Single lane traffic, repressive speed limits, and traffic cameras everywhere make for slow driving in Norway. A little north of Lillihammer the traffic got better and then we were launched into a national park.

National Parks in Norway are a rugged, not so marked thing. What we saw via E6 though was pretty impressive. With a careful eye out for musk oxen (those suckers are mean) we walked to a birding tower and saw many bugs. Afterwards we took a short hike to an overlook. It was a bit of Wyoming smack dab in the middle of Scandinavia.

We then camped south of Trondheim and arrived in Norway’s 3rd largest city in the morning. It is a beautiful place of wooden houses on the fjord and a majestic centuries old castle peering down from above. That day we made two friends. The first was Lise at the Jewish Museum whose grandfather was one of the few Jews who returned to Trondheim after World War II.

Trondheim is home to the most northern synagogue in the world. The heartbreaking story of this community is ultimately one of resilience and involves, among other things, over one hundred thirty Norwegian Jews fleeing the Nazis by skiing ten days over the mountains to Sweden. My smart phone cannot do any justice to their story so expect more later.

We also were lucky enough to meet champion cargo bike racer Ola and his charming ten year old son Malte. Not only did Ola share with us enough insider tips to help us avoid the tourist traps he also gifted me a very cool Swedish military  knife. His genuine concern that we see as much quality Sweden as possible (along with his good humor) has been one of the highlights of the trip. Thanks Ola!

Then yesterday was work. A lot of driving, misadventures looking for camping, and then finally paying too much for a hotel where we ate salads for dinner. But Stockholm is near and armed with good advice by Ola we are ready for whatever the road gives.

Hee hee

Lillihammer, site of the 1994 Winter Olympics, is one charming little town. Unfortunately Norway mostly closes down on Sunday (by law only restaurants, small grocery stores, and a few other random shops are allowed to remain open).  There also was a big bike race that circled and went through the town seven times which meant a lot of sudden street closures (as well as motorcycles and other support vehicles whizzing by at break neck speeds). But the giant ski jump area was mostly left alone and Henna and I walked 936 steps up before taking the lift down.

Norwegians know how to do charming

Looking down

Woke up at five this morning nervous about the flight to Norway. Got to the car rental place by 5:45 and then waited half an hour for someone to drive us the few miles to the airport. The check baggage line stretched on and on but we were told all the flights were delayed due to conveyor belt malfunction. We believed them. By 7:45 we were clearing security when we heard last boarding call for our flight to Oslo. I sprinted far ahead to a distant gate, Corey and Henna knocking over tourists left and right behind me. Arrived at gate 8 breathless. Told we actually had to go to gate A (other corner of airport). More running, more chaos in our path, and I was not sure we had enough gas to make our flight. We did and by the time we spy the Norwegian fjords much of the stress has been forgotten. Shortly after arriving in Oslo we are given free ice cream.  And then on the express train to downtown Oslo an attendant repeatedly checked in on everyone.  Imagine that level of care being given on the blue line.  We did enjoy Oslo but would have had more fun if we were not so exhausted.  Now we are at a Best Western between Oslo and Lillihammer resting up for the next chapter.

Our last night in Iceland was the quietest with us finding a motel close to where we will soon drop off the car. With the curtains closed it was the darkest night in a week. Before heading to bed we took in the waters at the Blue Lagoon. Iceland’s most iconic attraction, by the way, is a man made pool fed by underground sea water warmed by the earth that is used to move turbines before soothing muscles. It’s still pretty cool (actually hot).

So now we are off to the Kingdom of Norway. It’s 5 AM and it is time to wake up Henna. Will let you know how it goes.

After a few more days in Iceland we finally met some actual Icelanders. This was not as easy as you might think as there are only about 300,000 inhabitants on the whole island (and seemingly as many tourists). So it took getting lost on a series of gravel roads before stumbling upon Skemman Kaffihús in Hvanneyri. Hvanneyri is the sleepiest college town we have ever seen. A few dorms, fewer people, a restored barn selling wool products and the cutest most intimate coffee shop ever. The owner and her teenage helper answered every question we  

 could think of concerning their native land. Coffee lasted close to an hour and when it was done every wrong turn and misdirection was forgiven. Much later, like 2 AM, I was wide awake in my tent while kids played loudly outside and parents drank a few feet away. Corey and Henna where sound asleep and I waited patiently for the natives to say good night.

So far one of the things we love most about Iceland are all the contradictions and little quirks. For example:

Almost all the national sights are free but it sometimes cost a couple hundred krónur to go to the bathroom.

Hamburgers are eaten with a fork and knife. 

English is the default language and many advertisements are only in English. The official literacy rate for Iceland is 100% and we guess 99% also speak English.

In midsummer there is not only no dark there isn’t even dusk. Just bright unyielding light. It is cold though and even colder after sunset (no sun but still 100% light). There are no campfires either so we hang out a lot in our car reading and playing games before going to bed.

The grass is quite lovely and speckled with tundra and wild flowers. No ticks and few bugs. Perfect for sheep and campsites. 

The hiking and scenery is simply amazing. Every drive involves a lot of adjectives and some planning for our next trip here.

We have been lucky to have so much sunshine as we have.      

There has been this nagging doubt in my head about all the gear we lugged over. It is not so much fun bringing it from point to point. But over the last 24 hours it has all been put to good use (and guess what, they have precooked meats here too). And after our first night camping we feel at home.  Or as home as we possibly can in the land of no dark.

At midnight the sky just kind of sat on sunset, making the clouds purple for hours. So we got off the plain feeling early evening in the middle of the night and tasked with getting our car then driving the thirty or so minutes to the hostel. We did this but only after an extended mishap with the car rental which resulted in an upgrade to a decade or so old Rav4. It was about 2 AM when we reached the hostel and discovered our private room was less private than it should be. She (a young, probably American tourist) was suppose to but did not switch rooms before our arrival. My snoring probably made her wish she had. Due to this mistake we scored free blankets (yes, they charge for that) to go with free towels (that too) and a late check out time of 11 to go along with our already free room.

And I got to say we like this clean place that is crawling with tourists of every age and from every part of the world (although no children except Henna). It has good vibes, even better coffee, and the beds were comfortable. Think we are going to like Iceland.

So much of our trip so far has been about trains, either trains that still run or places where trains used to be like the High Line Park in New York City. 

We did TONS of walking today, spanning from the 911 memorial, to Central Park.  From the people, the food, the entertainment in the park we couldn’t get enough of it.  After about 12 hours of taking it all in, we crashed in Bryant park while enjoying some yummy food. The park was alive with folks just hanging around talking and it felt awesome just sitting amid the organized chaos.  

First rule with Amtrak has to be to lower your expectations. Case in point; after 15 or so hours there were several serviceable bathrooms and several with toilet paper but precious few with both. But there were some highlights mostly found in the company we kept. Like playing poker with a trio of step cousins from the great northwest (we pretended wads of napkins were money and Henna more than held her own). We also swapped jokes with Grayson (a carpenter with a poet’s eye) and took note of the absurd like the Amish teenagers who snuck away from their families to surf the net a bit with a borrowed smart phone.  We even were able to sleep a bit.  All of this kind of made up for the hour and a half we were stuck in the middle of nowhere wondering if the engineer would ever get us going again. He did and we ended our day in Times Square happy to be on the road once more.