We started our day with breakfast at our hotel in Bergen. We also had just a little bit of time to walk the wharf and do a little shopping once the shops opened at 9am. We found a cool Christmas shop where I found some Christmas ornaments and tiny Christmas music boxes for the kids. We made our way to the bus station and boarded the bus at 10am. We would be on this bus for quite a while. About 30 min in I quickly realized that I would either need a Dramamine or Sleep to make it through this bus ride without getting sick. I chose to do both :)
Despite my haze, we were able to take in some pretty breathtaking views between Bergen and Stevanger. We even got to be on 2 separate ferrys which really broke up the trip nicely. There were many underground tunnels as we approached Stevanger - one that even went under the water! The concept of that pretty much blew our minds - shout out to all you engineers out there that figure that kind of stuff out.
We arrived in Stevanger and it was POURING - harder rain than we had seen on our trip. Because we had at least a 10 minute walk to our B&B we decided to catch a cab - the first on our trip. 5 min later and we had arrived at Darby's Inn - a beautiful quaint little B&B in Stevanger that was run by a sweet couple named Paul and Wenche (pronounced VEN-KE.....we discovered this was how she pronounced her name after Anne was talking with Paul and asked how to pronounce her name. Paul was English so understood the English way to pronounce her name.....he told Anne..."its Ven-ke...not Wench - bahahahaha).
After getting settled we were ready to see Stevanger. We made our way down to the Harbor and the action. We ate dinner at a lovely restaurant recommended by our hosts. We were all fairly delirious and had trouble deciding where to sit/etc. I am pretty sure the hostess thought we were crazy stupid Americans. It got even better when Anne, trying to talk to the local, asked if their salad came with "leaves" - I still laugh about this as I am typing. It would be a nice little joke for the rest of our trip :)
During our dinner it was raining and pouring outside....lucky for us after we got done eating the SUN CAME OUT!!! This was a very exciting idea to sit on a patio, by the Harbor enjoying a few cocktails while the sun was out! Well I think all of Stevanger had the same idea! There were so many people out, a live band and very lively atmosphere in the Harbor that night! We had an awesome time at the first bar listening to the live band. We even saw Anne's brother's doppelganger. This was the first time we sat outside and didn't need to use bar supplied blankets and heat lamps in Norway! After we left that bar we were walking back towards our B&B (actually like 2 doors down from the first bar) when we heard Shaggy being played at a bar.....it drew us in and we couldn't say no. This was a great place that played all American music and we were all feeling good.
Luckily for Bryce, JD and I we had Anne (ie the voice of reason) to tell us it would be a REALLY good thing to get a good night's sleep because the next day was PULPIT rock! We needed to be on our best behavior.....so she drug us out of there not quite kicking and screaming. We would thank her the next day :) Time to rest up for one of the biggest days on our trip!!!
PULPIT ROCK HIKE DAY!!!!
As we were researched and preparing for this trip, Pulpit Rock was clearly the frontrunner for the highlight of the whole trip and man.....we were right. This day goes down as one of (if not THE) craziest thing I have ever done. I have not had an adrenaline rush like this ever in my life. It was hard (so hard), amazing, terrifying and unbelievable all at the same time.
We started our day by taking the 9:45am ferry (Anne would have preferred the 8:15 but we convinced her otherwise - see above :)). After a ~45 min ferry ride we hopped on a bus for another 30 min drive up to the start of the hike. We were able to start our hike up around 11am. Preikstolen = Pulpit Rock in the local language.
This would be an 8 mile hike- 4 up and 4 back. Now.....everything we read said that this hike was good for ALL age types and good for beginners. SO....we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. 5 min in the boys were starting to worry the whole hike would be up a gravel trail.....HA! 15 min and after our first climb I was dying and beginning to get worried about how far my legs would make it! These were steep trails we were climbing! Now...when we were kayaking the girls on our tour had already hiked pulpit - they said it was good but SO CROWDED. It was definitely crowded - with all kinds of people in all kinds of athletic shape. I couldn't believe the ages/athletic ability of some people attempting this climb!
Now the whole climb wasn't as bad as that first climb.....but it wasn't far off!! There is no way we would designate this as beginner OR for all ages! I'm still amazed at the people carrying toddlers on their backs or baby's in slings up this thing....really impressive! It took everything I had to carry my own body up there! OK so the hike up took around 2 hours - we really didn't stop much. Only a couple quick stops for pictures/light exploring at some of the more expansive parts of the hike - most of the way was pretty narrow climbs with LOTS of people....just not good places to stop!
Finally, we were there. And the words that I am going to type will NOT do this justice. the scenery was unbelievable. Now, Bryce and I have seen some pretty beautiful scenery in our travels - in fact every year we go to one of the most beautiful places in the world in my opinion - Breckenridge, CO. BUT what made this that much more impressionable was the fact that we were seeing this while ~1-2 feet away from an open cliff that would carry us to our death....no guard rails, NOTHING. OH.....and with LOTS of people all around you. I still get an adrenaline rush just by looking at those pictures. Finally we were AT the Pulpit. And there were tons of people out on that thing. We had joked up until this point that we would be crawling to the edge on our bellies....you know what we did??? Crawled to the edge on our bellies. To say the edge of that rock was terrifying does not even describe it - the biggest adrenaline rush of my life. And what was happening around us?? A guy dangling his feet (one of many) over the edge eating a can of corn, people standing at the point of the rock, jumping in the air and taking a picture (sorry Bryce for telling you someone was jumping without clarifying it was for a picture and not a suicide), TODDLERS running around on leashes (just let that sink in), babies hanging out in backpacks and slings, people just having the time of their lives. Now.....we LOVED every minute of this experience - but to say we were comfortable up there would be an outright lie. We took some pics after climbing to the edge on our bellies and then GOT. THE. HECK. TO. SAFETY.
We found a place to climb up a little ways that would be a good place for lunch and view of all the crazies out on this hike with us. It was awe inspiring to see older folks, kids, parents and all types that took this trek up the mountain to see Pulpit Rock. After about an hour total on top we started our way back down. Just because we were going down didn't make it easy....every step was a possibility for a twisted ankle so care had to be taken. My legs were total jello. Luckily 1.5 hours later we made it down safely, exhausted and ready for a break. This trip would give me one of the biggest surprises about my spouse....he DOES NOT care for situations with cliffs that drop off and lots of people around to worry about. After nearly 15 years with a person you don't get many chances to learn something new about a person - but I learned something on this day :)
That night wee had dinner at a place called Villa 22 along the harbor - had some pizzas and beers. We moved along to some drinks at a bar called Social Bar. After being there about 30 min two local gals sitting next to us struck up a conversation. This would be the first time (but not the last) on our trip that we were asked "Did you vote for Trump" which was an interesting conversation. One gal was Norweigen but grew up in Canada and the other was local but was born in England. It's always interesting to get a foreigner's perspective on our political situation....needless to say we didn't all align eye to eye but you rarely do even in our country. It was a nice conversation and we really enjoyed meeting some new people! It was at this point of the trip we decided that I needed a shirt...."I voted for Trump and I work for Monsanto".....I'm sure people would love me that much more :)
Back to the hotel- we had another travel day ahead of us! Our trip part 1 to Norway would be complete and it absolutely did not disappoint. This country is breathtaking and if you love the outdoors you need to experience it first hand - hiking, kayaking, the whole thing. There are lots of cruises that go in and out and around Norway - we saw those ships everywhere. If you are adventurous enough though - I would HIGHLY recommend getting into the country and doing all of these activities. Bucket list worthy FOR SURE and we didn't even see 25% of it. We talked and really wouldn't have changed hardly anything on our trip so far - except maybe for packing some warmer clothes that were water proof :) This country is gorgeous and impeccably well maintained. The people take HUGE pride in their country and it is one of the cleanest I've ever seen - everything about it is clean and well maintained - and in the summer there are flowers EVERYWHERE!! Highly recommend!
On to Deutschland!!!
