Notes from my Travel Journal: Norway

Norway, August 2025

Sorry it took me so long to get these scribbles typed. We had never been to any of the Scandinavian countries, and my husband kept bringing that up. I did some research and debated between doing a tour of the highlights of several of the countries or focusing on one. In the end I chose Norway. I think it was a good choice and one I recommend.

August 8:
​Overall we loved Norway, though we got off to a rocky start after our relaxing time on AmaWaterways. We bridged the two trips with a few days in Nuremburg, Germany.

After breakfast on August 8, 2025, we flew to Frankfort, where we had a three-hour layover, then on to Oslo. We shared a sandwich in Frankfort, but I had a migraine off and on during the flight. Also, due to my head cold, my ears closed up badly, and the left one hurt a bit (usually it’s the right one) despite my various precautions. Perhaps I overdid the Afrin nose spray to help my Eustachian tube adjust but which may have worsened my headache.

We had trouble finding our Uber, which also contributed to Norm’s stress and hence to mine. He thought it would be with “ride sharing” directions, but finally I saw an actual “Uber” sign. Our tour guide, Judit, messaged us and said the hotel would save our dinner.

I was hungry and ate every bite—chicken with steamed vegetables and some sort of pudding. I asked for an orange soda, as I’d seen stacks of them in the airport—Solo. The tour group, or about half of them, were still sitting at dinner waiting to meet us. I tried to be sociable, which also worsened my migraine and it was severe by the time I went to bed.

I woke up every hour or so with a pounding migraine, despite trying every drug in my suitcase—frova, Imitrex spray, Loratab, valium, and Ubrevly.

August 9:
We skipped the morning tour of Oslo but had a nice breakfast at the hotel. After noon, we walked to the king’s palace and waited for the changing of the guard. I could barely see over the heads of taller people. Nothing much to see anyway. Then we walked around the gardens.

We made our way back to the hotel and ate lunch at a nearby café. Excellent salad of goat cheese, beetroot, pistachios, and mixed greens with a honey mustard dressing. Another Solo,

In the evening we took an optional, rather pricey excursion to the hills around Oslo, covered in evergreen and boasting an impressive ski jump. It was rainy and chilly, and we’re both still battling colds. Then we ate dinner at a pretty nice restaurant and chatted with two groups from our tour plus an Australian woman traveling alone. Braised beef, cod, potatoes, a nice salad, and crème brulee. Another Solo for me.

David Elder, our neighbor in Clarksville, called to say he thinks our water main has burst and may be leaking into his driveway. Oh, well. Tomorrow we rise early and pack for travel.

August 10:
After breakfast, we drove to Hedda and visited a Stave Church, one of twenty-something remaining churches of the style in Norway. The largest one, I believe. A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church built in north-western Europe, primarily in Norway. The name comes from their distinct structural framing of load-bearing wooden posts—known as staves or stafr in Old Norse.

Since it was Sunday and services were upcoming, we saw a number of women in traditional Norwegian dresses (bunad) with their families. Our very young male tour guide told us how the entrances and seating were once separate for men and women, and we saw the holes in the wall where men stuck their dirks (knives) to hang their coats. They left their axes and swords outside. Some of the staves were original, though the ones with cracks were more recent.

“If the boy had to turn sideways to fit through the door, this meant his shoulders were broad and he was a man. If a girl had to turn sideways, her hips were broad enough for childbearing,” he said.

Then we drove to Vemork, where we visited the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum. This was once the largest power station in the world, and here they discovered “heavy” water and extracted quantities of it. Initially they did this for fertilizer, and it took a room full of water to extract a half liter of heavy water. Eventually Hitler took over the plant to use the heavy water in his efforts to create a nuclear bomb. Once the Norwegians figured this out, they kept trying to destroy the plant. After they blew it up, the Nazis decided to move out the heavy water (stockpile) and transfer it to Germany (after rebuilding it once). Norwegian saboteurs sank the boat. Within a year Hitler had surrendered.

Our hotel in Telemark was an older rustic hotel on a hill with a beautiful view, reminiscent of ski lodges in Switzerland. We took a walk outside before dinner. I had a migraine and used the sauna by the pool, which sometimes provides temporary relief.

August 11:
The bus transported us onto a ferry crossing, and we had a lovely lunch in Hardangerfjord: soup with vegetables and local meat, brown bread with butter, apple pie, and nice coffee. The hostess sang in Norwegian. We had hard cider too.

Then we drove to Bergen and checked into another Thon hotel. Nearby was an old section of charming stores, some leaning, and Norm and I ate at an Irish pub. I had a shrimp open-faced sandwich, and he had a beer. Lots of mountain views and waterfalls on the drive to Bergen, quaint wooden houses along the wharf.

August 12:
We had some free time this morning, but we decided not to explore Bergen further after our nice walk on Monday night. Then we drove to Voss for lunch of free time. Norm and I walked to the gondola building and bought tickets. Great ride in a large gondola, very steep with lovely views. Atop the mountain, we looked for a swing shown in the pamphlet but realized we were about to miss our bus, so we left after taking a few photos. Last ones on the bus to leave for Stalheim and the Flam train excursion.

The Flam train was older than I expected and quite noisy. Weather was cold and rainy, but visibility was decent on the way up the mountain. We sat with a mother-son couple, interesting to talk to. He’s a twin, working as a marketing analyst for a pro soccer team in Austin, Texas. His brother’s an architect. I told him about our grandson Finn, who is very artistic and visual. “I worry that he might not be strong enough in math though.”

“To be honest, my brother’s not much of a numbers guy either,” he said.

“My husband’s an architect too,” his mother said, “and he’s terrible at math.”

I laughed. “That’s reassuring.”

The train stopped a couple of times. We climbed out to look at a magnificent waterfall. Music played while a woman with long hair in a red dress danced on a cliff about halfway up the waterfall. Legend has it that she lures men with her beauty to marry her, then turns into a witch.

On the ride down, the visibility became much poorer as the rain continued and fog draped the mountainside.

Dinner at the hotel in Stalheim was a buffet. It looked good, but I was a bit overwhelmed about what to eat and ended up eating very little—except too much dessert.

Coming up: Norway’s longest and deepest fjord, the Sognefjord