As much as we loved Norway we knew our time there was drawing to a close. With the Schengen visa restriction you simply can’t spend too much time in one European country or else you are left scrambling everywhere else. While Norway was definitely a major attraction for us, there was still much more we wanted to see before heading home to Kelowna for a summer break. We made this week in Norway our last.
Bergen is a major attraction in Norway, a beautiful city with a ton of history and is also a very popular cruise port, even this early in the season. Sadly for us, Bergen turned on some of ( what the locals called ) its more typical weather and left us sightseeing in misty rain the whole time we were there. Our Bergen memories from before were much better. While the city is as beautiful as ever, it’s definitely one that you ideally want to see on a nice sunny day – such was not our day this time around 😔.
Our route east to Oslo ( and on out of Norway ) took us through Dale, Vos, Flam and Gol, all towns with various attractions to offer and where we made enjoyable stops – fortunately, on this section the weather help up nicely, not letting us down again until we actually reached Oslo.
While Oslo is a beautiful spot and we took in what sights we could on another miserably rainy day, the main attraction this go around was actually to visit with some old friends. Gil, best man at our daughter/son in law’s wedding, gave us a wonderful tour of downtown Oslo. Ole ( and his wife Britt ) hosted us to a wonderful dinner where we spent hours catching up on each others lives – it had been 42 years since we first met ( backpacking in Asia ) and 40 years since we last visited them at their home south of Oslo. Amazing how, despite the passage of such significant time, you can so easily pick up right where you left off. They’ve promised the next visit will be them coming to see us in Canada.
With our time in Norway drawing quickly to a close we made plans for our final month in Europe ( we’ll be taking a summer hiatus and returning to Canada for a few months ). Next week we’ll travel down through western Sweden and across Denmark to Germany, in preparation for the final month of this first leg of Europe 2025.
Till next week….
Thanks again for my Saturday experience. Meeting up with Ole made me emotional. How true time doesn’t matter when you have a great connection. We just reconnected with friends from Calgary we hadn’t seen for nearly 40 years. It was like no time had passed. Lots to catch up on haha. The pictures again are stunning. The falls must be amazing in person.
Yes, so true Penny. We knew where each other was and what we were doing, but hadn’t regularly spoken. I suspect we’ll be doing a lot more in the coming years…!
Beautiful but definitely looks damp. Crazy how fast 40 years goes by!
It is indeed !! But sitting and chatting – it was like we last connected yesterday.
40 years! And as if it was yesterday. We will keep our promise. See you. Safe travels.
Thank you my friend – we look forward to it !