Norwegian Road Trip

Today we were leaving on our mini road trip through Norway's Fjords and coastline. We planned on spending 2 nights away from our apartment travelling back on Wednesday. This morning Nic walked down to the car rental place and returned around 8:30AM with the Honda Jazz. I think he is in love with it. We were quickly on our way and had planned to travel south on the E39 near the coast a little bit and then in towards Geiranger Fjord. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiranger) We were quickly thrown a couple of curve balls. One was the Norway has a large number of toll road and we were ill pre-prepared for having the correct change to use at some of the unmanned toll stations. So we quickly stopped at a Petrol station to get some change. The next curve ball was the road we planned on taking was closed for a portion and we were forced into a rather large detour. We estimate it may have added 1/2 - 1 hour to our trip as well as some consternation. After the detour we were back on our intended route and quickly came to our first of 3 ferry crossings.

Here is Ethan waiting for the first ferry from Halsa to Kanestrum. You queue up and in this case we paid as we were driving onto the ferry. You pay for your car as well as each passenger. It turned out to be an expensive day for ferries and tolls - we spent 559 Kroner (about $84) for 3 ferries, 1 bridge, and 2 toll roads. This ferry had some toilets and a little cafe for snacks and such. The ferry didn't take too long (maybe 15 minutes?) and we were soon on our way on the other side. We were continuing on the E39 heading on our way to Molde and the next ferry. The ferries in general turned out to be great for everyone. They broke up the trip, allowed for potty & food breaks, and distracted the kids from the length of the trip for a while.

The drive was enjoyable and quickly brought us to some spectacular scenery. We were enjoying the various animal crossing signs that we saw - moose, sheep, reindeer to name a few. The guidebook reports that Norway has exactly one troll crossing sign but we did not drive by it. I have never seen so many groups of grazing sheeps or fields of dandelions as I did on this trip. we also travelled through a lot of tunnels. Around 4PM we got to our last ferry that took us to the last driving leg of our tour and to the Geiranger Fjord.


We dropped down a steeply graded hill (10%) with many switchbacks into the town of Geiranger. This was the view from a scenic viewpoint on the way down. The place was overrun with tour buses but it provided a spectacular view. This fjord is a very popular vacation/tourist spot but luckily for us the tourist season doesn't really start until June 1. We enjoyed the view for a while, watching the cruise ships and ferries steam by. We say the Hurtigruten coastal ferry drive in and out. This is the ferry that we will be taking next week for the 6 day cruise to Tromso (above the Artic Circle and were we will have 24 hours of sun light - oh joy). It was easy to find our room (Hotel Gerainger) and we were able to upgrade our reservation to a room with the view of the fjord - for 200 extra Kroners of course. The room is very nice, albeit smaller than American Hotel rooms and the view is spectacular. Nic and I noticed the heavy duty curtains right away - I think we might finally be able to get a really good nights sleep in total darkness!

It was about 5:30PM and we headed into (the small) town in search of some pizza. The hotel restaurant did not start serving dinner until 7:45PM! The hotel had pointed us in the right direction and we quickly found the place after a little souvenir shopping - well just browsing really. We got 2 pizzas one for the adults and one for the kids. And we splurged for 2 $7.50 beers as it seemed like a real bargain! We should have been more specific about the kids pizza and that is should be plain cheese. It came sprinkled with some pesto and spices. Ethan immediately snubbed his nose at it, but we were able to scrape most of the green things off and he ate a piece or two. After dinner we found this great Troll statue. I really had no idea that Norway had such an association with Trolls, but it is fun, and makes for some fun pictures.




We are back at the Hotel now and it is 8:30PM. It is so light out it could be mid day. The kids are both in the bath tub (arguing .... oh joy) - exciting since our Trondheim apartment does not have a bath tub. The hotel turned the couch into a futon/bed for the kids as the room only had beds for 2 people (as do most of the rooms in the hotel). The extra bed looks comfortable and I'm sure it will be fine. So the next job will be to try to get these kids to bed a bit early if possible. This should be interesting as Ethan is wound up like a spinning top. The woman in the lobby gave us a tip to show up later to (the included) buffet breakfast as to miss the large groups that will be coming through. By later she said 7:30AM - so this won't be a problem. The ferry leaves right from here to go through the spectacular Geiranger Fjord. They go every 3 hours and I think we are aiming for 11AM. If we have Internet at the next hotel then we will blog again tomorrow!