FRANCE, LUXEMBOURG, GERMANY,

DENMARK, NORWAY, SWEDEN – Part 2

May 23, 2012

May 18…and SUNSHINE!!! About time!! Continuing along the coast which seems more and more like B.C. and Alaska. Seeing lots of wood split for household burning in standard mesh bags about one meter cube. They need it here with the short cold winters and the size of the houses which are large. Most have two or three stories with lots of windows to take in the scenery. Some, but usually out buildings, have sod roofs. All the properties are clean and tidy; houses painted, lawns mowed and no junk lying around. And they love the colour red for the buildings; a darkish wine red…something we can relate to.

Same applies for their cars; doesn’t seem to be any beaters. The drivers don’t speed much (listening Canada??), never tailgate (listening France??), never honk (listening USA??), and are very courteous (listening all drivers??).

Lakes of all shapes and sizes are everywhere. Along the southwestern tip there is an incredibly beautiful large area of huge rounded boulders some the size of houses. The fjords are stunning! To get closer to them we chose to drive the secondary roads with few cars but which are really narrow and twisting. With their harsh Canadian-like winters here they can also be busted up and rough. No large towns; only small villages. Camped near Bursand with an amazing view of the ocean.

Back into light rain the next day through large rolling farmland fenced with the large rocks picked from the fields. More sheep. We stopped for a few groceries and the lady at the store told us they had had rain for the last eleven months! They were very sick of it. Really!?! And because of the cool temperatures and rain lately fresh snow was on the surrounding mountains.

Norway means fjords which means ferries…four for us today. While waiting for one we bought French fries in a small café. A small handful cost the equivalent of $6 or about 25 cents per fry! With so many fjords there are lots of fish farms though none are big.

We had planned to stop in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city with 250,000 people, for a day but we were more interested in getting back into the countryside. We continued toward Balestrand, a very pretty town spread on the edge of the second-longest fjord. Looked to camp. Ah…closed. Asked a lady for directions and she promptly provided a map and information on the area…she worked for the tourism bureau and had some pamphlets with her. We continued another few kilometers and found the village of Dragsvik where we found a campground just opening for its first day of the season. And we camped five meters from the water with an endless view of the fjord one way and large snow covered mountains the other. The views were some of the most magical we have seen anywhere…so we stayed the next day, a 25C, sun-filled day. Turned out the owner had spent a month near Calgary and Banff while he was in the Norwegian army in joint training exercises with Canadian forces. Did he like Canada? Yes…but it was January and -40C! The rest of his tales included the burning down of a Canadian forces tent in the middle of the night. No…Norway never paid us back!!

While at this last campground we had a (few) drinks with a British couple also staying here. They have lived in Norway for one year hoping to stay permanently. Unfortunately they just cannot find substantial work and sadly have to go back to England. They absolutely love Norway and its people. Apparently housing is inexpensive here which is probably why we have rarely seen any small places. One thing they did mention though is the ability of anyone to get on the web with a simple piece of information such as a person’s name, address or telephone number and find out everything about their personal life including earnings. Privacy here is out the window!

One of the things everyone thinks about when they think Norway is Vikings. But oddly enough there is no talk about that part of their history here and rarely is a connection to the Vikings made in their buildings, names, tourism and so on. Not sure why this amazing piece of world history is put aside. Near Dragsvik though, there are two burial mounds said to contain parts of a Viking ship, the remains of a man and a woman, and other artifacts.

And of course as with all things, Norway has the biggest and longest…fjord. We crossed the two longest and deepest today, a day of three ferries. Both these cavernous bathtubs are over 1300 meters deep, the second-longest at 180 km long and the longest at 240 km long! Ocean-going cargo ships can be seen all the way to the ends to bring in goods. Driving around the perimeters of these fjords can be tiring and long and of course involves lots and lots and lots of tunnels. They are mostly poorly lit, which feels eerie, and can be long, which feels eerie. Our longest today was 7.5 km. One had three lanes the full length. This is far wider than most of the roads in this part of the world. Two narrow lanes are great but often it is a single lane, sometimes barely wide enough for our van, with small turnout places to let oncoming vehicles by. It does get very hairy at times.

May 22 and we continued on Route 13 on a stretch between Dragsvik and Forde into the high mountains and over a snow-bound pass. The scenery was as good as it gets. Twisting turning roads with hellish drop-offs and snow above our van…and that’s in mid-May! And of course at the end of the day was yet another ferry but this one with a crew member, a girl, who had studied in Vancouver for a year. She loved it and found BC’s west coast similar to Norway’s. Similar but not the same level. And she’s right. Though it isn’t often you’re come around the corner thinking you’re about to run into a good-sized cruise ship.

That day finished in Alesund, a beautifully situated fjord town of 42,000 people. The town burned totally in 1904 and was totally rebuilt with beautiful art-inspired buildings. It is also a stopover for the large cruise ships  and one was in during our visit. Nothing like walking the streets of a tourist sector with 5000 of your closest friends. And of course we had to try the Norwegian fish-and-chips. With all due respect to any other country claiming theirs is the greatest…move over…this was by far the BEST!!

Want to start your own café or restaurant? Don’t rent a building…buy an old unused barge instead.

Want to be paid and get the benefits of a postal worker and sell ice cream on the side? Get something that both delivers mail and keeps the ice cream nice and cool.

The next day we headed east and sadly away from the fjords (pronounced “fee yords”)…or as we call them…FEE JJORDS. Temperatures were above 25C for the next few days with heavy humidity. Given that one lake was still half covered with ice!! Saw lots of old wooden barns and houses made of squared logs. These are old and may have been part of the old settlers. We wild-camped that night, our first time this trip, and it felt great to be back in nature with only the trees and the birds for company.

So we continued toward Sweden. And what did we think of Norway? Absolutely amazing! Magic! It is the most beautiful country we have ever seen…more beautiful than Canada and even New Zealand. The people are very helpful and friendly. It is expensive but come see the place…you will forever appreciate the mix of mountains, fjords and people.