I ate Rudolph!
We spent Thursday in Bergen, wandering around the old part of the city, Bryggen, and making our way laboriously to this old wooden church outside the main city centre. We had to walk to the bus station, then catch a 20 minute bus, then walk about 20 minutes up a hill, following various helpful Norweigan signs, then a helpful old Norweigan man, before finally reaching this old wooden church, which is around 1000 years old. However, the inside looked rather new, which we discovered was the result of a heavy metal fan burning it down in 1992, seeing it as an insult to the pagan gods! Still a nice church - even the nails are made out of wood!
After more wandering and sightseeing, we took the overnight train back to Oslo - sleeping compartments being waaay too expensive, we opted for the sleeping in your seat option - they give you a free pack with blanket, blow-up pillow, eye mask and ear plugs, so it was actually quite good! And not too bad for sleeping, until some loud people got on at 4am and talked behind us in a foreign language for the next 3 hours - how rude!
We arrived in Oslo, again sleepy, at 6:30am, dumped our bags at the hostel (again, can't check in til 3!), then had a huge buffet breakfast, meeting up with our Swiss friend Matthias, who had spent the previous 2 days in Oslo. We wanted to go to the National Gallery, to see the painted Scream, but it didn't open til 10, and it was around 8:30 at this stage, so instead we went to the graveyard (as you do!), to see Henrik Ibsen (playwright) and Edvard Munch's graves - it was actually quite nice, sunny and pretty!
The painted Scream was quite good, although rather over-hyped for a small painting! The rest of the gallery was quite a mix of modern and old, foreign and Norweigan - some Picasso and Rodin even! We also went to a cool contemporary art museum next door.
Then we started the odyssey that explains the title of this post - in Bergen, we had seen a restaurant serving reindeer, but didn't get around to eating there. Jade decided it was her mission to eat reindeer before we left Norway, so we found a place that did serve it, (after about an hour of asking at various places and being constantly redirected!) and booked it for the evening. We then visited the old Norweigan fort, and watched a huge cruise ship sail away, before collapsing back in our hostel for a much needed nap!
We had a lovely (and rather expensive - as is everything in Norway - it costs around $8 for a Coke!) dinner, and the reindeer was really nice - quite gamey, but the same consistency as steak - well worth the effort!
Our dinner party - L-R: Me, Charlotte, Jade, Matthias
The reindeer itself - yummy!
Saturday morning we started our long journey back to Aarhus - arriving back in Stansted at 3:30pm, but unable to fly out until 7:30am on Sunday, we caught the bus to a nearby town, Bishop's Stortford, and had a nice big Indian meal and a few drinks at the pub, before putting our newly acquired train blankets to good use for our second night sleeping in the airport! This may sound strange to those accustomed to Sydney Airport, however there are always so many people coming in and out, as it is a major transfer hub, that it is quite normal to see clumps of people sleeping all around the airport!
We finally made it home at 12pm on Sunday - it was a great trip, but nice to be home, and also nice that Aarhus actually feels like home!
After more wandering and sightseeing, we took the overnight train back to Oslo - sleeping compartments being waaay too expensive, we opted for the sleeping in your seat option - they give you a free pack with blanket, blow-up pillow, eye mask and ear plugs, so it was actually quite good! And not too bad for sleeping, until some loud people got on at 4am and talked behind us in a foreign language for the next 3 hours - how rude!
We arrived in Oslo, again sleepy, at 6:30am, dumped our bags at the hostel (again, can't check in til 3!), then had a huge buffet breakfast, meeting up with our Swiss friend Matthias, who had spent the previous 2 days in Oslo. We wanted to go to the National Gallery, to see the painted Scream, but it didn't open til 10, and it was around 8:30 at this stage, so instead we went to the graveyard (as you do!), to see Henrik Ibsen (playwright) and Edvard Munch's graves - it was actually quite nice, sunny and pretty!
The painted Scream was quite good, although rather over-hyped for a small painting! The rest of the gallery was quite a mix of modern and old, foreign and Norweigan - some Picasso and Rodin even! We also went to a cool contemporary art museum next door.
Then we started the odyssey that explains the title of this post - in Bergen, we had seen a restaurant serving reindeer, but didn't get around to eating there. Jade decided it was her mission to eat reindeer before we left Norway, so we found a place that did serve it, (after about an hour of asking at various places and being constantly redirected!) and booked it for the evening. We then visited the old Norweigan fort, and watched a huge cruise ship sail away, before collapsing back in our hostel for a much needed nap!
We had a lovely (and rather expensive - as is everything in Norway - it costs around $8 for a Coke!) dinner, and the reindeer was really nice - quite gamey, but the same consistency as steak - well worth the effort!
Our dinner party - L-R: Me, Charlotte, Jade, Matthias
The reindeer itself - yummy!
Saturday morning we started our long journey back to Aarhus - arriving back in Stansted at 3:30pm, but unable to fly out until 7:30am on Sunday, we caught the bus to a nearby town, Bishop's Stortford, and had a nice big Indian meal and a few drinks at the pub, before putting our newly acquired train blankets to good use for our second night sleeping in the airport! This may sound strange to those accustomed to Sydney Airport, however there are always so many people coming in and out, as it is a major transfer hub, that it is quite normal to see clumps of people sleeping all around the airport!
We finally made it home at 12pm on Sunday - it was a great trip, but nice to be home, and also nice that Aarhus actually feels like home!
posted by Laura B @ 6:10 pm
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