Our first two weeks - pt 2 — travelswithkuzco

Day 6-8 : Bergen

Our first full day in Bergen, we headed out to another hike that Steinar and his mom had found. This one was called Håøytoppen and was about 5 km. I started this hike by falling down the stairs that get you to the trail (LOL) and then we started exploring the path that wrapped around a small lake. At the top of the trail there was a very cool view point with a 360 degree look over the surrounding area.

After the hike, we spent the afternoon walking around the Bryggen area which is a UNESCO Heritage Site and then grabbed a hot dog at Trekroneren. I got the reindeer hotdog with lingonberry & mustard and Steinar got the frankfurter with extra spicy mustard. It was a cool experience but definitely not my favorite meal of the trip.

Norway played in a World Cup game while we were in Bergen, so Steinar and I adventured out at midnight to see if there was anywhere to watch the game. While all the bars were full, there was one place that had an outdoor screen that allowed us to see all of the commotion of the first half! It was crazy how much it was still light outside even at 1am as we started to walk back to the house.

It was quite the turn around into the next day since we had tickets on the 8am ferry from Bergen to Flãm. Steinar and I had already done most of the items on the schedule for the day, but had loved them all so much the first time that we were excited to do them again with Steinar’s parents! The ferry is about 6 hours long but it takes you through so many waterways with ever changing scenery. At the end of the ferry ride, you arrive in Flåm. Flåm is a small village that sits at the end of Aurlandsfjord and it is the perfect spot for a day trip from Bergen. We arrived on the ferry about 1:30pm and had time to look around the shops before heading to our lunch reservation at Ægir Gastropub. The last time Steinar and I ate here we had the Viking Plank that comes with 5 dishes with 5 beers, but this time we got the meat plank to try something different and it was all very yummy.

Once we were full from lunch, we headed to the outskirts of the village where you can hike to the Brekkefossen waterfall. The hike is mostly (what feels like neverending) steps, and it only takes about 30 minutes to get to the top from the center of town. The top includes an up-close view of the large waterfall as well as a viewpoint to look out over the fjord that we had just arrived by this morning. We enjoyed the view and took a moment to catch our breath after the steps before heading back down to the center of town. We only had about an hour left before our train-ride out of Flåm on the famous Flåmsbana, so I grabbed a coffee from one of the local vendors and we spent some time looking around the gift shops in town. Flåm is a cruise port and the city becomes pretty quiet once the cruise ships head out for the day. We were the first people in line to head on the train so we grabbed a set of seats on the right side of the car. Supposedly the views are better from the right than the left, but there are some incredible views from both sides. The train is about an hour to Myrdal where we changed trains to head back to Bergen, to then pack for our early flight the next day.

Days 9 - 14 : Tromsø

Our flight to Tromsø left at 7:50am so we were up early to head to the airport. Since we landed around 11am we still had a full day to explore and get to see more around the town. Steinar wanted to do a tour of the Mack Brewery, the world’s northernmost brewery, so our only real plan for the day was to make it there for our tour and then start getting ready for the marathon.

The next morning, we headed to the marathon expo so Susan and I could pick up our bibs, and then spent most of the day exploring different grocery stores and thrift shops. We rounded out the day with a pasta dinner in town. Steinar and I went out around midnight to see just how bright it would be the next day as well and got to explore some of the marathon route beforehand. We even found the official MSM car on our walk back!

Saturday, I slept in for as long as I could before getting ready to head to the start line. We were supposed to start running at 8:30pm so we headed to the start line around 8:00pm. As we got there they announced there was a group warm-up as we found ourselves in a pre-race Zumba stretch dancing to I like to Move It, Move It - not quite what either of us was expecting. Before we knew it the countdown began and we were off! It was crazy to be running and to see all of the snow-covered mountains around the water. The weather held out for about the first half of the marathon before the clouds came in and it started to rain. Between the sun going behind the clouds and still having like 10 miles to go around midnight, I wasn’t having the best time but the views made it so worth it. Susan and I finished after 1:00am and it was still bright out - the midnight sun is no joke. We headed back to the house after for some champagne and snacks while watching more World Cup soccer matches before heading to sleep.

Between the late-night running and the sun never going down, it was hard to tell what time it was as we headed into Sunday. We woke up and slowly headed out to explore more of the other side of town during the day. We walked over the Arctic Cathedral and then looked at the path to the top of Fjellheisen. After deciding it was probably not the best day for 45+ minutes of Sherpa Stairs, we headed back to our side of town for celebratory chaurcutiure (including some whale and reindeer meat) and pizza at the house. We ordered from Casa Inferno and all of the pizzas we got were so yummy!

On Monday morning it was time for one of the activities I was excited for the most - floating in the water! We headed down to the harbour, put on some float suits and walked into water. It was definitely a unique experience since people can see you from the walkway around the harbor. I’m sure we looked crazy because there were a lot of people taking pictures of us midfloat. It felt great to be relaxing post marathon but it also felt super strange to be in the massive suits! After we finished floating we headed back for lunch, and decided to walk over and take the Fjellheisen to the top of the viewpoint. Unfortunately, they were having operational issues right as we got there so we weren’t able to go up the cable car. For dinner we went out to Tapas Tromsø which was delicious and finished up the evening at Ølhallen, Tromsø’s oldest pub, for some more Mack Beer before we started packing for our flight to Spain the next day!