough to figure out a place to stay instead of having to book places and be on a strikter schedule, at least in the off season of places like Norway where you can park at rest stops and such for the night.

    There are some loud people sitting outside and drinking - one is from Sweden and I think the others are from Germany, but they keep talking about Americans and I don’t think they like them. First it was how if an American says something is interesting or cool you can’t trust them! It might be, but it might not! Which…is odd I think. Then they were talking about Americans being loud and drinking lots…as they are loud and drinking lots and obviously not sober so it is interesting listening to them! Though I hope they don‘t stay up late…hopefully the Germans will keep quiet hours!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Norway Day2.1

    September 7, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Phew! What a day! Today was absolutely gorgeous!! I loved it so so much and I am already making plans for what to do next time we come!

    This morning we ate breakfast with the first photo view - pretty nice! There were lots of low clouds and this morning we drove through lots of spooky low clouds which was fun. Now yesterday I was a bit…I was not looking forward to all the driving we had to do today. I thought it would just be driving and stopping at a few viewpoint, and it was, but it was amazing! Just driving around was fun as it was so gorgeous!! We were driving along a River most of the morning and the mountains all around slowly going up and over passes, driving in wide open valleys, it was amazing! There were lots of rocky cliffs and one had these two small waterfalls and at one point there was a rainbow at the bottom so of course we had to stop for some photos!

    We had to stop at the grocery store for a few things and so when we had been driving for a bit I found a few in Hemsedal so we thought we would stop there. One was right at the beginning of town and man that town was so busy! We didn’t see much traffic before that (or after), but the grocery store parking lot was full. Luckily there was space in the lot just outside of town so we parked there and walked in. The first store didn’t have everything we needed so we walked through town to the second store and it was market day! All through town were small stands with people selling all kinds of things. It was a lot of fun! Plus it was just gorgeous - it reminded me a lot of the small mountain towns in CA we hiked through.

    After we got our groceries and explored the town it was off to our next stop - Borgund Stave Church. I learned that these churches were very popular, but almost all of the remaining ones are in Norway. There is only one in Sweden and one that was relocated to Poland outside of Norway so that was interesting. And they were pretty cool looking.

    Then on to Lærdalstunnelen - the longest road tunnel in the world! It is 25km long and every 6km they have these areas of blue lights to make sure you stay awake and focused on the tunnel. Pretty fun!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Norway 2.2 - Aurlandsfjellet NSR

    September 7, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After the longest road tunnel in the world we needed to get back to the other side so we took the Aurlandsfjellet national scenic route and oh my goodness that was amazing!! First was some narrow, windy, steep hairpin turns to get up to the Stegastein Viewpoint which was cool! The platform itself was interesting and the views were amazing!

    Then we continued onward and upwards to the top plateau which I loved! The drive up there was so many incredible views and on top it was so many lakes and fun rocks and just amazing!! I could have spent a few days just exploring and wandering and spying on all the things! That will for sure be a next trip thing! So many nice lakes and waterfalls and all the things to walk around and explore! Or just relax and take in the view! Even found a spider with really long thin legs which was fun. And an art installation of a bear on a pile of garbage meant to make us think.

    Norway has a bunch of scenic routes and after this one I am going to have to see where the others are! I know we are going to drive a couple more of them, but this was so amazing I definitely will put the others on a next time list! It was unbelievable gorgeous the entire way and my photos do not do it justice!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Norway 2.3 - So many photos of Bøyabreen

    September 7, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After the scenic route it was on to where I had planned to spend the night. We had to take a small car ferry first (the first photo is them crossing when we got to the dock, the third is almost docked on the other side!) the ferry was so quiet I didn’t realize it was moving until we were almost to the other side! I had been looking up a few things so wasn’t paying attention and sudden we were there! That was fun.

    On the other side we were driving through more gorgeous fjords and we were almost to the tunnel which would lead to where I had planned to spend the night when there was a sign for a viewpoint for Bøyabreen (Bøya Glacier) which we could see from the road and I was like yes! I want to go spy on that! So we drove down and there is a great parking spot with amazing views of the glacier and surrounded by giant rocky mountains so we decided to spend the night here! Again not where I had planned, but this was too gorgeous! There is a small path down to the glacier lake where we ate dinner and it was so nice. You can hear all the waterfalls and the sign if you are lucky you will see ice pieces in the lake - and we did! It got cold so we went back to the van for some tea and we heard a loud noise and Raymond said maybe some ice fell. Well we went back down and at the mouth of the lower River outlet there was way more ice on the ground! You couldn’t really see the River anymore so that was fun. We had bundled up so we sat and enjoyed the view until it got cold and dark and headed back to the van.

    Today was an amazing day. Lots of driving, but so gorgeous!! I loved it! And it was so quick and easy to get here we will definitely be back for a southern Norway adventure to explore these areas more! I told Raymond this was already an amazing trip and it is only day 2 in Norway and he was like it has been more than 2 days! I was like no…today is Saturday. We got here yesterday afternoon and he was just like it is only Saturday?!? Then we were discussing everything we did and I said about how we walked through town this morning and was like what town? That was this morning?? So we did so much Raymond though it was more than one day! But really really amazing. Tomorrow evening it is supposed to rain lots so we shall see. So far it has been sunny and perfect!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    On the Way to Briksdalsbreen

    September 8, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    So I keep having too many photos so today is another 3 post day!

    Today we woke up to another gorgeous day! The glacier was very blue this morning and we were the only ones camped back where we were! But it was so cold out! So we bundled up and packed warm layers in our bags for the day then off we went for todays adventure! First stop was where I had planned to camp last night (the third photo) and it too was gorgeous!! If not for the glacier we definitely would have stopped there for the night. When we got out of the car there we were both like it is so warm here!! We had to take off our layers as it was too hot with them on! It was crazy how cold the glacier kept the area we camped in! There was a sign there for a hike you could do up to a glacier, but we were both like in…how do you walk straight up the cliff?? Like it was a straight line on the map and will…we are not rock climbers!

    Then on to our hike for the day with lots of stops at viewpoints along the way. It wasn’t that far, but we kept going into tunnels and out into different fjords which was fun. Then we had to drive up the valley to the start of the hike on a narrow windy road, but it wasn’t too bad and the views were amazing!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Briksdalsbreen hike

    September 8, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After our gorgeous drive it was time for our adventures for the day - a short hike to Briksdalsbreen! This hike was so beautiful! There were of course giant rocky cliffs and waterfalls and so much fun! The first part of the hike was along a river and was nice and cool. Then we got to this waterfall where you have to walk across a bridge to go by it and there was sooo much mist coming off if you got soaked! So much fun!! And so much water! It was so loud! Then you climbed up along the side of the waterfall and back along the river until you got to the glacier lake. The glacier was so blue! It was really pretty and another waterfall was coming down nearby from another glacier tongue. This glacier and the one from yesterday are part of the same national park and they were both one of the 25 different tongues of the plateau glacier Jostedalsbreen. Now we could have someone hike straight up the rocky cliffs to get to the top of the glacier, but we decided not to do that as well…it was an expert route and you probably need technical skills and it sounded exhausting! It was also surprisingly warm at the glacier lake (and the whole hike - we way overpacked our bags with warm clothes! They were not needed at all!).

    We had lunch at a picnic table that overlooked the glacier and the waterfalls which was pretty nice, though when we were almost done eating it got so windy! All of our things were trying to blow away! We finished lunch and headed back to the car spying on the lower parking lot which had a bridge across the river down there. It was a really nice hike. So pretty the entire way and the sun kept popping out from the clouds. I stopped like every two feet to take photos as it was just gorgeous!!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    On the way to camp

    September 8, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    After our hike it was time to head off and find a place to camp for the night. We stopped at a bunch of viewpoints and things that we had passed on the way up to the glacier hike and it was still so gorgeous, even though the clouds were coming in. We stopped at a rapids area off the river and it was so so loud! We couldn’t talk to each other as even yelling you couldn’t hear over the water! So much water!

    Then around to the next fjord to stay the night. We stopped at more viewpoints, one of which had lots of fun fungus! We ended up driving to the end of the road to spy and then ended up camping at a campground with gorgeous views! Everywhere else said no camping so here we are! The last 4 photos are from camp - Raymond standing on the little area we could set our chairs up on over the water, then the views both ways from the camper - the mountains are gorgeous!! The last one is behind us - spooky clouds! We got here and 4 and a little while after that it started raining pretty good! It has been raining off and on all evening and I have been loving watching the clouds roll in and cover the mountains the clear up again. And lots of spooky low clouds too! It is so much fun! Though tomorrow it is supposed to rain all day nonstop so we shall see what we end up doing. We may just go to the next stop and park somewhere and have a lazy day. We shall see what the weather ends up being! But today was another gorgeous day driving and hiking to see all the mountains and all the water! I am loving this trip!!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Loen Skylift

    September 9, 2024 in Norway ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Today was another great day even if it was raining all afternoon. Last night apparently it rained a lot, it kept Raymond up a bit as I guess it was hard rain, but I slept right through it! Though early this morning it got windy and it was rattling the one blind which was really loud and woke me up…but then I fixed it and went back to sleep.

    So we got up and it was not raining, but there were a lot of low clouds so we headed into town to see what we could see and there were a lot of low clouds covering the mountains so we wandered around town a bit and they started to clear up! Our plan for the day was to take the Loen Skylift up to the top and then hike around there so when we could see the top we decided to head up! Well by the time we got on it was all foggy again at the bottom, but the clouds were rolling through quickly so we were hoping we would get some views. You could see nothing at first on the way up and then all of a sudden we were above the clouds and you could see the tops of the mountains! It was so cool!! And the views from the top were so much fun!! The clouds would roll in and then out and I loved it!

    We started on our hike up to the highest elevation and when we was almost there we went off trail a bit to spy on the other side and the mountains over there were just as gorgeous. We took a break where we could see both sides and it was so much fun watching the fog come and go. Then when we started hiking again it got super foggy and freezing cold wind - you could not see very far and I thought it is a good thing the trail is this nice, wide gravel path cause you could really easily get lost if it wasn’t well marked. Because the fog was so thick it was crazy! We got to the top and still couldn’t see anything and we were only 1/3 of the way into our hike and Raymond said you know we don’t have to keep going. We can go back the way we came. Sometimes I need someone to point out the obvious and this was one of those times! I was like oh yeah, we can do that. So we turned around and I am so glad we did as right after we started back it started raining really hard and with the freezing wind our now wet hands were frozen as it was so cold! We obviously got soaked, or our rain gear got soaked, and we were dripping wet on the way down. When we did get back to the skylift we looked and you could see the water below, but it was still pretty foggy and raining a lot.

    The skylift on the way down was also super fun as it starts going and then all of a sudden it looks like a roller coaster and looks like you are just going to fall straight down! It was fun!! Of course it goes slowly down, but man is that cable car steep! It is really almost straight up and down! So that was fun.

    Then we headed on and we stopped on the next town to try and find some hangers as I forgot to pack them and they are handy to hang everything in the bathroom to dry (and not get everything else so wet), but we didn’t have any luck there. We did find this soda to try, Villa, which is a popular soda here. It was a light brown color and it looked like an herb soda I like from Germany so I was expecting something like that. Really it is bubblegum and cream soda flavor? So strange! At first I was like what does this taste like? Once I figure out the bubblegum I was like that and something else…it is also super sweet so we only had a few sips and are saving the rest for later. I then looked up other drinks and we might try and find them to try later!

    Then it was on to camp which went on another national scenic route! Now I am sure it is so gorgeous when it is sunny and nice, but I still really enjoyed all the spooky fog and kept stopping to get out in the rain and spy. There were so many waterfalls! And so much water! Also after we got to the top of the hill all of a sudden there were a ton of tour buses! Like so so many it was crazy! I guess where we are staying, Geiranger, is a popular cruise stop! Which makes sense for all the buses! We are staying just up the hill from town at a campsite (there is really nowhere else to park here) which is right next to a waterfall! The last two photos are the waterfall at camp - I can see it out the window here! You can’t hear it very much in the van with the windows closed (it is quite cold out so no open windows), but outside it is so loud! I opened the door to go out and asked Raymond something and I could not hear him. Fun times!

    Oh! The third photo I finally got a picture of. We kept driving by these apple farms where they grow apples like vines? It is so strange and I have never seen that before! They make the tree grow around a post so it is like a vine which is super interesting.

    It rained almost all afternoon, it finally stopped around 7 and started clearing up so hopefully tomorrow is not too bad! It was nice it held off a bit this morning so we could get a bit of a hike in. I really loved all the views today even if I am sure they are unbelievably beautiful when the weather is nice (they had photos at the skylift on a sunny day and man it looked gorgeous! That will be on the go back to list for next time!). Hoping for some clearer skies tomorrow as we finish this scenic route after a morning hike! We shall see!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Geiranger to Linge

    September 10, 2024 in Norway ⋅ 🌫 3 °C

    Today was a long day of doing all the things! We started off by hiking from camp up to Storsæterfossen. It was only about 3km up, but it was pretty steep but manageable as it was mostly rock steps (so it was a lot of steps!) when we woke up there were low clouds on the tops of the mountains, but clear down lower and we could see the town and fjord for the first time! About halfway up to the falls we walked through a sheep farm with all the sheep! They were so silly and making such a racket when we got there. We took a break there and a family came through and the dad was like look at the goats!! Which made me laugh as they were definitely sheep!

    Then when we got closer to the waterfall we went up into the clouds! So it was foggy at the falls, but still pretty nice. It was cold out, it said 2C when we left camp so I wore my warm pants and layers and that was a mistake! It was so humid and it was so hot hiking up there!! I had to take them all off, except the pants which I couldn’t…and then when we took a break had to put everything back on as it was freezing! No more wearing warm pants hiking for me! We still have not figured out the correct layers combination for hiking here…but maybe tomorrow we will!

    After the hike we walked down to town a bit and along this waterfall trail there and the river/falls were so crazy after all the rain! It was pretty fun, but we didn’t go the whole way into town as we were tired and needed to head out soon. We ate lunch by the river then back to camp and off we went!

    First up was to the viewpoint from yesterday and the sun had come out and it was gorgeous!! Then over to a viewpoint on the other side of town looking back at Geiranger and that was gorgeous as well! And had a nice waterfall on the viewing platform! There was so much traffic up to the first viewpoint above town, luckily not as much after leaving town, and after the second viewpoint it was back to almost no one else on the road. I am so glad we are off season as I cannot imagine how awful busy it is on the high season! That would be annoying trying to drive these narrow windy hairpin turn roads with a ton of traffic!

    Then continued on to the ferry at Eidsdal which was the end of the scenic route for us. We could have gone about another hour on, but then the road was closed and we would have to come back the hour and continue on which would have been a lot. I am sure it would have been gorgeous, but so were the stops on the road we took!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Linge to Bud

    September 10, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Once we got off the ferry we were off towards camp stopping at all the viewpoints along the way. We had a second, longer ferry ride (about 25 min - others were only 15 min), but there wasn’t a good place to stand and enjoy the views! Oh well.

    Then off to camp right outside Bud. The last 6 photos are all from camp. It is gorgeous here! Lots of little islands and you can see the bigger mountains in the distance. We can watch the birds swimming around in the water and just enjoy views! Tomorrow we have another scenic route and it should hopefully be nice weather again!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Atlantic Road Part 1

    September 11, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    I know this might surprise some of you but today was another gorgeous day! Woke up the some clouds in the south, but sunny and gorgeous to the north! After breakfast we headed out to drive the Atlantic road scenic route which I was really excited for. If you look up the road you will probably see a picture of a crazy bridge and lots of islands connected by the road. In bad weather the waves crash up over road which is probably fun to see, but maybe not the best to drive in. Anyways our first stop was a viewpoint with a German Radar Tower on the hill behind it! We tried to find a path up there, but couldn’t so we just spied on the rocks at the water and headed on.

    The next viewpoint was fun as it was out in farmlands and the edge of the tiny glass viewpoint platform put a rainbow on the rocks below! So fun!

    Then it was off to our big adventure for the day - a beach hike at Farstadstranda. The sign there said that it was the worlds northern most sand dune region of the southern variety. I tried looking up what a southern variety was and didn’t have much luck so I have no idea what that means…but it was a really nice hike. Very easy from the beach to a small lighthouse. The beach had so many lugworm sand piles - little piles of sand that looks like worms. I don’t know if I have ever seen them before, but if so definitely not on this amount! They were everywhere (in the wider photo of the sand the dark spots are sand piles from the worms)!

    On the way to the lighthouse we saw a Nordic burial mound and learned about how they burn kelp and use the ash in soda and glass manufacturing. Really interesting! We also went through this one area that was a muddy mess, but saw two frogs - a normal size one and a tiny one! So that was fun. We had a break at the lighthouse and we could see the dark clouds that were behind us were coming in so we headed back hoping we wouldn’t get caught in the rain! I thought the rest of the day might be stormy, but by the time we got to our next stop it was sunny and gorgeous again! On the way back to the beach we saw a shrew! That was fun! All the animals!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Atlantic Road Part 2

    September 11, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    After our hike we headed on to the next viewpoint and had lunch there. While eating we saw a seal swimming around in the water!! That was super exciting. Then spied on a shipwreck (that was pretty far away so no good photos - there were lots of signs saying how dangerous this water is even for current vessels and modern equipment). Then it was on to spy on Storseisundet Bridge, which is the crazy looking bridge you will find if you search this road. Now driving up to the bridge it did look crazy, but once we parked and got out it looked like a bridge. It was still fun and a gorgeous area! We stopped on both sides and they each had a nice walkway to wander around on. On the far side from where we were we were walking and there were some people down below by the water looking at something and I saw there were big bubbles coming up we were like what is it?!? They were waiting to find out too and the bubbles kept getting close to the „end“ of the water (it was just an inlet area) and I was like what animal can be making these bubbles and going to such shallow waters?!? Then all of sudden you could see a little bit and they started to come up…and it was scuba divers! The people below knew we were waiting too and they turned around like oh man, really? That is what we were waiting for? I laughed so much. It was so funny.

    We stopped at a few more viewpoints and they all had places to hike around which I wasn’t expecting! So we did walk all over the place! Then it was on to Kristiansund which…from outside the town it looked really nice and it is a bigger city in multiple islands. But in town, at least the area we were? Eh. It didn’t make it on the must go back to list.

    Then we headed on towards Trondheim to try and find a place for the night. We took another little ferry which is so much fun, then we had found a rest area that looked nice that we were going to stay the night at. Well it was in a construction zone and so it was closed and the parking lot was a mess, but they had picnic tables and a great view and it was dinner time so we made some food and ate enjoying the views. As we were cleaning up I was like it is almost sunset time…if I do some of my daily write up here then we could see the sunset and then head on to find a place for the night. So that‘s what we did…At least until it got to be too cold out! All day in the sun was warm, but the wind was cold and as soon as the sun went behind the mountains it was freezing! But beautiful. So we headed on and found a nice parking lot surrounded by forest (with some small mountain views) for the night. Should be pretty nice! Tomorrow is exploring Trondheim so maybe not as many mountain and water photos ;)    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Trondheim Part 1

    September 12, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Today we got up and had breakfast and it was gorgeous! Then we headed on into Trondheim, the fourth largest city in Norway by population size. We had 3 hours on our parking which was plenty of time for a wander. It is a really small downtown area to explore.

    First we went by the cathedral (I don’t know if you can zoom in on the photo of the side, but the gargoyle guys are pretty funny), then to the park and across the old bridge and through the pedestrian area.

    The municipal court building was really interesting. There were tile murals on either side and the doors were really cool metal pictures. Each door was two pieces and they were all different so that was fun.

    The second church we went to, Our Lady Church we walked in and that next photo was just inside the door - like a second building face. Inside was interesting - it was a soup kitchen right there in the church itself where they have service which I don’t think I have ever seen before! I felt bad wandering in to take photos when they were helping all these people (there were a lot of people inside drinking hot beverage and doing whatever and also a lot of people hanging out outside with fire pits and stuff which I’m sure was nice since it was cold outside!). So that was interesting and nice to see them helping so many people.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Trondheim Part 2 and Beyond

    September 12, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    More Trondheim photos from downtown wanderings. We did get some treats from Backstube which were delicious! A salt and pepper pretzel stick which I really enjoyed, a spinach burek which was so good (I think theirs are better than the ones we had in Croatia!), and I tried a cronut again (I liked it more than the first one, but was just a donut so…). Then found a different viewpoint on the water and some crazy steps! We had enough time to have lunch out and we got pizza since the place had seating in the sun and had great reviews…and it wasn’t the best. Like it was fine, but the dough did not taste homemade. It was like the premade one you can get at the grocery store in Germany which is fine, but they claimed to have „craft pizza“ which…no. We also picked up a cinnamon roll which was good, but they definitely don’t use enough cinnamon! You could barely taste it! We had a cinnamon roll from the store and it was the same way. It looked like there should have been cinnamon, but there really wasn’t.

    Then we headed on and the first stop was Hell, but I made that a separate post. After Hell we drove until it was time to camp. Originally I had planned all day for Trondheim then tomorrow as much of a 10 hour drive as we could, but since Trondheim was so tiny we headed off to start the drive today and are going to have enough time to do a short hike I wanted to do tomorrow but didn’t think we would have time for! Hooray! We parked with lots of open space around us as we might be able to see the northern lights tonight! We shall see. It is raining right now and cloudy so hopefully that clears up overnight (it is forecasted to so we are going to get up in the early morning when there is supposed to be high activity and see if we can see anything!) That would be exciting if we can!!

    It was raining off and in all afternoon on the drive and most of the time we had a rainbow! Sometimes it was barely visible, sometimes super bright, sometimes a double rainbow, it was fun! The area we are in though is not as nice as the prior days. It is fine, still lots of water, but more hills rather than big mountains and it is just not as gorgeous as everything else! Oh well. It’s still nice.

    Oh we also had to stop and refill our drinking water so I found a place where we could, and it had a chemical toilet cleaner machine too that was free and we needed to empty ours tomorrow so I was like why not let the machine do it! So that was fun - you just put it in and out it came empty and clean.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Hell

    September 12, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    When I was home visiting my mom we were talking about how there is a Hell in Norway! I looked it up and we were going right by it so of course we had to stop! Since I expected us to do so tomorrow and it to be part of a long day of driving I wasn’t expecting to spend much time there, but since we had time while we were driving there I looked to see if there was anything there that was fun and there was! Petroglyphs! So of course we had to go spy on them.

    Hell is a tiny town, mostly an airport, but the petroglyphs were in the forest on the hill in a residential area. It is really just one road off the main road, but we were trying to find parking which proved difficult! It is hard to park in Hell! But we finally found some and walked up the hill to the petroglyphs! When I originally told Raymond we were stopping in Hell he was just like that‘s probably a false friend and means something like bright (like it does in German, but we looked it up and it is fortunately in Norwegian). Once we parked though he was having a lot of fun with it. Kept going on about how we were in by Hell and stuff so it was nice he got on board!

    The petroglyphs were on a small rock face and were pretty cool! When driving over there we had seen a big Hell sign on the side of the hill where they were so we followed the path around until we found the sign! The view from there was pretty nice! Then it was back down to see the sign from the bridge we came in on, found one of those signs that shows how far other cities are, but with Heaven and hell on either end which…are they saying those cities closest to hell are like hell?? So that was funny. Then there was a sign for the train station, which there is the actual train station which is just a platform, and the tourist train station which are some nice mustard yellow buildings so we went to spy on them.

    All in all Hell was pretty nice! The residential area was even nice to walk through. I would definitely stop again for a short walk if we were to pass by!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    All the Driving

    September 13, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Today we had a fair amount of driving, but not as much as I had planned! Plus we got to do the Marmorslottet hike which I thought we would have to skip, but I loved that so much I made it another post.

    We got up this morning and was sunny and gorgeous! Last night I did keep waking up and checking for aurora light, but it was too cloudy all night. Really it was best from about 9-10:30 which was really early, and would have been perfect, but everywhere remotely close to us was also covered in clouds so a no go. Oh well, hopefully we get a clear night where it is strong again before we leave!

    After breakfast we headed out and crossed over into northern Norway! It’s definitely getting more gorgeous again! I don’t know why the area around Trondheim is not as mountainous, but I was glad it got more picturesque for all the driving! In the photo of the gravel road - in the distance we got our first glimpse of the glacier we will be hiking to see tomorrow (a different section, but still fun!). That road luckily wasn’t very long to get to the parking lot for the hike. It was not the best as there were tons of potholes and stuff, but better than the gravel roads in Iceland!

    After our hike we continued on driving towards where we need to be tomorrow. This morning i was looking at the route from the hike to the hike tomorrow and we need to take 2 car ferries (like we have been taking - they are part of the road) and the one is over an hour long so I looked to see when it ran and I am glad I did! The ones we could take were at 7pm today or 7:50am tomorrow - after that it doesn’t leave until 2:30pm! That is way too late to get to the noon people ferry for our hike! Originally we thought maybe we should try and get the ferry tonight, but then we wouldn’t have time to make dinner and we would still have to find a place to camp on the other side after dark and would have to rush around to make sure we made it in time. It seemed like a lot so we decided to camp near the ferry instead and catch the first one which should be fine as we have been getting up at 7/7:30 anyways. Then we will have plenty of time tomorrow to get where we need to go.

    The drive to camp near the ferry was absolutely gorgeous! We stopped on this dock to take some photos as it was so beautiful and I went to open my door and it was so windy it was difficult! And the wind was freezing!! We might have to start layering up for hiking if it is going to be this windy and cold!! But it makes sense - tomorrow we cross over into the Arctic circle on our ferry!! That is exciting!

    The last photo is the view from our campsite - pretty gorgeous! It started raining shortly after we had dinner and had a look around, but now it stopped and it’s just really windy! We shall see what it is like tomorrow!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Marmorslottet Hike

    September 13, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    When planning this trip I searched for fun things to do then put them on a map and tried to see if we could fit everything in that I had found. Pretty late I found this photo from Marmorslottet (the marble castle) that looked amazing! But because of ferries to the glacier only running some days I thought we would only have time for either this hike or the glacier hike we are doing tomorrow. I decided on the glacier hike as the professional photos of Marmorslottet looked amazing, but all the normal people photos I saw (like on my hiking app and such) looked meh so I didn’t want to choose this one, have it be disappointing and be sad we didn’t go on the glacier hike instead.

    Well the trail guide said it was a pretty easy hike until a steep section to get down to the rocks and that was correct. Most of the hike was super muddy with boards over it to walk on, but the last section was like scrambling on rocks to get down and oh my goodness the first views of the marble were amazing!! You could walk out on it, but you had to take your shoes off so you don’t track dirt on it that will erode it faster, but to get down to it I had to sit on the ledge of a rock and try and lower myself down. I figured I would figure out how to get back up later…which actually wasn’t that bad! I pretty easily was able to boost myself up even though the rock was shoulder high! Go me!

    The marble was so much fun. I thought it might be jabby on our feet, but it really wasn’t. I also thought my feet would freeze, but they didn’t! It was just fun wandering around on the rocks and seeing what we could see. There were lots of really deep holes in the rocks and all the „scallops“ as the sign called them - created by water flowing over the rock. We had a long break there before we got too cold and started heading on for the rest of our travels. I am so glad we had enough time to fit this in as I really loved it! I know this post is just all photos from there, but it was gorgeous and so cool!!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    On our way

    September 14, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Today was a long day, I’m so tired right now, but this morning was a lot of waiting around. We got up to head to the ferry and a reindeer walked right in front of the car! Then we saw the other dude on the side of the road that looked like a wise old wizard! We got the ferry and it was more like a normal one and you couldn’t stay in your car so we bundled up and went outside and it wasn’t that bad! Not too cold, not too windy, pretty nice! Plus the mountains all around were gorgeous!! And we crossed into the Arctic circle! In the photo of the two of us in between us is a white spot - that is a marker for the Arctic circle latitude line! So that was fun! We also had another rainbow behind us the second half of the trip! So that was nice too! We were also lucky that it didn’t start really raining until we got off the boat. As we were driving off the rain came!

    Then it was a quick drive to the next ferry, but the next ferry didn’t leave for over an hour so we waited around there again. It was sunnier over there which was nice and that ferry was super quick. Really all the other ferries we have taken all left every 15-20 min so I didn’t think to look at the schedule for these ones beforehand, but I am glad I did yesterday! I guess there is not as much demand up here, especially in the off season. There weren’t very many cars on either one today so that would make sense it doesn’t run that often.

    Then it was on to the Svartisen viewpoint which was super cloudy when we got there, but had to wait for the boat to take us for our glacier hike and while we were waiting it cleared up and got super sunny! Next up pics from our hike!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Svartisen Hike part 1

    September 14, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    For our Svartisen glacier hike we took the first boat at noon to head over there. On the boat it started raining and it rained the first bit of the way. The first part is 3km basically flat along a gravel road and it rained the entire time we were walking that, but it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t like the other day which was miserable and freezing and wind blowing the rain in our face. It was just raining so we walked on. Now the next boat to go back was at 2:45 and we were trying to decide if we should try for that boat or get the next one at 5:45, and since the rain wasn’t that bad and it was supposed to stop soon we decided to do the 5:45 boat. Which was a good choice as there was no way we would have made the 2:45 and hiked up to the glacier. when I was planning I thought we would get back maybe 3:30 and have to find something to do for 2 hours, but we really got back to the dock at 5:30! So yeah, no way we could have done the earlier one! The hike was also a lot longer than I had seen online so that didn’t help.

    After the gravel road you basically walk up the rocks to the glacier viewpoint. The lower rocks were very slippery in the rain, but it stopped shortly after the first bit which was nice. The rocks were so slippery and wet, but nicer than it raining also! There are 2 viewpoints you can walk up to and we got to the first one and took a break and were trying to decide if we should go on or not (really if we had enough time). The first section of rocks was a bit tricky to get up and we figured it would take longer going down as we didn’t want to fall. But I thought we would have enough time so up we went to the second viewpoint and I am so glad we did!! The rocks on that second section were so cool!! Right by the viewpoint were these ones that looked like waves or something. I loved them! We thought it would take forever going down because it was slippery, but really it took forever going down because I stopped every two feet to look at the rocks and take photos! I really loved them. It was so much fun! The glacier was nice too, very blue (which I think it always is - I saw pictures online in the sun and it say still super blue which is partly why I chose this over yesterday‘s adventures when I thought I had to choose one). But the rocks? So cool. You could see all the big striations from the glacier and it was just a lot of fun. I’m so glad we were able to go the whole way up! Plus we were glad that the trail was very well marked! Lots of blue dashes in the rocks to show you the way which definitely helped when you are just walking on rocks and not a path!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Svartisen Hike Part 2 & Beyond

    September 14, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Once we got down off the rocks we took a break and it had gotten so nice outside! It was a lovely walk back to the dock and you could see all the mountains that were clouds on the way in! Like I said in my other post we got there 15 min before our boat so it was perfect timing! The hike probably took a little longer than normal since it was so wet you had to be careful on the rocks, but there is still no way we could have done 11km in time for the earlier boat.

    Once we got back we headed on to find a place to camp for the night. Along the way we saw some moose! Today was s as great day for all the animal sightings!

     We are parked right by the last 3 photos which is pretty nice. The waves are loud which I enjoy and you can walk down to the beach! Today was a long day, but super fun and tomorrow should be more relaxed    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Saltstraumen

    September 15, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    So last night I woke up around 1am with a notification that there could be aurora activity if it is clear outside, I figured there would be nothing as it was so cloudy when we went to bed, but got up to check anyways. Well I spied outside and there were lights! So I woke Raymond up and threw on some warm clothes and jumped out of the van to go see! They weren’t very strong and were mostly white in the sky, but it was still fun (and I could not take a good photo!) we saw lots of shooting stars also and just had a lot of fun watching the sky and stars! There were so many since we were in the middle of nowhere! I am still hoping we will get a clear night with high activity so they are brighter and more colorful, but we shall see!

    So then we got up this morning to a gorgeous day! We headed out to go to Saltstraumen, the strongest tidal current in the world! We got there for high tide and walked up on the bridge to see it from above, then down by the shore . Both were fun! The tide created all these bubbles and whirlpools that can get pretty big (of course I didn’t get any of the biggest ones as they didn’t last long). So that was a fun morning. Then we went into Bodø to get some treats and had a quick walk around and found some fun things! Then it was off to catch off ferry at 1…only we didn’t get it. It was sold out, but online it said only 50% of tickets are pre-sold so just show up and hopefully get one of the other spots…well almost all of the other spots went to people that didn’t get on the ferry yesterday! I think only 4 or 5 new cars got on the ferry today and the rest of us got pushed back for the 9pm ferry…luckily there was another ferry today as normally there is only one, or the next one is at like 4am or something. I still bought a reserved ticket after all that cause I wanted to make sure we got on the 9pm ferry! Because there were so many people left at 1 I didn’t trust that we would 100% get on. So then we had all afternoon to explore Bodø which I will put in another post (and I am writing this waiting to get on the ferry…and it is 8:45 and the ferry isn’t here yet so I am hoping it gets here soon as I it is supposed to get in at 12:15am which is late enough!)    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Bodø

    September 15, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    When we got treats in Bodo I did think I wish I had a bit more time here to explore as it seemed like a neat city. Well we had about 7 hours to explore which we managed to fill! It is not that big of a city, but we fun wandering and seeing all the things. Lots of art (and some strange art), and sculptures and interesting buildings and it was just fun. Lots of parks also which was nice - lots of flowers everywhere. We both really enjoyed it here and it was definitely our favorite city we have been to in the trip (not that we have been to many, but the others were just okay). Today was also the last day of a food truck festival with about 15 food trucks so we got dinner there (dumplings and pad Thai and some churros which were delicious! The best ones we have ever had!), then back to the car to wait for the ferry. I tried to sleep a bit since we will be getting in late, but the ferry is still not here and we are supposed to be leaving soon! Hopefully it comes and we get loaded quickly so we can be on schedule-ish…we shall see!Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Aurora!!!

    September 15, 2024 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Just a quick update - we are finally headed out on the ferry a half hour late, but there is so much aurora activity!! It is so much fun!! It had to be pretty bright cause there is so much light pollution, but it is so cool!! And way more green!

    So the aurora has faded so more of an update - I was getting super cranky we were leaving so late as I need my sleep! Yesterday I had said to Raymond that taking this 9pm ferry would be pretty nice if it was clear and we could see the lights…and then we could!! It was so cloudy when we got back to the car, but cleared up by the time we got on the boat! And the aurora was so cool!!! It was so much fun watching it!!! Plus on the other side the moon was super bright orange which was a lot of fun, and some clouds came in around it which was cool. All the fun on the aurora ferry!! It’s also not very cold which is nice. We are bundled up and sitting outside and toasty! This turned out to be an unexpectedly amazing day!!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerNorway

    Munkebu Hike

    September 16, 2024 in Norway ⋅ 🌬 12 °C

    So last night on our ferry, after the amazing aurora show which was about an hour long, I tried to sleep some just lying down on a bench cause I was tired. We got in at 12:45 and drove to a place to park and were in bed by 1. It was no surprise that we slept in (well I was actually surprised I slept till 7:30 without remembering waking up once! Then just laid there drifting in and out till 8:30), so we got a late start today.

    The only item on the agenda was the Munkebu hike, 10km up in the mountains and going by some lakes. It was good we got a late start as it was raining when we got up, but by the time we started hiking it was clearing up! And it was sunny gorgeous for us while we were out! And the hike was gorgeous! My photos really do not do it justice! It was so so beautiful!!

    Now the hike itself was…at first we went off on a different trail as ours went up some rocks, but there was no indication that was where the trail was. So once we got back on track it was fine, Raymond led as he is much better at trail finding that I am and this one was a mess, but not too bad. Then after we went by the first lake it got a bit trickier. There is a photo of rocks with a chain railing - well we had similar on our Svartisen hike and it wasn’t too bad. Well…this was like the rocks were almost vertical and I was literally pulling myself up the chain with my hand and arms as with my feet just in the rocks as you really couldn’t walk up. We got halfway up and Raymond was like are you sure you want to do this?? We can go back…but we were halfway there and there was a viewpoint at the top so I was like let’s just do it! I will figure out how to get down later! And oh I was glad we made it to the top! It was gorgeous!! All the mountains and the lakes and waterfalls and everything!

    We had lunch up there and I said about going on until our next break then heading back (so not doing the whole trail as it was slow going and we were only doing about 1km/45min (we walk 45 min then take a 15 min break to get some water and something to eat and give our feets a rest - our air mine out as they get so sweaty when I’m hiking!). Well we started on and after about 15 min we were in a giant, super muddy mess. We could see it got better, but we had to get down this hill to get to the better part and…the mud was so deep and watery and a mess it would surely get in our shoes…I tried to find a way to do it without getting super wet, muddy feet and couldn’t so we decided to just turn around early. It was still a good amount of hiking and we had fun.

    The way down the chain section I was not looking forward to, but it wasn’t that bad! When we got there another couple was going down so we were going to wait for them and I was like they are like me and Raymond! He went in front and was helping telling her what to do and how she is doing well and whatnot, and she was slow and wobbly and having a harder time which I figured would be me. When we had gotten to the top I was like I am so glad we made it up here, but I am not sure we should have as that chain section really is outside my wheelhouse, but I did really well going down! Much better than the other lady which I was surprised by. There was only one section that was wet and super steep where my feet couldn’t get any traction and I was just like oh shoot…what do I do now as I am clinging to the chain to keep myself from just sliding down the steep rock and my feet are like they are in ice and sliding all over the place…but I figured it out and it was much quicker and easier than in expected! So hooray me!!

    When we got back to the car we did a bit of errand running then went to where we are camping for the night. The last photo is the view from just outside the car, which also doesn’t do it justice. The mountains are huge and scraggly and I love them!! Though it is raining now and they are in clouds I did enjoy them all evening! All in all a pretty good day even though I was pretty tired from the late night last night! Tomorrow we have a crazy hike so we shall see how that goes! Hopefully it is clear as the views from the top are supposed to be amazing!    Read more

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