Norway Part 1
Geilo, Norway
This post was originally published April 27, 2017.
By the time spring break rolled around, it was safe to say I was feeling more than a little homesick. Back in February, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to spend part of my break in Norway where she was from. At first I hesitated because I had other ideas on places to go during break, but I was feeling tired of city life, so I asked her: “there’s a lot of trees in Norway right?” She said yes, and I booked my tickets.
Bless her soul, she gave me more than I could have ever asked for.
Upon landing in Oslo, we started our journey up to the mountains in Geilo. The snow was melting when I got there (which to be honest, I was kind of thankful for—snow might have been the only thing I didn’t miss from home). Despite thinning layers of snow, Norwegians hit the slopes in true Easter tradition. Everyone, my friend said, had a cabin up in the mountains and would go up there to ski every weekend.
I haven’t skied since middle school, so I strapped on my skis like I knew what I was doing, which is to say my friend helped me strap on my skis and assured me our journey was mostly flat. After I gracefully tumbled down the first slope, I managed to find a rhythm and was able to enjoy the views of the sunshine sparkling off the snowcapped peaks and the shades of blue and green trapped in the pond’s ice.
My friend’s family cabin was snug, built from a dark wood and complete with a sod roof. On the outside of their shed was the name of their cabin written with sticks. My friend pointed out the carvings in the fireplace as we got the embers burning. It’s common, she said, for fairy tale stories to be carved into the fireplaces. I immediately recognized hers as the Three Billy Goats Gruff. We ducked under the low hanging doorframe, as we prepared lamb for dinner and gorged ourselves on sweet, Norwegian chocolate and white wine.
After a couple days on the quiet mountainside, we began a long road trip to their coastal cabin in Tvedestrand. We made several stops on the way to admire the rushing streams and the people strapped on snowboards, letting the wind catch their kites and send them zipping around the frozen lakes. We took a moment to explore Heddal Stave Church, the largest stave church in Norway. While my friend with a keen interest in Mesolithic archaeology fawned over an old rock, I marveled at the church’s architecture. The church had obviously undergone restoration since being built in the 13th century. Most churches in Norway are simple wooden structures similar to those I would see back in the U.S., but the majority of the surviving stave churches can be found in Norway. I was thrilled to see this one. With its towering height and decorative roof, it felt like a true testament to God.
The further we drove South, the more the snow began to disappear and the air temperature grew warmer. We passed under the tunnel that marked the entrance to Southern Norway and drove along the ocean’s edge. The water was calm and the air was crisp and clean. The sun began to set, making room for the full moon to shine down across Skagerrak Strait.
Heddal Stave Church