For those who are already thinking, yes I have been looking at Christmas trees every second since we have been here in Norway to see why they sent that pitiful tree to England. I plan to write a longer post after looking at more trees here. (If you have no idea what I am talking about Read 12/14 blog about the tree gifted to London from Norway for info)
We landed in Oslo Norway late on the 9th after our time in Switzerland. (We deplaned on a snow covered set of stairs and a winter wonderland. Everything was covered in snow. We were all giddy. Norway has fairly strict Covid requiring everyone who lands in Norway to take a Antigen test before leaving the airport. We walked off the plane and navigated through to where the testing was happening and saw a huge long line. A airport employee waved us to the side and because we are traveling with 4 kids we skipped the line and went directly to the testing area. We felt bad walking by so many who were waiting in what looked like a multi hour line, but also grateful as it was 10:00 and we were tired and hungry. After getting swabbed we sat nervously with other passengers and waited 25 minutes for our results before we exited the airport. It was a pretty weird experience to sit (very well spaced) with all these other passengers thinking about what would happen if we tested positive. My mom texted and asked where they send people who test positive, I jokes “Noway, I hope”, but really I don’t know what happens. I assume a quarantine hotel but I am glad we did not have to find out. The extra precaution seems to be helping Norway as they have the lowest current Covid rates of any of the places we have visited, by a lot.
A little a side here about nose swabbing and testing in different countries:
Paris tests are the worst. They still seem to be following the take a swab of your brain technique. When we thought we might be trying to fly back to the states from France we were really worried about the kids taking those tests. We even devised a plan to take them one at a time so they wouldn’t be able to warn each other. 😊 Paris testing was accessible, including tents along the Champs-Élysées that offered free testing. Elza and I both got tested twice in Paris. London testing was also super accessible and but seem to be more in line with the US standard of 5 circles in each nostril (no brain scrape). We did not take any test in Ireland as Paris did not require a test before entry. Switzerland required a pre entry test which is why we had to take the tests in Paris but we never tested in Switzerland as Norway requires airport testing in Norway as opposed to pre flight testing. We were nervous about Norway testing as thought they might be brain scrapers like Paris. Elza scoped out the lines while we waited to get tested to see which of the nurses seemed the most gentle as we generally like our kids brains not scraped. (and they would probably have caused a scene!). I am happy to report that our Norway tester was kind, testing went well, and Foster laughed and giggled as his nose was tickled. We will have to test again before boarding a flight to the states. We are not sure exactly where we will test and are hopeful that our brains are safe.
With testing complete we got a cab for the 1 hour ride to the center of Oslo where our hotel was for the night. Our hotel (Clarion Hub Oslo) was amazingly cool and we were bummed that we would only be staying one night. The checked in headed to our rooms and fell right asleep as it was 12:00 and we had an 8:30 train the next morning.
When we checked in the nice lady told us in what I took as a joke that the breakfast buffet was the best in Oslo. When we walked down to breakfast I was blown away by the spread. As someone who knows his way around a buffet this was without a doubt the biggest and most robust breakfast buffet I have even been a part of. Here is a little video of the spread. I failed to video the coffee bar, smoothie bar, and dessert area. I ate a lot. It made me happy.
January 10th consisted of a 5 hour train ride from Oslo to Myrdal that was magical. I mentioned before that Switzerland was exactly as imagined, so is Norway. Snow covered tress, icicles, mountains, lakes, rivers, all lovely and all over the place. We arrived in Myrdal and then took the Flan Railway. https://www.norwaysbest.com/flamsbana/flamsbana—the-flam-railway/ The ride is magical. 20 km down into the little town of Flam at the mouth of Sognefjord, nicknamed the King of the Fjords, which is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway.
After the lovely train ride into Flan we checked into our hotel in Flan. Flan felt like a ghost town. In talking with the hotel it is much more crowded in the summer months but also Covid has really hit them. Also we are now 10 days past the new year so travel has really slowed. It has been a nice change of pace from the week in Paris that felt incredibly crowded and super touristy.
Our hotel was again lovely. We got to our room and within minutes Foster and Waverly had snow pants on and were ready to go play in the snow. Foster is obsessed with snow. It is so fun to watch him play and explore and just generally crave snow time fun. Waverly, Foster and I played in the snow and drank some water from the river that ran into the Fjord. It was salty yet satisfying! 😊 After some snow time fun, Elza booked us dinner at ÆGIR BREWERY & PUB https://www.flamsbrygga.no/aegir-bryggeripub . It is a Viking brewery known for its 5 course Viking meal that comes with a beer for every course. A month ago Norway instituted a country wide ban on consuming alcohol in any public area. This means restaurants, trains, and even the bonfire in front of the hotel. You can purchase alcohol but have to drink in the privacy of your home. We ended the night roasting Marshmallows on a fire pit that our hotel set up for us. Norway is awesome!
Love and Happiness to All! -Mike