Back in Oslo

Monday p.m. – 12 May 1986

Dear ones,

We are back in Oslo – I’ve unpacked, defrosted the refrig, took our raincoats to the cleaners, and figured out how much we’d spent on the trip. We did all right, but we probably stayed at some places that some people wouldn’t even stop at. But we have read and found to be true that even if the places aren’t fancy, they are always clean. Of the 5 places we stayed in, 2 of them had the bathrooms across the hall and they were the cheapest. The other 3 had the bathrooms in the room – all 5 had sinks in the room. Think it was 4 of them that included breakfast. We had bought fruit, bread, cheese and jam and beverages, so we ate our noon lunch along the way. We bought more bread and cheese and drinks, but it is cheaper than eating in restaurants. We hear that Norway is the most expensive country to live or travel in so it should get better.

We had no mishaps along the way, but we had to change our plans once in a while because we were ahead of the tourist season or because the road was closed (snow hadn’t melted yet). We headed north because Vince had to stop in Elverum for a special cap – it is called the Osterdalen cap (Hogansons came from N. Osterdal) so he calls it his bunad. He thinks Dalen will want one just like it. We also stopped at Hamar because we thought we might see the ruins of an old church which we briefly got a peek at in March (I think). But it still wasn’t open – would be opening 17 May – so we ate our lunch in the car. And then drove on as far as Vagamo. One hotel wasn’t open, the other one had no rooms left so we stayed at a gjestgiveri, a guest house, an old building made out of logs. The dining area, kitchen, lounge were on ground floor, the sleeping rooms upstairs. The stairway was out on the front porch, typical of old houses. We ate our supper there, walked around the small town some and then decided to drive up a road or 2. They were narrow, and farms or houses almost all the way to the top of the mountain. Don’t see how the farmers can eke out a living at all. Before going back to the room, we stopped and asked about the road we intended to take in the morning to Geiranger at the head (or foot) of Geiranger Fjord. We were told it was closed, so we figured we’d be in for a change of plans.

Thursday – had our breakfast and headed out. Sure enough the road was closed, so we had to take the more southerly road which brought us out at H(?) at the other end of the G. fjord. We drove through snow higher than the car in a lot of places on the road we did take. Guess all of Norway had an earlier, harder, snowier winter than usual. We had intended to put our car on the ferry at Geiranger, ride down the fjord and get off at H(?). Instead we left our car at H(?), rode the ferry both ways, and then drove on from there. It was a pretty ride, but would have been better if the sun had been shining. Hope our pictures turn out. It even started raining some while we were still on the ferry. That night we stayed at a gjestgiveri at Stryn. It was more like a hotel, but the bath were across the hall. They didn’t serve dinners, just sandwiches. So we went uptown for supper. Shopped around town a little bit the next morning after breakfast and then headed out. We went to the Briksdal glacier. Of course, the place wasn’t open or we might have rented a horse and cart to take us up to the Glacier. As it was it was over an hour’s walk, all up hill. Vince and I went slower than Jene. There were a couple other groups walking the trail, too. We probably shouldn’t have – we were running late the rest of the day. We had some touch mountain driving – narrow, one-lane roads. There is one stretch Vince won’t forget – I don’t know how high it was, or how many switchbacks there were. We took a picture at the bottom; we saw evidences of avalanches all the way down, and still quite a bit of snow left. Then we had to wait a half hour or so for one ferry and a little while for another one, as we headed towards Lærdal. I had written Ingebrigt Raa that we would geet there after 7. It was after 9 when we got there; probably just on the verge of getting too dark for pictures. We’ll see. His wife is a nurse’s aid and she was at work. His daughter was home – she’s 18 – so she made sandwiches – smorbrod – for us; served us Lærdal lefse which is a little different but I’m not sure just how. They also served us another typical Lærdal dish – cooked milk. We didn’t ask for the recipe for that. Inge has some animals, sheep and beef cattle. Suppose he raised some grain. He also grows potatoes – Lærdal supplies the rest of Norway with early potatoes. Spring come to Lærdal as early as any place in Norway and they don’t get much snow. They are on the end of the Sognefjord. He said it was a good thing we hadn’t come straight up out of Oslo. That road was closed because of a rock slide. The side of a mountain, or part of it, came sliding down. The road would be closed for at least 3 days. We ‘visited” until 2 a.m. – his wife came home about 11. He doesn’t speak much English, his daughter did some. Vince got to use his Eastern Norwegian in Western Norway.

Saturday – we should have gotten going a little earlier, but we were tired (we had stayed at a hotel in Lærdal). We had hoped to take a ferry to Gudvanger, but it left before 9. The next one didn’t leave until 3 and we didn’t think we should wait that long. So we retraced our way and took a ferry from Hella to Vangsness (Willis’ family comes from there) and drove to Voss, on our way to Bergen. We had another lulu – one way, short guard rails, hair pin curves. One place we even had to back up because there wasn’t room to meet the car that was coming. We finally got to Bergen – and finally found a hotel. We got a good deal on rates for a nice hotel right downtown. This one even had a TV in the room – not just in the lounge. Jene liked that! For the first time, we ordered a real nice meal – fish, of course. The next day we had to head back towards Oslo. With the tough driving, its too far to go in 1 day. Before we started back however, we took a bus tour, 2 hour, of the city. Got out and saw one of the Hanseatic League houses, and gout out at Haakon’s Hall, an old ceremonial palace. Otherwise, we did our looking from the bus. Had some more narrow roads, and then drove for quite a ways on the plateau on top. We were going to stop at Geilo for the night, but couldn’t find a room. The cheaper places were closed. May is their quiet month – a lull between winter skiers and summer tourists. The hotel wanted more money than we wanted to pay, so we drove on to Gol and there we found a motel room.

We had a pretty drive today – the first sun we’d had since we left, except briefly Sat. morning at Laerdal. We drove down Hallingdal Valley and on to Oslo – decent 2 lane roads.

We sort of plan on leaving here on the 23 May, and I will try to send some kind of itinerary. We are going to ask about the highways in the Alps before we plan to do any more mountain driving. Vince had almost all of it, and when I tried it made him nervous. He thought once he was going over the edge. Better get a few groceries and start on supper.

Love, Verla and Vince