As I’ve said before, what do we do when we are already freezing cold? Head up north even further, of course!
After our 5 days in Oslo, we booked a train headed north to Bergen. **Side note – Norway is actually a huge country (at least long-wise) and not easily traversed. Even though we were basically just going east to west, the train was something like seven hours long.
Luckily, the train came fully equipped with its own playground car. Look, I’ve seen a lot of playgrounds in my time, but this was something new to me! At least it kept Nora well occupied as we stared at the scenery (massive, MASSIVE amounts of snow) along the way.
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| A playground car on the train. Truly brilliant. |
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| Best way to pass a 7 hour train ride with kids! |
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| View from the train. |
I had zero expectations about Bergen. Honestly, to this day I don’t really know how we ended up there or why Paul picked it. But we ended up really enjoying the small town. So much so that after a couple of days we ended up asking our AirBnB host if we could extend our stay and we settled right in for a nine day stay (one of our longest to-date).
Here are the highlights (and a lowlight or two):
Hike to Floyen and Troll Village –
This was probably when we fell in love with Bergen. The whole day was very simple but also felt a little magical. It ended up being our good luck that the funicular up Mount Floyen was shut down for repairs because we had a great time on the 3k hike up. First, we found a great multi-story slide on the way up that was super fast and fun (even for the adults).
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| I couldn’t let her have all the fun. |
The best part came when we neared the top. We were searching for the trolls we had read about when we came across a big playground(Klatrelek) hidden in the trees and covered in snow. There weren’t even any footprints in sight. We had it all to ourselves. While we were playing, it started snowing really hard. It made the whole thing feel totally magical.
Nearby we found Troll Village. Spotting trolls on Mount Floyen is a must-do with kids. Even in a snow storm they love it.
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| Bergen Trolls – not just in the cartoon movie. |
And amazing views.
The hike up (and back down) Floyen will always be one of my favorite memories.
A Loose Tooth!
One day while we were in Bergen, Nora told me she had a “scratch” in her mouth. I asked her to let me take a look and OMG, there was a new little tooth poking through behind the others! I gave the tooth in front a little wiggle and sure enough, it was loose. Nora’s first loose tooth. She’s growing up so fast. **I’ll spare you the inside the mouth photo.
Fjords –
Well certainly you can’t visit Norway without seeing the fjords. In Bergen, hopped on a three hour boat tour through the fjords. I have to admit that Nora and I sat inside the boat for possibly the majority (and by possibly the majority, I mean definitely the majority) of the trip. It was just SO cold outside!! Paul braved it much better than the two of us. Regardless, when we would go up, the views were pretty spectacular. It’s just nothing we are used to seeing. The best part was definitely all of the waterfalls, and one the boat pulled right up under and we could reach out and touch! I have to say, as someone who never had any interest in being cold or cold weather, there is something really gorgeous about the Nordic views.
The boat offered a kid’s fjord bingo card that kept Nora occupied during the tour! I’ve said it before, but I can’t say it enough, I was so impressed with how kid-friendly everything in Norway was. Every activity we did had something that Nora could enjoy, which as a traveling family, is one of our top priorities.
Bergen Aquarium –
Speaking of places that gear themselves towards kids, yes, an aquarium is naturally geared towards a kid’s sense of wonder with wildlife, but the Bergen Aquarium did an amazing job of keeping Nora engaged.
Also, we got a real kick out of the restroom signs, especially Nora who yelled across the entire room, “Look Mom, that one has a penis!” Ugh, kids.
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| I mean, she wasn’t wrong, though… |
Vilvite (Bergen Science Center) –
Now this is an absolute must, must do if you’re in Bergen with kids! This place was so much fun. Nora said it was the best museum she’s ever been to other than the Houston Children’s Museum and that’s saying a lot.
They had all kinds of exhibits and they were all geared towards kids. There was an exhibit all about foods/digestion “mostly learning about how your gut needs fiber.” There were exhibits about movement and light and water and bubbles and even how to drill for oil.
She and Paul made paper airplanes and pumped air in to shoot them off and she loved sitting in the chair and trying to use pulleys to lift herself up. There were just so many stations of fun things to do and all of it perfect to keep kids and adults entertained.
We even went to a little science show they put on. It was totally In Norwegian, so we didn’t know exactly what was going on, but Nora still enjoyed seeing the experiments (although the loud balloon popping had her “shaking” and leaving her hands over her ears the rest of the time).
***Have I mentioned that the added bonus of museums like this are that I feel like we get in a great day of homeschooling and I didn’t have to do anything, but have fun with her?
Norway Fisheries Museum –
Now this one is a pretty small museum and at first I was thinking it was a bit of a snooze-fest and wouldn’t be something Nora would be really interested in, but we ended up having a good time, albeit a short time. Once again, the museum was full of things to keep kids engaged while also teaching parents interesting information.
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| For some reason, Nora was freaked out about getting in this boat and would only do it if I got in too. |
The highlight for us was the kids toy fishing pond, which Nora has now requested we build for her at home. This is far beyond our DIY capabilities – so if there are any giant toy fishing pond experts out there, we could use your help!
Flip Zone Trampoline Park –
I think the trampoline park might be single-handedly the reason Nora always lists Norway as one of the places she wants to come back to every year. Nora loves a jumping world and we surprised her with this one. We told her we had an art gallery we wanted to go to and she was not so happy about it, until we walked in…
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| Sometimes I think it’s important to stop the touristy stuff and just let her be a kid. Trampoline parks are universal! |
Nordnes Seawater Pool –
What do you immediately think of when I Say arctic weather? Swimming, of course! Because we weren’t cold enough in all of our winter layers, we headed to the Bergen outdoor pool known as Nordnes Seawater Pool for a swim in the near-freezing weather. I have to admit, the pool temperature wasn’t that bad, some might say it was almost warm (that some would not be me, but definitely other people might have found it nice). But, it was getting in and out of the pool that was BRUTAL. Still, it was a fun way to spend the morning.
The pool sits right next to the Norwegian Sea and there is actually a diving board you can use to jump right on into the ice cold water. And guess who did just that? If you guessed me, you’re absolutely wrong. But, Paul bravely took the plunge while Nora and I watched. He plunged in and then popped right back out. Apparently, he had planned on trying to swim around for a bit, but as soon as he hit that cold water all he wanted to do was get out of it as quickly as he could. Luckily the pool has a sauna right next to the sea and Nora and I were happy to sit in with him while he recovered.
And now for the lowlights….
- TexMex – Okay, so I realize this one is mostly our fault. What were we thinking trying “tex-mex” in Norway?!? We should have known better. It’s just that we miss it SO much. We were lured in by the promise of delicious Tex-Mex. Not just Mexican food, but very specifically, Tex-Mex. Oh man, just writing this is making me miss our native delicacy, queso. You’ve probably guessed this by now, but Casa Del Toro was a big disappointment.
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| Sorry to call you out like that, Casa del Toro, but these Texans know good tex-mex. This was not it. |
- Attempted theft – this had to be one of the rougher days in all of our travel. It was sour last morning in Bergen and we were headed to the train to catch our flight early in the morning. We were all packed up and Paul started taking our bags down the very steep and icy hill our AirBnB sat atop while Nora and I were getting our coats on and such. Paul came back up to help us finish up and after we locked up I glanced down the hill and saw a man going through our suitcases. He had all the belongings dumped out on the sidewalk. Before I could even think about it, I started screaming to get away from our bags and he ran off. Thankfully he ran off with nothing our ours! But somehow in the whole mess the suitcase zipper broke so found ourselves with a suitcase FULL of clothes that we couldn’t close and a flight we had to catch. We made the split moment decision to carry the case and get on the train to the airport instead of trying to find somewhere open to buy a new bag. Thank our lucky stars we had been carrying around an extra backpack that was mostly full of food and other random items, so we ditched the food and divided up the rest between our other bags and somehow we were able to make it all work. It was, needless to say, one hell of a morning. One we were happy to leave behind (along with our suitcase).
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| Busted. |
A few random notes on our time in Bergen:
- Just like in Oslo, once we were in Bergen we purchased a Bergen Card for free or discounted entry into museums and attractions and free travel. I have to say, I don’t really know of dollars and cents-wise it works out, but just the ease of the card makes it worth it to me. Plus, I doubt we would make such an effort to check out all of the museums and sites if we didn’t have the card making it so easy (and plus, we always want to get our money’s worth.)
- We all agree that out of our three Norway stops, Bergen was our favorite. It was kind of the perfect mix of big-city, lots to do Oslo and little tiny town Tromso. I can’t exactly put into words what I liked so much about Bergen because I really hadn’t expected to like it and I’m not even sure I realized how much I did like it (except for the imitation Tex-Mex, of course) while we were there. But Bergen won a little piece of my heart.
- Oh, speaking of Mexican food, here’s a random fact: Norwegians must love Mexican food. Every grocery store we visited had entire aisles dedicated to taco making. Needless to say, we had our fair share of taco Tuesdays while we were there.
- The weather! I had almost forgotten about the weather. I have to admit, even after I just wrote about really loving Bergen, the weather was pretty sh&t. There was always something falling from the sky and it was usually rain, which would turn to sleet in an instant and then the next thing you knew it would be snowing, and then back to rain again. Normally something like this would make me run for the hills. For some reason, it didn’t bother me all that much in Bergen. Mostly because in addition to all of the great activities I’ve described above, Bergen was also a great place to cuddle up indoors and wait for it to pass.
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