Preikestolen

The highlight of my Norway adventure was Thursday’s hike to Preikestolen, Pulpit Rock. On this one day, we encountered practically every weather possible: rain, snow, ice, sleet, fog, hail, cloud, sun, rainbow. But the sheer magnificence of the mountain was SO worth it (pictures do not begin to do it justice).

The view from 1806 feet:

Stavanger

After the day in Oslo, we hopped aboard the 7:11am train to Stavanger, supposedly the most beautiful train ride in the world. It lived up to expectations. Every few minutes we would pass a little town surrounding a little lake hidden in the valley of the giant mountains. Seven hours later, we were in Stavanger. Stavanger is the 4th largest city in Norway. It is still relatively small, but survives on fishing and tourism. It is also home to the Petroleum Museum which boasts a playground made entirely from equipment used in the oil extraction and production process. Fun fact we learned from a local on the ferry: most all the houses are wood, making them very vulnerable to fire. However, one neighborhood from the 19th century remains:

Oslo

For the second week of travel week, a friend and I hopped aboard an overnight ferry to Norway to explore more of Scandinavia. I quickly discovered that Oslo is a really cool city, mainly for the architecture. Our first stop was the opera house, a beautiful structure that invites you to climb to the top of the roof and overlook the river and city.

Whilst exploring the city, we stumbled into the hip, artsy district Grünerløkka, home to lots of amazing street art.

As a close second to my favorite part of Oslo, we ventured past the royal palace and through the more affluent part of town to Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park, which features 212 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland.

As if it isn’t already cool enough, Oslo is in the process of building up the modern district by the harbor. The architecture was amazing: futuristic but still tasteful.

The downfall of traveling to Norway is that it rains almost every day and everything is very expensive, like when you find yourself starving after a day of wondering, and think, “Oh! They have hamburgers for NOK 175 (roughly $30), that’s so cheap!” It was a delicious burger though…