Waterfall & Farm Ruins

Last Saturday we took a little hike (it was more like a walk, though, since it was so easy) to the lower valley area between the two mountains Ulriken and Fløyen. We were going in search of the Bogstifossen waterfall and some old farm ruins that are now part of a cultural trail. The ruins …

Gamle Bergen (Old Bergen)

Before we left Bergen I wanted some pictures taken of us with a backdrop of some of the cobblestone streets and the super cute houses and shops here, but I waited too late and never set up a photographer. It also seemed it would be a difficult task to arrange since the weather has been …

Arboretum

The kids were out of school last Monday for Pentecost (a national holiday here in Norway, and yes, we were STILL in school...last day was today, though, yay!). So we checked another thing off our To Do Before We Leave List: the arboretum. This place was way bigger than I thought it was going to …

Fjell Festning

About a month ago we went to Fjell Festning, a military fort built by the Germans in 1942 during their occupation of Norway. They used Russian POWs for labor and it also served as a POW camp. The main feature was underneath where the triple gun turret set that could shoot out towards the North …

Vidden & Troldhaugen

Vidden Vidden is the name given to the 8 mile hike between the mountains Ulriken and Fløyen. Originally we were going to take the cable car up Ulriken, but we couldn’t get the free tickets for that from the university and it’s pretty expensive even just one way for a family of 4, so we …

May 17th

May 17th is Norway's Constitution Day (kind of like America's Fourth of July). Norwegians start celebrating early by having a big breakfast together, and then they head to the parades in the city center, as well as celebrate with their child's school with a neighborhood parade and party there. Norway is a very casually dressed …

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has officially come to Bergen and it is gorgeous! Although, we had mostly amazing weather during the month of April, I felt like the flowers and trees were a little slow to bloom, compared to when I'm used to them blooming in the U.S. (Even John Hayden felt they needed a boost and was …

Easter in Norway

God Påske! Happy Easter from Norway! Celebrating holidays for the first time in a different country that has their own unique set of traditions and customs has been interesting. For Christmas, I felt like we really had no problems keeping our American traditions and mixing in some Norwegian ones, but Easter has been a bit …

A Road Trip + Hardangerfjord

Bergen is often referred to as the Gateway to the Fjords, and even though we've taken a fjord cruise before on one of the smaller fjords outside of Bergen, Osterfjord, it didn't really sink in how much beauty surrounded Bergen until we set out on a little road trip. A friend we met here (from …

Sandviksfjellet Hike

On Monday we took the Stoltzekleiven trail (which includes almost 800 steep stone steps, plus some wooden ones) up to Sandviksfjellet, which is one of the 7 mountains surrounding Bergen. We chose to walk all the way from our apartment to the trailhead, which was about 3.5 miles, then proceeded on after we got to …