Geiranger

If you have not already noticed, I have uploaded some of the Norway pictures . The link is in the lefthand sidebar, click on the Flickr badge which says 'Norways Pictures' (consider going back to pre-school if you cannot find the pics). Geiranger was excellent, highly recommended. It is ranked as one of the top destinations to visit by Lonely planet but I am usually a little skeptical about tourist spots so it did not figure in our earlier itinerary of Norway. Siggi, Priya's friend from NJIT, highly recommended reorganizing our travel itinerary in Norway so that it included Geiranger. If you visit Geiranger, you probably do not need to visit any other Fjords because I think this one has the best of most Fjords. We got there quite late, so after the buffet dinner at the hotel we spent the rest of the evening sipping Hennessy (strong stuff!!) which we picked up at Munich Airport. We also got a bottle of Bombay Sapphire for whenever Robin and Tulika decide to visit us which I hear is only going to be next year (Who is gonna wait till next year to guzzle a few Tom Collins?). Slept in a little after the heady night of cognac, we decided to hit the trails as the weather gods were smiling. Picked a trail which I think was probably harder than what we planned for but very rewarding. We hiked up to a waterfall which gave us a very panoramic view of the the valley and the fjord. We were also able to sneak underneath the waterfall, enough space for about 10 people to stand and obesrve the deafening gush of water. Coming down was fun especially with a woman twice our age nipping at our feet because we were too slow, Priya claims the old lady even poked with her hiking sticks to prod us on. We came down to the Fjord and had dinner at a place called Naustroka, can't remember what we ate but gut damage was significant. Returned to the room for some mindless norwegian TVand some more potent alcohol. We spent the next day licking our wounds, cringing with every uphill step (even after 2 ibruprofens). Did touristy stuff for the better part of the next day- boat rides, scenic walk and load of photos. And yes, we did sip some more alcohol once back in the room :) On the last day we kayaked for a few hours and found out that our rowing skills have not improved since our Maine trip. Took the bus back to Alesund after that, spent the nite in a youth Hostel. We had Rudolf the reindeer for dinner, tastes like a mix of beef and liver pate. Alesund is a nice litte town, pretty but seems underpopulated. Took a flight back to Bergen the next day morning after climbing up 418 steps for what many claim to be the best view in Alesund.

We have liftoff

Timid with excitement and groggy from the lack of sleep, we caught a few winks on the flight to Oslo. Oslo from up above looks densely populated,hilly and layout looks typical of any other euorpean city. When you travel intra-continental in Europe you rarely get asked to show your passport, this time was not an exception either both in Oslo and Munich. I find that kind of weird with all the security fuss across the atlantic. Took the airport express into town, took all of 20 minutes in a very fast train. Given the fact that we had very limited time in Oslo, we headed straight for the King's Palace after stowing our luggage in the hotel. Not very impressive but we did see the change of guard which was entertaining, interestingly the guard inspection was led by a woman. I must mention that Priya is extremely enamoured by scandinavian design so going to Design museum was but a given. Needless to say I had to bid my time following her around like a shadow while she ooh, aahed her way throught the displays. The one takeaway I had was that stuff that was designed in the early 80's is what people are lining up to buy at IKEA nowadays. Though the 'man of the match' award goes to the Vigeland park, it was our last stop but certainly one of the highpoints of our trip. Not very clear about the history of the park but it has a collections of sculptures made of granite and brass by sculputor Gustav Vigeland. As you walk into the park you are greeted by a collection of brass sculptures mainly depicting family life- children playing, spouses squabbling, intimate scences... Furtheralong the bridge, you can feel your past life flashing by and at the end of the bridge you get peek into what to expect later in life. The sculptures are made of simple lines but well formed and the artist depicts raw emotions quite plainly including some scenes of domestic violence . Further along into the park where the granite statues are, you will find what is obviously the 'circle of life' - birth, infancy, adolesence, love, marriage, parenthood, old age and finally death. There is a large phallic structure in the middle of this circle of life, a single pillar of granite with intricate coil of human bodies. Overall its a very nice urban park, seemed very popular with the locals also. We topped the evening with a very authentic Norwegian meal at my friend Are's place, I am still salivationg thinking about the salmon. Met Reena and their newborn viking, extremely cute guy. We caught the train the next day to Flam. The first train ride is about 6 hours, popularly known 'Norway in a nutshell'. The scenery dramatically changes from urban offices to farmland to mini-fjords to finally to a more arid landscape. At one point you notice that the horizon is devoid of any kind of trees. The train stops at Finse, where you get some time to see a glacier from far away, we regret not having halted there for a day, well there is always a next time. A few stations later we switched trains, the train to Flam corkscrews its way down a fjord through some very beautiful settings. We stayed overnight in Flam, the town is nothing to write home about but the Fjord is nice. The best part of the stay in Flam was the view from the room, the best vantage point to see the Fjord. We spent the better part of the next day travelling- hopped onto a ferry, a couple of busrides and flight later which finally got us to Geiranger. More soon...

Vacations

About a 1000 pictures, lots of salmon, several kilometers under our boots and a few UNESCO sites later we are on the last leg of our vacation. Another sad truth about life is that vacations come to an end too! The last 10 days have been lots of fun, we have become quite relaxed and lookin forward to going back to the civilised world. Wanted to write a travelblog but I figured bloggin' would take more time away from the vacation so I will rewind a bit when I get back to Munich and write a travel blog as if I am on vacation.

Great Weekend

We had a much needed relaxing weekend, no guests, no dinners, no phone call just the 2 of us. Strangely all this was possible because of our new hiking boots. Since we are going to Norway and planned to do a lot Fjord trekking we figured it would be a good idea to invest in some hiking boots. Gave it a shot on thursday at Sportcheck but we were quickly bamboozled by their offering (trekking boots with memory settings?) and put off by their incompetent salesmen. Priya decided to scout some more on friday and eventually got suckered into buying a pair of boots. Not to be outdone I asked her to hang around so that I could meet her after work and get myself a pair. By the time I came around, they brought out their "Specialist" to deal with us. He even taught me how to tie my laces! Ohh, did I mention that those are by far most expensive pair of shoes I have ever bought (No Rohini, they are not red!). I swear I heard someone screaming SUCKER as we walked out of the store. So if you have hiking boots, you haveta go hiking right? So off we went with Young and Caterina to Breitenstein to test our new soles on saturday morning. 5 hours and several wild raspberries later, we scaled what was the highest mountain I have ever climbed (1600m). Suprisingly coming down was as difficult as going up and harder on the legs. We rewarded ourselves by pigging out the largest portion of cake served this side of the bavarian alps, perhaps the finest too. If you are ever going to Fischbachau or 100km near it, you must go to this place 'cos the cake is outstanding. We made up for all the body wracking climbing on Sunday, all we accomplished was 5 episodes of 24 and Father Bill's sermon. I am addicted to Kiefer Sutherland's voice. Life is good, especially since I am having a relatively easy week at work also. I am already slipping into vacation mode....