FREDRIKSTAD. Past by this small town near the Sweden-Norway border on the Norwegian side on our way to Oslo cos we were too early for checking in and it was recommended on the brochure we took. Went to the Gamlebyen (old-something) which is a fortified town. Nothing impressive: cobblestones, goats and decorative cannons. Oh, it was a defense against the Swedes though.
OSLO. Had a hard time looking for our apartment but we were genuinely impressed by the exterior of the whole house when we found it. Jane was even talking bout how she wish this "wooden beautiful house" is our apartment and it really turns out to be! Albeit we only got the garage and not the nice nice main apartment. But anyway, it was still an awesome three storey apartment with a loft bed for two, a hall, and a ground level bed room for two. So 5 of us fitted nicely in the apartment. Reached pretty late so we walked to the nearest grocery store to grab food for dinner and the next few meals only to realize the 10min walk our host told us turns out to be some 20+ minutes walk. Even worse, when we were paying for our food, we realize what's written on the price tag isn't exactly the actual price to pay and so we ended up paying S$80 for the groceries which included a S$30 whole chicken. No choice, we just rationed out everything we have nicely and manage to survive for about 3-4 meals with what we had ($4/pax per meal... Really darn cheap for Norwegian standards). And we also manage to hold the record of zero eat-outs while travelling. Cool or what.
Next day we left our car in the garage and took a ferry (a real 5min walk from our place) to the city centre. Manage to smoke our way through to get a free ferry ride (well, our host told us to insist on getting the tickets at the pier on the city centre cos it's cheaper; we didn't even need much persuasion and the attendant let us off... Just that we didn't actually get any ticket when we reach the pier). Finished the whole stretch of the city in 2 hours (or less), and headed to the opera house that seems like it's floating on water and had our lunch on the rooftop which didn't really have much of a view except for the construction sites surrounding it. Got a bus ticket and we left for the museums on the side of the peninsular near our place, only to realize the museums are pretty overpriced and so we skipped it. That's 3pm. Know what's the good thing bout a road trip? We can go wherever we want, limited only by our ability to pay the fuel... Feeling "rich" (more like bored), we found some national park on the map recommended by the host and also realize there's a ski tower beside it so vroom vroom and we're off. Quite an amazing place that should be more spectacular during winter (the slope was used for zip lining during these warmer months) and also featured some nice traditional Norwegian huts. Didn't felt very well so stayed in the car while the rest went of to explore the ski practice ground. Drove back down the curvy, winding mountainous road (like a Initial D on Qiu Ming Shan) and we headed back home to plan for the next day.
Impromptu, but we decided to go to Flåm.
Bed bugs zzz
FLÅM!!! This is the starting point of the world renowed Flamrail and it costs quite a hefty bomb to reach this place by boat/train/bus so quoting Sho, "we're quite lucky to be able to come here by our own car." We left early in the morning at around 7am and drove for a good 5 hours before reaching this place. In the midst, we took UNO (our red Seat Leon, cos the car plate says so) through different seasons and the smart system even warned us of icy road when temperature goes below 4 degrees; really enjoyed this smart car. Took one "wrong" turn that actually made the trip faster but more importantly, took UNO to this UNESCO world heritage site (we only know bout it after we reach the tourist centre though, so we took the "wrong" route again and stopped by to take a photo with it on our way back). Nærøyfjorden, as we found out, is its name; and it's apparently the world's top natural heritage site, along with another Norwegian attraction - Geiranger. Decided to do a 1.5 hour hike up to a waterfall when we reach Flåm and after we took photos with he Flamrail that we didn't get on. Fulfilled Jane's desire to hike and enjoyed the rewarding view of the Flåm town, the meandering canals, sheeps on the field, and wooden houses dotting the landscape. Took out our lunch boxes and had our lunch to the background music of the splattering water from the waterfall. Trekked back down and headed back home. Highlight of this journey, however, was Huiwen and his shades. Tunnels are common in this mountainous region and they are often dimly lit for whatever reasons, so when Huiwen drove the car into one of these and started to complain about it being dark, we just laughed it off. Then he slowed the car down to almost a halt; I tried to help by turning the high beam on but it didn't help much. We all struggled to understand what's wrong and Song En started to suggest Huiwen to start eating carrots. Then, suddenly, with much revelation, Huiwen exclaimed, "Oh, I know why!" *takes out sunglasses* ......
That was the fun part bout this whole road trip, but as we all didn't have any experience driving in Europe and much less in Norway, we did have our fair share of hiccups (thankfully, not accidents!). Toll system. WTF. Even a local Norwegian shrugged his shoulder and told us, "I know, stupid Norway, right?" Even till now we're uncertain of whether or not it'll come back to haunt us. But even if it does, the unclear instruction in the email given by the Europcar person is probably also partly to be blamed, but more so the Norwegians and their super lousy English. Zzz. Probably only 1 in 4 petrol station attendant got what we were trying to say... And you think France is bad. We gave up in the end and decided to overpay everything to have a peace of mind, but realize we kinda got the dates wrong after we cross the border back to Sweden. Oh wells.
Another irritating thing that happened: bed bugs. I was the only one with it throughout this trip, and it was only when I told the SU people about it that I know Yimei and Joshua also have it. The itch was so bearable I couldn't mind-over-body myself to not scratch it. Joshua got so fed up he even contemplated burning his bed. Lol. Though nothing to do with this trip, but it is yet another irritating Norwegian product; and it caused me to lose concentration while driving. -.- luckily we escaped unscathed. Lol.
Zzz.
Reached Stockholm for a lesson the next day and now off for the Malmö/Lund and Copenhagen with Huiwen!
