Barenaked for the holidays: Bergen, Norway

Not to be taken literally of course, as that would likely lead to hypothermia. 

It's just the name of the Christmas album by the Barenaked Ladies, released a few years back, and it seems to be playing quite frequently on my iPod (maybe because I make it so? hmmm). Reminds me of the last few Christmas years, and fills me with a rather large dosage of nostalgia. Not sure where I'm gonna be, let alone what I'm going to be doing, but I'm sure SOMETHING will come up. There must be thousands of loners like me running around Europe -- right?

If you've bothered to look at my location on a map, you will see that I've covered quite a bit of ground in the last few days. I went directly to Oslo from Copenhagen, and then two nights later I took the train to Bergen.

Copenhagen was nice, and the weather has been quite kind (so far) in scandinavia. I grabbed myself a map and made up my own tour of Copenhagen on the spot (mmmm discount tours). I visited the harbor, and the little mermaid statue/icon.  Ran across a school ground by accident, and it seriously reminded me of Dachau, which when you think about it, makes a lot of sense. Besides that, there were four primary highlights of Copenhagen by my count:
One was the outdoor skating rink surrounded by trees/buildings absolutely covered by white Christmas lights. I tried to skate on the ice briefly, but with no skates it was more like walking on the street. 

The second highlight was the old defensive castle grounds, which have since been converted for use by the military/police (so it seemed).  The neat thing about the grounds was that instead of using a stone wall for defense, they used dirt.  Lots and lots of dirt.  From the outside, the "walls" were so tall that it looked like any old (very steep) hill, but once you cross the bridge over the moat, you find a hollow interior full of streets, buildings, and canons.

The third highlight was an area I discovered by accident, called "christiana," far to Copenhagen's eastern coast.  The area is a bum-hole by definition.  People in dirty jackets, fingerless gloves, "stick and bag" slung over their shoulder, and cigarettes hovering around garbage bins lit-a-flame.  To make it even more bizarre, it looked as if these bums had their own economy.  There were make shift stores, cheap food (I did not risk it), and lots of drugs.  Ah sweet memories of Amsterdam.

Lastly, while walking to the train station where an exceptionally bright street caught my eye, I tried to enter.  My "efforts" were halted by two security agent's, who were previously invisible to me.  Once they turned me away, some passerby must have seen me, and asked if I wanted to get in.  I told him that I didn't even know what was in there, but he said that he could get me in for free, so I accepted.  Once in (after thanking the mysterious stranger), I quickly found out why they wouldn't let me just walk in.  The area was exactly like a fair grounds which you would find at the west-edmonton, only outdoors.  I was tempted to go on some rides, but it was something around the area of $20 for a short ride, and I had nowhere to put my gear.  Only takes two strikes to get me out of this game.

My list of activities for Oslo was very similar to Copenhagen.  This time however; it was out of necessity.  I finally understand what people have been warning me about, in regards to the "cost of Norway".  For example, I could sleep in Germany for about $25-30 on average.  In Prague about $15 a night, and in Oslo, the discount bargain-bin hostel was costing me about $55 a night.  Not only that, but I walked into a Mcdonalds looking for a cheap lunch.  Hmmmm $18 for a big mac and fries?  Bwahahahahahahaaha, yea no, I'll eat the $3.00 slice of bread instead, thank you.  

Similarly to Copenhagen, Oslo had some nice Christmas avenues.  I walked around the downtown and saw the city hall, main theatre, university buildings, and the super amazing fjords across the harbor.  Oh, that and a castle with hat-less guards (brrrrrr).

The next morning, I took the seven hour day train to Bergen.  I have to say that this train ride was absolutely spectacular.  The tracks took us through tunnel after tunnel, and after each one was a new picturesque landscape.  Sheer cliffs and oh-my-god-so-crystal-clear rivers, vast Siberian-esque landscapes, towering waterfalls, misty mountains, and grand, snow covered pine tree forests made up my entertainment for the day.

Bergen has been fun, and is twenty times more picturesque than Oslo.  I only had one day in Bergen, so I had to spend it well, and oh did I ever.  As you'll see in my pictures, Bergen is a super-large city in the valley of surrounding mountains, and an adjacent ocean.  I went up the tram to the top of the nearby mountains.  Once at the top you find the usual touristy stuff, but it had an a-m-a-z-i-n-g view.  I spent the whole day up there, wandering the snowy back-tracks without any aim whatsoever.  It snowed on and off all day, and the weather was hovering around -1, with nearly no wind, and occasional blue sky. 

Looking down on the city, I could see and hear the activity, and the "busy."  Simply walk 50 meters down into the forest and all sound would completely vanish.  I was beyond happy in this place.  Walking around in near perfect weather conditions,  snow cracking beneath my feet, and the only sound to pass by my ears was that of flowing water -- then silence, sweet sweet silence; followed by a soft gust of wind, blowing snow across my face.  

I have Sweden and Finland left to see, and is scheduled to keep me until the 20th of December, which leaves me in perfect position for a return to Germany for Christmas.  Then a quick shot over to France (maybe Paris if by some miracle) for new-years.  Well, we'll see I guess.

-Kyle- Messin' with the Guessn' -Out