Thankfully I was able to experience Norway’s fjords. Perhaps it wasn’t the kayak adventure I dreamed of doing, but the short cruise I did was spectacular. I will just have to return to kayak on these fjords one year. And I will return. Norway is lovelier than I realized. So much to see. Oslo might be the capital and very vibrant, but Bergen is where I will return to, a lovely historic city, where civilization greets Mother Nature. Supposedly the weather here is very rainy, but I lucked out on my brief visit. The cruise was freezing though. The city was about 60F, but in the fjords, closer to 45F. I had not prepared for that kind of chill. I could have stayed inside the cabin with the wide windows, but I came to breathe the fresh Nordic air, smell and taste the fjords. So I froze in the upper deck. People came and went, sometimes it was crowded, sometimes I was alone. I did come down for a cup of hot coffee though! This majesty around me invigorated me to my inner core. I need to change course like I planned so that I have more time to travel. There is just too much of this beautiful planet that I have yet to see, and some places I need to see again. At my current pace of traveling, which I admit is more than other people can do, I will still not be part of this world long enough to see what I need to see. That is unacceptable.
My attempt at directing a travel show segment. I figured with the scenery & background music I couldn’t go wrong. Hello Travel Channel!
Having a delightful local dry cider wine here in Bergen after a nice hike. First dry cider I’ve had here in Scandinavia. Apparently dry cider is a tradition in the fjords. Another reason I like this place! I mentioned to the server that I love the cider and that I make a similar kind in The States and he let me try another one they have that they haven’t started selling yet. Also delicious but quite different. It was kind of floral, used Gravenstein apples among others. Just shows how diverse cider can be.
The sea and the mountain air have restored my spiritual balance. As I’ve said I will return to Bergen, Norway. Although I love to travel to new and exciting places, and check states and nations off my travel map, sometimes I feel a connection to a place that I know I have to return. The natural majesty of the fjords and the delightful people and history make this one of those places. It can join my growing list of places to revisit. Obviously Vienna will always be on this list. I have been there 5 times and still want to go back. It was my home in a previous life… If I believed in such things. Bled, Slovenia was so impossibly pretty I still can’t believe it exists and that I was there. (Doesn’t help that I lost my film from some of that trip. Thank God for my sister’s photos). Venice has many more back alleys and chicheria that beckon to be explored. Lovely Dubrovnik would make a nice gateway to Montenegro, which I haven’t been to yet. Iceland was like being on another planet, a starkly beautiful planet… With hot springs! Sure if I “had to” I could return to Bruges, Paris, Strasbourg, Munich, and Copenhagen and once again have a blast. But I don’t NEED to, like these other places. So as I finish my nice local cider, hoping that my cyder provides me my method of escape, I can dream of my next trip to Bergen and how lovely that kayak trip on a fjord will be… Before I fly to Vienna on my private jet. I am dreaming you know.