Norway - As Advertised

At customs in Oslo when I was asked to state my purpose for visiting I said, "To see your beautiful country." Maybe I just sound disingenuous when I'm jet-lagged, but the officer did not appear to like this answer. He implied that I'd be better off and warmer in Australia. I assumed he was still jaded about Scandinavia after a long winter. From my perspective, I felt like if he had a problem with people expecting a beautiful country he should take it up with his tourism commissioner.

After two nights in Oslo, I picked up the rental car around midday and began our three week roadtrip by first slowly rotating down a parking garage corkscrew, and then along the motorway towards the fjords and the first of what is sure to be many Circle Ks.

After getting out of Oslo we stopped for lunch by a body of water off the road, and ate bread and salad on a makeshift rock table. The scenery was both stunning and mundane. A horizon of pine trees rising up the slopes along the banks of the water. A slight haze of white cloud. It was beautiful, and yet also nothing compared to what was to come.

As the afternoon sun turned more golden and the roads narrowed we drove through an absolutely stunning array of landscapes. Fields of grass, forests, roaring rivers, snow capped mountains. Every bend in the road brought us to some new scene. Sheep grazing on the streep slopes. Immense tunnels. Bridges. After Gol, the road narrowed and we ascended higher until the snow caps starting looking closer and closer. Eventually we came to a large, frozen lake rimmed entirely by rocky peaks.

From there, the car regenerated battery as we descended curving roads and sharp bends and more tunnels. The last one was 25 kilometres long, and delivered us to Aurland where the evening sun was still high enough to sparkle across the water.

It was an incredible start to the journey, one that expelled any doubts about coming here and paying large amounts of money for chicken and toilets. If the rest of the trip is as scenic and stunning as this, I would say that the tourism commission is under-selling it.