10/29 - Voss-Bergen

Woke up in the hostel to a beautiful view right outside our window. The hostel is right on the lake with mountains all around, very beautiful.

Had a crappy breakfast and then started to explore the town. Not too much to do but we had to be out because check out time was 10.

There was actually a page in our tour book about this small town so we decided to check some things out. It's a surprisingly old place for being in the middle of nowhere. When Scandinavia first became Christian in the 11th century, King Olaf rode around and erected a cross wherever the people had converted. Pretty cool to see the 1000 year old cross and the 800 year old church.

 

Walked through the cemetery and found the nature reserve. Gorgeous. Little frozen lakes and amazing views of the town and mountains. This was still early in the morning and we were freezing. Went to a cafe and had hot chocolate and soup, perfect. There really wasn't much more to do in the town so we just went to the library and read some Newsweek.

 

Hiked halfway up one of the mountains on the side of the town. We were watching the sun set at 2:30. And this is Southern Norway in October; with 6 hours of daylight. Crazy, I can't imagine how people live further up north this time of the year.

Caught a train to Bergen! Bergen is gorgeous, built right on a fjord and surrounded by 7 tall peaks. We explored for a few hours and then went back to the train station to meet our hosts.

Mike is really active-10,000 posts in 4 years-in a forum for a metal band. Everyone there is really close and knows each other pretty well. He told these guys we were going to be in Bergen and they immediately invited us to stay with them. Met up with them and they took us back to their surprisingly nice apartment. They're some of the coolest and nicest people I've ever met. Talked to them all night and then they took us out to a metal bar. Awesome. More about them tomorrow!