Hiking in Bergen, Norway

IMG_7611

After an overnight train from Oslo, we arrived to a rainy Bergen. We walked the few blocks from the train station to our hotel, Clarion Hotel Admiral, where my parents spent the night. We figured they were probably jet lagged and still sleeping at 7:30 but I didn’t feel too bad waking them up as we knocked on their hotel room door. As expected, we were greeted with two sets of tired hugs, but it felt great to see them again after seven months. We chatted and caught up in the hotel room until it was time for breakfast. The hotel included breakfast and it was easy to join them even though we had not yet checked in. The restaurant was packed with hotel guests and I could see why – the spread was astounding. There was several kinds of fish, freshly baked loaves of bread, a muesli bar, cold cuts, and even the classics like eggs and sausage. After eating as much as possible, I made sandwiches for later and then we tried to check into our room. I can see why Clarion has such good reviews because it kept getting Continue reading

Six Hours in Oslo, Norway

FullSizeRender1

Royal Palace – unique in that the grounds are completely open to the public during the day

Leaving Copenhagen, we had a long journey ahead of us to meet my parents. There were two trains to Oslo, then a planned 6 hour evening layover, followed by an overnight train to Bergen. While looking at possible stops to make on our way north, we learned that Oslo is considered the most expensive city in the world so we figured a layover was the only way for us to experience it on our budget. In fact it seems like all of Scandinavia is surprisingly expensive. During our short visit I made a short video about how Continue reading

Unwinding in Copenhagen, Denmark

FullSizeRender

Passing another ferry while crossing Fehmarn Belt

I was excited for the train from Hamburg to Copenhagen because I saw it’s one of the last places in Europe where a train is put on a ferry for part of the journey. As we secured our seat reservations, we learned that part of the scheduled train line was down for service so we would be transferred to a bus. Unfortunately, we were put on busses before the ferry across the Fehmarn Belt so we just boarded with all the other vehicles. The trip was still neat and it was nice to be able to walk around the ferry as a break from traveling.

FullSizeRender1

Our bunks at Generator Hostel

Surprisingly, the bus arrived at the train station right on time (seems a lot of bus trips take longer than scheduled). After a bit of a walk, we arrived at the Generator Hostel where we checked into a dormitory room with 8 beds. We haven’t had to stay in a hostel since Singapore because hotel rooms are usually Continue reading

Bratwurst and Beer in Hamburg, Germany

 

FullSizeRender7

Zollkanal

Surprisingly, there wasn’t a direct train from Amsterdam to Hamburg but it was still an easy journey with only one connection. Soon enough, we were pulling into the center of Hamburg with our hotel, Kieler Hof, only a couple blocks away. Thankfully, the hotel was cheaper than Amsterdam so we planned to go out for dinner. After we completed some much needed laundry, we set out to explore the area and get food.

We found a pedestrian street lined with stores and full of people enjoying the beautiful eventing. We stopped at a fast food stand called MöGrill which Sara saw online. We ordered a currywurst because it seemed to be the most prominent thing on the menu. It was basically a sliced bratwurst covered in a curry flavored sauce that tasted fine but we were glad we only ordered one to split.

FullSizeRender8

Dinner at Gröninger Braukeller

I was excited to try some local German Continue reading