After a few years, I am getting to experience an entirely new country! There were a couple of places that were in the running but Norway won out simply because I have never been here before.

Little bit of a trek to get here with a connecting flight in Iceland. Their advertisements on the plane and in the airport almost made me change my plans and stay in Iceland but maybe next year.

As first days go today was a short one. It actually started in the plane on the way from Iceland. I woke up from an insufficient nap and looked out the window at the mountains and fjords of Western Norway. They were truly impressive! I’m a little intimidated that I am heading there starting tomorrow.

Today’s adventure was minimal but something I had been looking forward to since I had watched a video on the drive to Bergen from Oslo. My first real stop of the trip was the sculpture park of Kistefos. Now, I’m not very interested in modern art but the park boasts a exhibit space in the form of a twisted bridge. The nifty part is that the twist shows on both the interior and exterior! There is also an old wood pulp mill with explanations on how the equipment used to work in addition to some other strange and interesting installation pieces.

After my walk through the park, I headed to my lodging for the evening called the Smedsgarden Hotel. The drive was similar to driving through the mountain valleys of Vermont. With tree shrouded hills and small farms in the valleys. The hotel is sort of in the middle of no where but thankfully they offer dinner in addition to breakfast. It was a no brainer for me to have my dinner there as I knew ahead of time that I would be exhausted.

Sorry for the smaller number of photographs but I was just trying to stay awake for most of the afternoon. More should be coming in the following days and I will try to take more pictures of the food. Especially as that is usually what I talk about the most after a trip!