Norway in a Nutshell

I suppose you could say I learned an important lesson about Norway while visiting this past week during our Eid vacation.  That is, Norway will make you go broke, but it is worth every penny.  I don't think anyone in their right mind would plan a trip to Norway and negate the glaring fact that it is continually in the top 10 of most expensive places in the world.  I also think that most tourists would probably rank Norway in the top 10 of most beautiful place in the world.

So without further adieu, here is our Norway trip in a nutshell.

We flew out on a Friday afternoon, made a quick stop at the miserably confusing airport in Vienna, and landed in Oslo around 11pm.  We took a high-speed train from the airport to the closest train station and walked to our hotel.

The first couple of days were spent in Oslo.  The weather was absolutely beautiful if you are into the stereotypical fall climate of mid 50's and sunny.   The first day, we simply walked all over town, exploring the areas near our hotel.  Oslo is very easy to get around, as many of the sites are centrally located in an area surrounding Karl Johans gate, the main pedestrian/shopping district in Oslo.

The next day we spent touring the Holmenkollen Ski Jump.  It had a spectacular view of the Oslo metro area and the Oslo fjord.  We also found many awesome parks with lots of grass and gorgeous fall colors.  One of the coolest was next to the Royal Palace.

Preparing for take off down the ski jump.

View from the top of Holmenkollen Ski Jump of Oslo.

Ryker and Shanna in the leaves.

Shanna is loving the fall weather.

After our first 3 days in Oslo, we headed across to the western side of the country and to the beautiful city of Bergen.  This involved taking a couple different trains, a boat trip across a fjord, and a bus ride.   The train had a family car with it's own little play area for kids.  Ryker being the only kid in the family car, had it all to himself.  Check it out!

It was a long day, but the scenery was amazing.  We ended up renting an apartment in the city center, and because Ryker was sick, we didn't do as much as anticipated.  We did take a funicular rail car to the top of a mountain in Bergen and snap some pretty cool photos.  We really enjoyed just relaxing and trying not to spend all of our money on food!  

Please check out the slide show I created of some of our pics of the trip!