Norway in a Nutshell
We did the Norway in a Nutshell route from Bergen to Oslo, in one day. I booked everything myself, saving us almost $200 Canadian (for 3 travellers). We were able to take advantage of the minipris advance fare and student fare (for my daughter) by booking ourselves.
We flew to Bergen from Copenhagen early in the morning, arriving at our hotel, the Grand Terminus, before 10 a.m. We were not able to check in that early, of course, but we were able to leave our luggage. Also, the hotel had a lounge/sitting room with a fireplace, coffee, tea, and fruit. So, as it was raining out, we started with coffee and fruit there. Weather reports were predicting a midday break in the rain, so we headed out, walking to the funicular and enjoying the pretty architecture. We took the funicular to the top and headed into the restaurant there for lunch while waiting for the rain to stop. Unfortunately, the rain got heavier and more socked in, meaning there wasn’t much of a view. So, we took the funicular back down and walked to the harbour front. We looked around there a bit, but by this time it was raining even harder. We had planned to take the bus to visit a stave church, but as this also involved a bit of a hike, we abandoned that plan and went back to the hotel to check in. Our room was very nice, with a double bed and a single bed. We got settled in our room and had a bit of a rest while we decided where to go for dinner. We liked the description of Pingvinen in Rick’s book, so that’s where we went. By this time, the rain had let up, so we had a nice walk to the pub, along a park with lovely flowers, statues, and a fountain. At Pingvinen, we had a wonderful meal of whale steak, potatoes, and cabbage. We decided to go back up the funicular, and we had much better luck with the view this time. We then returned to the hotel to shower and get ready for an early start.
The next morning, we had the breakfast buffet at the hotel, and it was very good, as breakfast buffets in Europe are wont to be. Then we crossed the street to the train station to wait for our train. We were the first ones on the platform, and we sat on a bench to wait. I had printed out our tickets at the machine the day before, and purchased the bus tickets, also (which turned out to be a mistake).
We couldn’t figure out, as the time for the train approached, why nobody else was on the platform. There was some construction blocking our view, but we made out that some people were standing in line at the entrance to the platform. We thought they must be on a tour or something, but in retrospect, I think the railroad officials made everybody do this, but we had been directed to that platform long before that. Anyway, the train finally arrived, and everybody rushed on. We managed to get seats that suited us, and the train departed. A few minutes later, the train stopped. We were told there was a problem with the train. We waited a while, wondering what was going on, and then the train returned to the station. There was mass confusion, as we all thought we were supposed to board an adjacent train, but it turned out that wasn’t the case. Ultimately, we were all squeezed onto a shorter train, which everyone rushed to, so getting to the station early did us no good whatsoever. This rushing for seats was the norm for the entire trip. Based on my research, we sat on the right side of the train. This was a mistake. The left side had far better views, in my opinion.