ABD Norway Trip Review (August 2022)

[lmgustafson]

ABD Norway trip report (August 2022) Day 5 continued

After our hike to the view point we went back to the farmhouse for lunch. The owner told us about the farm and Geiranger. I was built in the Viking style using just logs. The tools used to build it are hanging on the wall. There was a large beer barrel on the wall as well. Apparently in older times all the farms had to brew beer for the church. If they did not provide enough beer they would have to pay a penalty and if they couldn't pay they would take the farm. The farm had been in his family since the 1600's. He told us about two avalanches that occurred at the farm. One in 1908 and one in 1982. Three people died in the 1908 avalanche. The population of Geiranger is only 180. There is one doctor who comes once a week. The school has 24 kids from kindergarten to 9th grade and they go off to live in another city about 2 hours away for high school like most of the kids in western Norway. The meal consisted of a fish soup that was fabulous. There are options for fish soup at other spots on the trip but if you want to just try it once wait and try it here. It was delicious. People could also have beef soup or pasta with red sauce and hotdogs. We then had rommegrot - sour cream porridge. It is traditionally served as a celebratory meal. They boil the sour cream until the butter separates then serve it with a spoon or two of liquid butter along with cinnamon and sugar (and this is not our desert!). It tastes like warm cheesecake porridge. It thought it was delicious but my family thought it was a little too sweet. We also drank some saft which is a fruit drink made with syrup of apple grape and cherry mixed with water. I really liked it. Desert was red currants and cream. It was one of the best meals of the trip.

The rommegrot - delicious

Desert - sorry I forgot to take a pic of the fish soup. I ate it up so fast it was gone before I remembered.

After lunch those who wanted to could take the third hike of the day up to a waterfall, storsaeterfossen. It was about 1.6 miles and up and elevation of 700 feet. The hike was a little strenuous but most people went and Kira went up front with the fast hikers and Lisa came along at the back so that everyone could go at their own pace. The views were great and the waterfall was wonderful. We were able to walk behind the falls to see the back side of water (okay bad joke :>). Those who wanted the afternoon on their own to use the spa at the hotel or swim in the indoor/outdoor heated pool could do so. You could use the pool at any point so many got in after the hike.
Below are some images from our hike.








Our shoes were muddy but the hike was well worth it.

Fortunately the bus took us back down to the hotel after the hike and we had some time to rest before dinner. We walked down from the hotel to Geiranger alongside the waterfall that flows down toward the town. It is beautiful. The town is small but there are definitely dining options. I would agree with the readers above that making reservations ahead of time is important if you want to eat at many of the restaurants in town but there are options for walk up dinners if you prefer. After dinner we relaxed at the hotel, walked through the antique car museum and hit the sack. It was a great day.

 

[sayhello]

ABD Norway trip report (August 2022) Day 5 continued

After our hike to the view point we went back to the farmhouse for lunch. The owner told us about the farm and Geiranger. I was built in the Viking style using just logs. The tools used to build it are hanging on the wall. There was a large beer barrel on the wall as well. Apparently in older times all the farms had to brew beer for the church. If they did not provide enough beer they would have to pay a penalty and if they couldn't pay they would take the farm. The farm had been in his family since the 1600's. He told us about two avalanches that occurred at the farm. One in 1908 and one in 1982. Three people died in the 1908 avalanche. The population of Geiranger is only 180. There is one doctor who comes once a week. The school has 24 kids from kindergarten to 9th grade and they go off to live in another city about 2 hours away for high school like most of the kids in western Norway. The meal consisted of a fish soup that was fabulous. There are options for fish soup at other spots on the trip but if you want to just try it once wait and try it here. It was delicious. People could also have beef soup or pasta with red sauce and hotdogs. We then had rommegrot - sour cream porridge. It is traditionally served as a celebratory meal. They boil the sour cream until the butter separates then serve it with a spoon or two of liquid butter along with cinnamon and sugar (and this is not our desert!). It tastes like warm cheesecake porridge. It thought it was delicious but my family thought it was a little too sweet. We also drank some saft which is a fruit drink made with syrup of apple grape and cherry mixed with water. I really liked it. Desert was red currants and cream. It was one of the best meals of the trip.
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The rommegrot - delicious
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Desert - sorry I forgot to take a pic of the fish soup. I ate it up so fast it was gone before I remembered.

After lunch those who wanted to could take the third hike of the day up to a waterfall, storsaeterfossen. It was about 1.6 miles and up and elevation of 700 feet. The hike was a little strenuous but most people went and Kira went up front with the fast hikers and Lisa came along at the back so that everyone could go at their own pace. The views were great and the waterfall was wonderful. We were able to walk behind the falls to see the back side of water (okay bad joke :>). Those who wanted the afternoon on their own to use the spa at the hotel or swim in the indoor/outdoor heated pool could do so. You could use the pool at any point so many got in after the hike.
Below are some images from our hike.
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Our shoes were muddy but the hike was well worth it.

Fortunately the bus took us back down to the hotel after the hike and we had some time to rest before dinner. We walked down from the hotel to Geiranger alongside the waterfall that flows down toward the town. It is beautiful. The town is small but there are definitely dining options. I would agree with the readers above that making reservations ahead of time is important if you want to eat at many of the restaurants in town but there are options for walk up dinners if you prefer. After dinner we relaxed at the hotel, walked through the antique car museum and hit the sack. It was a great day.

Absolutely gorgeous! Reminds me a *lot* of Iceland, but it's *WAY* greener!

Sayhello

 

[lmgustafson]

ABD Norway Trip Report (August 2022) - Day 6

The next morning we got on the ferry in Geiranger. It is the regular transportation ferry but it provides the best view of the Geiranger fjord. We sat on the top deck in chairs/bundled up and watched the beautiful scenery go by. The ferry ride was 1 hour. We saw the seven sisters waterfall and suitor falls (called such because the cascading water outlines a wine bottle - for the celebration once the suitor receives a "yes".)


Relaxing on the ferry watching the world go by.

Seven Sisters Waterfall

Suitor Falls (you can see the outline of the wine bottle).

After the ferry ride to Hellesylt, we took a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to go see the Kjenndalsbreen (the glacier tongue off of the Jostedal Glacier). Normally the trip did a bike ride up to the glacier. Because of covid the company that normally does the bike ride to the glacier is not accepting groups and so we drove to see the glacier. At first we were disappointed to learn that the bike ride and the afternoon fishing were changed to taking the bus to the glacier and then taking the Loen skylift. However, after having seen everything, I wouldn't change what they did at all. The road to the glacier is a winding narrow road on which we had to pull over several times to let cars going the other way be able to pass by. While riding a bike would be good exercise with beautiful views there is no bike lane and I would have been somewhat concerned for the kids riding bikes on the road with cars going by. Also as I will talk about soon, the Loen skylift was one of the highlights of the trip. We all told Lisa and Kera that they need to tell Disney not to change things at all back to what was done before and the current itinerary was wonderful (again that should come as no surprise by now). The bus ride to the glacier went around Lake Loen. It has an intense blue color from the glacier sediment that drains into it. In 1908, part of the mountain beside the lake fell off into the lake and created a wave 160 feet high and destroyed the surrounding towns. The people rebuilt as it seemed to have a once in a mellinium event. However, in 1931 another portion of the mountain that had been made unstable broke off and over a million cubic meters of rock fell into the lake and created a wave over 200 feet high. The destroyed the towns again. The funeral for the people killed was a national event and the King of Norway came.

I initially thought they had stopped the bike ride because the area around the glacier was closed. I had read that a couple months prior to our trip there had been an avalanche and people weren't allowed close to the glacier. But when we got there Lisa told us that all the snow from the avalanche had melted in a week or two and we would be able to go up to the normal viewing site. It was amazing to see the area that the avalanche had come. You saw a very well defined clear path of trees bent over and knocked down and all around it the forest and landscape was still completely normal. Lisa said their group had been at the glacier a day prior to the avalanche (Yikes).
Lake Loen - you can see the intense color and the portion of the mountain that fell into the lake (to the right of the waterfall).

I initially thought they had stopped the bike ride because the area around the glacier was closed. I had read that a couple months prior to our trip there had been an avalanche and people weren't allowed close to the glacier. But when we got there Lisa told us that all the snow from the avalanche had melted in a week or two and we would be able to go up to the normal viewing site. It was amazing to see the area that the avalanche had come. You saw a very well defined clear path of trees bent over and knocked down and all around it the forest and landscape was still completely normal. Lisa said their group had been at the glacier a day prior to the avalanche (Yikes).

You can see where the avalanche just wiped through the vegetation knocking them all down in the same direction.

The walk to the glacier was very short and afforded a great view of the glacier. We only stopped for a brief time to take pictures as we were off to one of the highlights of the trip - the Loen Skylift.


When I first learned we were going to the skylift was not very excited. While the lift is one of the steepest cable car rides in Europe and I knew there would be good views the idea of spending the afternoon just walking around the top of lift area instead of the fishing we had originally planned to do seemed disappointing. Boy was I wrong. The lift is definitely fun but the views from the top are spectacular. In addition the lunch at the restaurant at the top was very good ( I had cod with tomato pepper ragu, my family had reindeer stew with mashed potatoes, bacon, mushrooms and lingonberries). Finally, we also had time to go and zip line across the open valley which was a lot of fun. Now, I live next to the town with the world's longest series of zip lines so while the actual zip lines were nothing grand the views couldn't be beat. The Skylift goes up to the top of mount Hoven. The myth is that Oden was ridding his massive horse with eight legs and was trying to jump from one edge of the fjord to the other. The horse's leg hit the mountain and its hoof left a dent in the mountain. There is a large horse hoof shaped indention in the mountain (thus the name). This area is a beacon for adventure seekers and there were lots a paragliders jumping off the top of the mountain. Base jumpers also use it a lot but we didn't see any of them. Overall it was a fabulous change of plans and one that hope they keep into the future. I am going to continue this day in the next post so that I can include plenty of the pics from mount hoven.

 

[lmgustafson]

ABD Norway Trip report (August 2022) Day 6 continued.

As promised here are some of the pics from mount Hoven.

View off to one side going up the sky lift

View out the other direction from the skylift. Don't worry I am going to show more views from the top

View from one of the zipline take off areas.

One of the zipliners going across the valley. The views are so impressive but the zip lines is really not scary. So if you have any doubt, do it.

Having completed the zip lines!

Paragliders getting ready to take off.


I know its repetitive but I had to give one last pic.


We then returned to the hotel for dinner. We had a magnificent grill in a private grass covered cabin on the property. There was grilled salmon, sausages, pork chop, chicken, pork loin, mac and cheese, pasta, salads. Desert was svele (the norwegian pancake we had tried on the ferry made with horn salt (ammonium bicarbonate)) which we were able to make ourselves and with ice cream, strawberrry puree, whpped cream, or a butter and sugar mix. It was all so so good. In addition, Kira and Lisa went out of their way to have a special presentation for the four kids celebrating their graduations (my son and a daughter of one of the families who had just graduated, my daughter who had not got to go on her graduation trip due to covid and the son of one of the families who was celebrating like my daughter belatedly). They each received a hand written card from Lisa and Kira along with an exclusive disney pin that is only given to someone on an ABD trip celebrating something special. It was such a nice gesture.

Well that ended what was one of the best days of the trip which was the one day I was most worried about before the trip started. All it took was a little bit of faith trust and pixie dust. One last day to go and then our trip had to come to end.

 

[sayhello]

ABD Norway Trip report (August 2022) Day 6 continued.

As promised here are some of the pics from mount Hoven.
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View off to one side going up the sky lift
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View out the other direction from the skylift. Don't worry I am going to show more views from the top
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View from one of the zipline take off areas.
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One of the zipliners going across the valley. The views are so impressive but the zip lines is really not scary. So if you have any doubt, do it.
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Having completed the zip lines!
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Paragliders getting ready to take off.


I know its repetitive but I had to give one last pic.
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We then returned to the hotel for dinner. We had a magnificent grill in a private grass covered cabin on the property. There was grilled salmon, sausages, pork chop, chicken, pork loin, mac and cheese, pasta, salads. Desert was svele (the norwegian pancake we had tried on the ferry made with horn salt (ammonium bicarbonate)) which we were able to make ourselves and with ice cream, strawberrry puree, whpped cream, or a butter and sugar mix. It was all so so good. In addition, Kira and Lisa went out of their way to have a special presentation for the four kids celebrating their graduations (my son and a daughter of one of the families who had just graduated, my daughter who had not got to go on her graduation trip due to covid and the son of one of the families who was celebrating like my daughter belatedly). They each received a hand written card from Lisa and Kira along with an exclusive disney pin that is only given to someone on an ABD trip celebrating something special. It was such a nice gesture.
View attachment 701964
Well that ended what was one of the best days of the trip which was the one day I was most worried about before the trip started. All it took was a little bit of faith trust and pixie dust. One last day to go and then our trip had to come to end.

WOW!! Those are some views! I'd love to do that zipline!

Sayhello

 

[lmgustafson]

ABD Norway Trip Report (August 2022) - Day 7

Today was a travel day to get to Oslo. We had spent so much time in western Norway that it was interesting to see the Eastern part of the country where things are not nearly as mountainous.
We left on a bus for a 1 1/2 hour trip to Otta then caught a train for 3 hours to Olso. On the bus ride, Lisa told us the history of Modern Noway. It is amazing how impactful the North Sea oil has been. Their trust fund is 1.5 trillion dollars shared by all of the citizens making Norwegians the second wealthiest per capita GDP in the world. We also did Disney trivial pursuit and they handed out information sheets with all the places we had visited with spellings and also recipes for the various foods we had eaten. We took a bathroom break in Lom and Kira bought everyone one of the cinnamon twists that the bakery there is famous for. We stayed at the Grand Hotel in Oslo. It was beautiful. We had dinner that evening at the hotel. It was chicken with grilled cabbage and (of course) potatoes. A group performed some traditional dances and music on a nyckelharppa (key harp) from the 1300's. After dinner we walked around Oslo to see the Palace and tried to get a good view of the Akershus fortress but the gate was closed and it was hard to see it over the wall. You could get a good view of it from across the port but we didn't feel like walking that far so headed back to the hotel to pack for our flight the next day.
Overall the trip was wonderful, the Norwegians are very open, friendly and the land is beautiful. Of course having Disney plan it for you helps. I would highly recommend the trip to anyone considering it.

Here are a few last images of Norway - It was the one sunny day we had and the scenery was breathtaking.




The Stave church in Lom.


The traditional Norwegian performers.


Outside the Royal Palace.

Saying good by to Norway. We will definitely be back someday.

 

[kmoehall]

Wow, I loved reading your trip report! Definitely will consider doing this in the future as we want to take our kids on adventures like this now that they’re getting older (12 and 15). Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mathmagicland]

Thanks so much for your report, lots of great information about this trip. One question I don’t recall being mentioned is about the language. Did you need to know any Norwegian or were there some English speakers in the shops and restaurants?

 

[lmgustafson]

Thanks so much for your report, lots of great information about this trip. One question I don’t recall being mentioned is about the language. Did you need to know any Norwegian or were there some English speakers in the shops and restaurants?

Everyone speaks english so no need for any knowledge of Norwegian. Knowing a few phrases in the language is always good and respectful however.

 

[chuff88]

So fun to read your report! My mom and I were on the trip immediately preceding yours - Kira left our group to go back to Bergen to meet your group! We had Oline as our local guide, but she stayed in Oslo to start school when our tour ended. Glad to hear Delta One is worth it, we’re doing the Germany ABD this August (for my 35th, my birthday is on the last full day on the tour) and I’d already decided I was done flying economy on international flights after this trip.

It sounds like your family had a great time and fell in love with Norway just like we did!