Back from Norway

Well I have returned from my short week travelling about Norway. It is how I pictured Sweden before arriving here...

I started in Oslo, but being a Monday, everything interesting to me was closed. I did manage however to check out the Vikingskipshuset. Its a museum with three large Viking ships that were used as burial ships and excavated in throughout the 19th century. Super impressive! They were so big, and look like they are in amazing condition considering that they were buried for centuries and reconstructed from little pieces. I walked on to another museum, which was closed, but outside of it was the Gjøa, the first ship to sail through the Northwest Passage, and where Gjoa Haven got it's name. Not as big as I would have imagined.
From Oslo I headed up to Trondheim, technically further north than Yellowknife, but you'd never guess it by the size of the trees. Everything there was closed as well because it was "winter" and none of their attractions open until June. Sooo I just wandered about, admiring all the colourful old fishing warehouses, checked out a 17thC fort that is being renovated. What impressed me the most, other than that fact that the trees were so large was that this random town is where Christianity was adopted in Norway, where their Crown Jewels are, where new monarchies are coronated (not sure if thats an accurate term?), and where Leif Ericson supposedly sailed off from during his voyage to Vinland. (Exciting for a history nerd...)
The next day I boarded a ferry/cruiser to sail down the coast of Norway to Bergen. Haha, I was the youngest person on board by about 40yrs. Apparently this ferry is advertised as a return cruise the length of Norway for Brits and Americans, not just as a transportation ferry. I accompanied two seniors tour groups for the last two days of their 12 day cruise of Norway. 

It was spectacular. Pretty much Newfoundland. Just small outcrops of houses littering the shore lines. Random two or three houses on islands only accessable by boats. Snow capped mountains rising out of the ocean, little fishing trowelers surrounded by seagulls.  
Arrived in Bergen, but poured rain, so all I really got to see were the old18thC wooden part of town and the fish market full of dried herring. 
Ah, herring. The staple food of Norwegians. They have an unappetizing cod jelly and pickled herring served a breakfast, I was not tempted to try it cause it was silver and I just do not enjoy fish... everywhere there are fish! Bergen was still not too disappointing, just wet and discouraging. 
I woke up Friday morning to huge snow flakes falling and zero visability. Just in time for another ferry trip down a fjord I had planned. Drat. But as I was on the bus, the snow ceased and the skies cleared! Hooray! But it was still cooold. I bundled up and hopped on the ferry though the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nærøyfjorden to the village of Flåm. Super pretty. 
Along the shore of the fjord I noticed an old burial chamber like the ones I had seen in Scotland at the Clava cairns. Its was neat to be able to identify it on my own and not have anyone point it out.  I hiked around Flåm for a while and then headed up a train that was a grade of 1:18. Apparently that's steep? It climbs from sea level to 866m above sea level. Anyways, it was nice, but halfway up it started to snow again and the visibility disappeared again. 
After that train ride I made my way back to Oslo for the night. As a boarded the second train, everyone was was dressed for skiing adventures. Everyone had their ski boots on and large packsacks with sleeping bags and camping gear. Two stops later we were 1000m above sea level at the top of an ice cap and everyone litterely skied off. Super cool and made me really want to go skiing :( 
I returned to Örebro this afternoon only to start planning my next trip to Helsinki in a couple weeks.