Part 2 of my mom's visit...
The second half of my mom’s visit was spent checking out some
of Norway. Between the time we left France and the following morning back in
Bergen, La Momma had become very ill. Our first day back in Norway was actually
the 17th of May, the equivalent of the US’s 4th of July
and is similar in many ways…except Norwegians dress up in the traditional
national attire called bunad or in very nice clothes if they don’t own a bunad($$$$).
But because my ma was so sick, she stayed at home, alone, in bed, without
eating anything all day. I felt terrible for leaving her but she insisted I go
because she had known how long I had been looking forward to this holiday.
So off to the city I went, where I met up with my most wonderful
friends, Mariann and Eric, along with a homefriend of Eric’s who I recognized
from our flight back to Bergen the previous day. That was so random but pretty
awesome. Throughout the day, I ran into a few other friends of mine and felt,
in some small ways, as though I had finally become really incorporated into the
Bergen society. But at the same time I definitely did not blend in because I
(obviously) do not have the traditional attire and my language skills are still
pretty pathetic. Loved the holiday though, loved the patriotism, loved the
clothes, loved it all.
The day was spent enjoying the parade in the rain and
checking out all of the beautiful bunads around town. After the parade, I
brought my friend Maria-Elena back to the island to show her very elaborate
bunad to my mom so she could get some feel for the Norwegian culture. I then
took Maria-Elena up to her aunt and uncle’s house, where I checked out their
bunads and sampled a bit of traditional 17th of May cuisine – some
dried salted meat leg and a porridge made of the Norwegian equivalent of sour
cream. Interesting stuff – the porridge was amazing but the meat was not to my
liking. Then the rest of the day was spent back at the Zachrisen household,
eating hot dogs (very popular in this country and very different than American
ones), and watching Big Bang Theory. My mom had not eaten ALL day, when out of
nowhere she asks if she could have one of the PopTarts that she had brought for
me from ‘Merica. Of ALL things that lady could want to eat that day, she wants
a PopTart. Of ALL things…
She felt much better the next morning so I forced her to
get up and walk around Bergen with me, mainly so she could meet Mariann. We
rounded off our time in Bergen with a dinner with the Zachrisens and Mariann at
a very traditional Norwegian restaurant along the harbor…where neither of us
actually ordered Norwegian food. Hah, soo American of us. Then we were off to
the airport for part two of her visit….
We spent that night in the northern city of Ålesund, a
picturesque town that often makes it onto lists of Places to See Before You
Die. It’s pretty but we were there at an off time of the year, so much of our
experience was empty streets and closed businesses. At this point in our trip,
we only actually slept there (we returned once more later on), as we boarded a
Hurtigruten ship into the dramatic Geiranger fjord the following morning.
The ride in into the fjord was a handful of hours and the
scenery was fantastic! This was an early-season trip for the area so the sights
weren’t even up to the normal par. The trip itself attracts a lot of visitors
wanting to see the Seven Sisters waterfall…that seems to be the name of a
billion land features around the world. But for Norway, it’s famous. Alas, it
was barely a trickle of 5 or so sisters at the time that we drifted past. I’m
not too worried about it though, it was still very beautiful.
Geiranger turned out to be the world’s tiniest town. Ever.
Probably. So, so small but quaint and empty (again, off-season = not much
happening). Oh-so-conveniently, our hotel was basically the highest point of
the town and there were no taxis in sight. Luggage in tow, we trekked up the
one road in town, winding up the slope at the very end of the fjord. It wasn’t
suuuper far but the luggage made it really quite annoying.
Our hotel was pretty nice from what I remember – really
all that mattered was the view, and it was fantastisk (‘fantastic’ in English
for those who need translation). More specifically, the sunset was out of this
world! As the sun lowered behind the mountains of one side of the fjord, we
watched the last slanted rays of light glow upon the snow-covered mountains
lining the opposite side of the fjord. All peachy and rosy and all those good
sunset colors. We also watched what was possibly (maybe mayyybe?) a rescue from
one of the mountains closest in our view. It was a bit too far for the naked
eye to see, but with the utilization of camera zoom technology we were able
figure out that we were watching a person being towed along a long line
underneath a helicopter. Who knows though, Norwegians love extreme sports so it
may as well have been someone out for a joy ride.
Seeing as the town was so very small, our day had been
relatively uneventful. The most notable occurrence was our visit to a little
chocolatier along the water called Chocolate With a View. Tiny little old
building with plants growing all over the roof – really idyllic – owned and run
by a young Swedish guy who just really, really loves chocolate. So then we
strolled the rest of the town in approximately 0.4 seconds, give or take a few
milliseconds, and walked back up to our hotel for a super fancy, high-class
buffet which we were certainly underdressed for. Who knew such an elaborate
meal would take place in such a remote hotel?!
Because Geiranger really is super teeny and the lingering
winter (it was May at the time but there’s still tons of snow) prevented the
most famous attraction of Geiranger (some crazy fancy road named something to
do with an eagle) from being accessible, we only stayed just the one night.
Post-breakfast and pre-departure, we ventured out on a short hike along the
creek that cascades down the entire mountainside to the fjord below. It was
short-lived but very pretty. The Geiranger goods within the tourist shops
occupied the rest of our time up until we boarded another Hurtigruten ship that
took us out of the fjord and back to Ålesund.
Aboard this ship, we were able to better enjoy our time
lounging outdoors (the weather was nasty cold the previous day) and we
befriended a young-ish lone Canadian woman who had also been on the ship with
us the day before and would be on the same route the next day, as well. When we
arrived in Ålesund, the three of us perused the picturesque, empty town,
climbed the steep hill overlook (excellent view, where all the pictures of the
little city are taken from), then settled in a restaurant for some dinner…we
had a lot of time to kill.
I reckon Ålesund would have much more appeal at a
different time of year. We were there on a Sunday, during the spring, just
three days after the biggest national holiday. People were few and far between.
Since we had walked nearly all of the town worth walking (said our Canadian
friend who had spent multiple days there before Geiranger) and our next ship
would not be departing until QUARTER til ONE AM (!!!), we spent quite a bit of
time hanging out in hotel lobbies with other folks waiting for the ship. In the
meantime, at 11pm we watched the most raspberry sunset you can imagine. Norway
has some of the most impressive sunsets when the weather is good.
We survived the wait and we boarded our final ship to
Bergen. Our room was insanely tiny (about 2/3 the size of the room I had to
myself on my Hurtigruten excursion in the Arctic Circle) but whatevah it was
just for one night. The next morning we woke up, packed, and left our room to
spend the day lounging around on the top deck with our Canadian friend, an old
Austrian diplomat and his chatty wife, and the most outgoing old Californian
man with Norwegian heritage and his formerly-Broadway wife. What a crew!! But
first, we all snagged a free buffet breakfast, which should have actually cost
330kr per person….I’ve spent way too much time on those ships that I know how
to harmlessly work the system. ;)
Once back in Bergen, we opted to hang out around the
island and go for a walk across the bridge to visit my “beach” on the neighboring
island, Tyssøy. Simple day with great weather. And then my mom was headed back
to CA the next morning. I even watched her plane take off while I was sitting
in my front yard…what a weird feeling knowing my mom was in that tiny metal
tube in the sky, flying back to a home I haven’t seen in so long (over a year
now)…but it was a good trip and it was nice to see that old lady!
One last little sidenote – I would like to share the story
of my mother’s first and only cooking attempt in Norway. HAH. That woman can
cook pretty decently, as you probably all know…but it’s a whole different
ballpark here. Thinking back to my first few months in Norway, I remember my
struggle to re-learn how to cook familiar foods with different ingredients that
I was never quite sure of. So, seeing as I had not had my mom’s cooking in such
a long time, I asked/forced her to cook risotto her first night here. Let’s
just say it was a good effort followed by an epic fail. Not saying she sucks at
cooking or anything! It was just so entertaining witnessing the master
experience the same thing I experienced when I was new here. Sometimes it can
be tough living abroad.
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