Stavanger, Norway

We were able to go to Stavanger, Norway a few weeks ago, which is a city on the west coast. We had it on our list since we got here, because we wanted to hike up to Priestskolen- also known as the Pulpit Rock.  It was about a 7 hour train ride from Kongsberg. We were able to leave after Kev got off work on Friday and we returned late on Sunday night. We had a packed day on Saturday. We took our first fjord tour of the Lysefjord. This was beyond beautiful, it was about 2.5 hours, and then it dropped us off at the starting point in order to hike to Priesteskolen. The ferry boat actually stopped multiple times and got close to the steep beautiful mountain walls. It brought us up to a beautiful waterfall, and at one point we went to a very steep side that had multiple goats on it. We pulled right up to the bottom, and the goats came down as fast as they could, right up to the boat. A worker fed them and they were so cute. When they brought us up to the waterfall, the man filled a bucket with the water--clear clear clear. Then passed around cups of it so that we could try it. Delicious and so cold. The water that surrounded us was a unique blue because of the Glaciers. So beautiful. 

Beginning Views of the Fjord

The view of Priestskolen from below during our Fjord Tour!

The Beautiful waterfall that our ferry pulled up to during the fjord tour.

 

The goats that came down the steep mountain to the bottom to get fed when the ferry pulled up to the bottom. 

Norwegian view from the back of the ferry

 Preistskolen is a very famous hike, and one of the top things to do in Norway. We had to take a bus to a cabin where the beginning of the trail started. And then the hike began. It took us about 2 hours to get the top. Some parts were very steep and rocky, but the surrounding were breathtaking. Once you got near the end, you were literally walking on a trail on the side of a mountain with a straight drop down....and it was a LONG way down. I was actually not scared, which is very unlike me. Maybe its just Norway, ha. There is a Legend about Pulpit Rock which is that one day a family of 7 sisters will marry a family of 7 brothers, and then the Pulpit rock will collapse. There is a crack between the mountain and outstretched rock, so when that happens Pulpit rock will fall off and fall into the fjord which will create a wave destroying the area. So the Legend says... They told us this on the fjord tour.

Lysefjord

Pulpit Rock- Priestskolen

View during our Hike

Perfect Reflection

The trail on the edge of the mountain

Lysefjord

It took only about 1.5 hours to get back down and then we had to take a bus that brought us to a ferry to get back to Stavanger. I was determined to go out and about that night even though we were exhausted. We wanted to eat out by the harbor (Vågen).  When we had gone to load the ferry that morning we had noticed tons of tents being put up for food stands but we didn't think much of it. When we had gone back out there at night, we were floored by the amount of people and places to eat. I remember thinking, "Surely, it is not always like this." They had so many different food tent choices, that instead of going to a restaurant, we thought it would be more fun just to get random things and try the different places. It took us a while but we finally figured out it that it was a food festival. It was called Glad Mat, and is actually Scandanavia's largest food festival. Kevin's eyes lit up quick. It was quite the party going on. We enjoyed ourselves and watched the sunset at about 11:00 at night. Nice way to spend a long day out and hiking.

Vågen- Harbor in Stavanger- Glad Mat food festival

Beautiful 11:00 Sunset at the Harbor

Our date night in Stavanger

The next day, we went to the Svards i Fjell. They are three Giant swords in stone set in a hill by the water. They were massive. They reminded Kevin and I of the Sword and the Stone, but taken to the next level. Ha. They are on the Hafrsfjord, and commemorates viking history.  The three districts of Norway became one kingdom after the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872.  Each sword represents one of the districts and was dedicated to the Viking King- Harald the Fairhaired. 

Svards i Fjell

We then just explored the city, which we found to be well put together with beautiful landscaping and picturesque buildings. We visited one of the oldest churches in Norway which is Domkirke from 1148. We decided against going inside due to a fee and looking busy. We then went to a place that in English is called "Rainbow Road" due to the most colorful buildings lining the street. I loved this! (of course because in my head the more color the better sometimes :) ) We also went to Gamle Stavanger- (Old Stavanger) to walk the neighborhoods. The streets were lined with beautiful homes that had to of been hundreds of years old. All of them looking picture perfect with beautiful flowers on display. There were cute shops and things to do there as well. We were lucky enough to find a great spot for lunch with a Sunday deal. --Always trying to find a deal here in Norway and we were beyond happy for a 100 kroner lunch. Our conclusion was that we absolutely loved Stavanger, loved seeing our first fjord, and would hike Pulpit Rock every weekend if we had the chance. It was a great summer vacation!

Domkirke in Stavanger

"Rainbow Road"

"Rainbow Road"

I can never resist beautiful purple flowers :)

Gamle Stavanger

Sunlight at Night and a Continuation of things I've learned

Our Summer has been bright and far warmer than I ever imagined it would be (no complaints here). I have always opted for sunny and warm over anything else. I had been warned that sometimes the summers here can be rainy and a little gloomy, but this summer has been far from that. It has been on the verge of HOT (And we know what hot is). We do not have A/C in our apartment--since our building is from the 1600's.  So we learned early on once it was getting hot that we had to leave our windows open (everyone does this it seems).  We keep them open day and night. This concept was foreign to us at first due to our Louisiana mind set and the thought of things coming in the house, but we have had no issues and it is actually quite nice. There are windows open all over the city.  It has gotten into the mid 80's and sometimes at night Kevin and I have had to pull the ice packs out. ha. The biggest adjustment has been the sun at night, although now we are back on our way to more dark. I say the Peak was in May/June. It got to the point where the sun never truly set. If I got up in the middle of the night, I could honestly never guess what time it was because I could see light shining through the windows. I was always shocked when I checked my clock and it was 2:38 in the morning or only 3:30. There was one night where Kevin and I both woke up in the middle of the night because we could hear people outside our window (open of course). We could tell they were arguing and it was loud (not common for Kongsberg). Anyway, it went on for way too long--and I was thinking oh it's probably around 8:00 from the light I saw through the window. I looked at my clock and it said...3:30!?! And that is when I though, "ohh noo, this is not acceptable." But really it looked like daylight outside. hah. There are pictures below of some different times at night from a window in our apartment. It really was truly beautiful. And we loved going for a walk when it was late and cool and still light. I will miss that when there is more darkness then light here in the winter.  It took us a while to get use to it, as I would read my book on the porch at 10 at night (but it really kind of messed with our heads/bodies for when we needed to go to bed). Some of our best light on our porch was at night. I will definitely miss that. I have been talking to people about when it stays dark longer, and they assure me it is not that bad. So I'll have an update on that when we experience it :) Until then, I'll be enjoying my sun and wearing shorts.

9:00 at night- June

10:00 Night- June

11:00 at night- June

12:00 Midnight- June

1:00 AM- at night- June

2:00- AM at night- June

9:30 at night in July

9:30 at night in June

Midnight in July

1:00 AM in July

1:15 AM in July

This a panoramic picture taken form a friend's balcony in Kongsberg.

You can see the moon and the Sun setting in the same picture :)

Continuation of things that I have learned/observed so far:

30. It is perfectly safe/acceptable to pick up berries or greens and eat them while on a trail and not wash them.
31. Sometimes the clouds seem so close you feel like you could reach up into the sky and grab them.
32.  I thought that it never got warmer than 80 degrees. However, it has gotten to be 86.
33. Sunlight at 3 in the morning is totally normal during the summer.
34. Starting June 21st Norway loses 5 min of sunlight a day.
35. I still sound American when I say, "Jeg heter Rachel."
36. You know its hot when you see two elderly women in their bras outside in less than 5 min.
37. Koozies are not common here. They have been quite the conversation starters when we bring them out. Especially our Wedding ones.
38.  It is normal to keep your windows open all day and night (due to no air conditioner). It took me a while to get use to this, but the warmer it got the easier it was. We have had no bugs/animals, not like we would have if we were in Louisiana.  I don't want to even imagine what would be in our house then. We leave ours open all the time!
39. Locking the door is not always a common. I once locked the door behind someone that came over, and they said, "Oh, you actually lock your door?" Ha. That made me feel even safer. :)
40. Not all hotels have air conditioned rooms or floors. This is still a hard concept for Kevin and I. So we now look for hotels that specifically list it.
41. Norway Strawberries are delicious--the season started in May.
42. Sometimes people bring their babies to the gym--in their carrier--set up right next to them as they lift weights.
43. Parents are required to take their kids out of daycare for three weeks straight in order to allow for proper family time. This usually occurs during the Norwegian holiday.

Quick Travel Update:
We have enjoyed the Norwegian Holiday, and our time in Kongsberg this summer. We now have many vacations coming up and a very busy time with families coming to visit. This is beyond exciting. This weekend we will be going to Brussels, Belgium. This weekend is the weekend of the Flower Carpet. This is only done once every two years on a weekend in August in the Grand Place in Brussels. I can not wait to take pictures of this! It will be a giant carpet of flowers formed in designs in the Grand Place with light shows etc. at night. We are also looking forward to the Belgium Chocolate, Beer, and Waffles... :) At the end of August, Sean (my brother) will be visiting us for a week. A couple days later, we will be delighted to have Kevin's Parents from Sept. 9th until 16th. Then we head off for Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany from the 18th to 22nd. We will be there for the first weekend of Oktoberfest and we are so excited. My Parents will then be joining us from October 1st until the 11th. With both parents we will be going on a mini-cruise trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. We will also be going to Bergen, Norway- a popular town on the west coast with my parents to see some fjords and go on the Flåm railway (since they will be here a little longer).  Going to see the Fjords was high on my Mom's to do list while in Norway. As my parents depart, I will also depart to Greece to meet up with my friend Casey Gray. She will already be in Greece for a Bear convention so I will meet her and some of her friends afterwards in Athens. We are going to try to see a couple Islands as well. We are very much enjoying our time here in Europe, but are looking forward to our visitors coming as we do miss everyone very much. Hope all is well with everyone-you are never far from our minds. Love from both Donovan's :)  Also I am going to start volunteering in Kongsberg tomorrow at the Cultural Cafe. This should be an adventure, haha.

Kongsberg Jazzfestival

The Kongsberg Jazzfestival took place July 2nd-5th, and it was a busy fun-filled 4 days. I did volunteer during some of the days with the bargruppa (Bar group). We were set up in the middle of the Kirketorget, which is where the large concerts occurred at night and where they had a smaller stage set up for performances during the day. The day shift was perfect for me, as Kevin and I ended up getting to go to three of the four big concerts at night. This was amazing. I was able to practice a little Norwegian, but to be honest I was mostly getting the drinks and pouring the beers...and had a wonderful time. I got to meet people and there were a lot of perks to volunteering! It was worth it :) I was able to go to concerts for free and scored some tickets for my Husband. We were set up under a "Tentipi" hah. It was basically a giant tent but totally looked like a giant teepee. Throughout most of Downtown Kongsberg their were many vendors selling items/food and places to sit and enjoy outdoor concerts. There was also a special place set up where various artists played music for 50 hours straight--in honor of it being the 50 year anniversary of Jazzfest in Kongsberg. It was by far the busiest I have ever seen Kongsberg. Our apartment is in the downtown area so we were in the midst of all of it. We had good weather, but it did rain a couple times (but never during any of the big events.) Mostly in the 70's and a little cooler at night.

Before it all started! -Kirketorget

Where we were set up

Bar Area

Smaller Stage set up near the "teepee"

Working station

Kevin came to visit me and snapped some pics :)

The building that was built near the bridge for the "50 hours of Music"

The Inside set up and Artist playing :)

Just a sneak peak of own street- The Kino (theater) is in the background

Wednesday Night I was exhausted from working and Kevin had a long day at work, so we stayed in that night. It was actually smarter than we thought to stay in that night, because it was honestly non-stop the rest of the weekend. On Thursday, we planned to walk around the Festival once Kevin got home and just catch some of the free concerts going on around downtown. However, Kevin ended up getting a text from his boss that they had extra tickets for the Main Concert that night. It was Sivert Høyem and Kent. Sivert had a really great voice and we really enjoyed him. He is a famous Norwegian singer, and he kind of reminded me of the band Daughtry. Kent is a very famous Swedish rock band, they have been around for many years. They were very entertaining, however I never knew what they were saying---not only was it not English or Norwegian...but Swedish. We spent most of the night with people from Kevin's work, and I got to meet his boss here in Norway. We ended up going out to a place called Privat's after, which is a popular bar here in Kongsberg. Let's just say it was a long night. :)

Near the front for Sivert Hoyem

Sivert Hoyem

Sivert Høyem Video

Kent

Kent performance video

This is a small video of the outside part of Privat's Bar

Friday- I worked again on Friday, and was actually able to get off an hour early. This allowed me to meet Kevin for dinner with his work.  We were pressed for time, due to having tickets to the concert that night.  They were hosting a dinner for some of the visiting customers at the Kongsberg office that week. It was just for his department and customers.  The dinner was at a nice place called Skrågata. Kevin and I had been wanting to go there, because it looked so cute on the outside and we had heard good things about it.  I was so happy I was able to make it.  I ran home, changed, and got over there as soon as I could-about a 5 min brisk walk away (Another reason we love the location of our apartment).   It was so nice to meet some of the people that Kevin has been talking about from work. We were able to enjoy a wonderful meal as well (we rarely eat out so we were happy).  We both agreed it was the best meal we have had in Kongsberg thus far.  It also helped that the wine was continuously poured into our glasses up until the moment we had to leave for the concert. We both enjoyed Reindeer Carpaccio with Rocket Salad for our appetizer and a Fillet of Norwegian beef with pepper sauce, potatoes, and veggies. That night the concert was Bernhoft and Jamie Cullum.  Kevin and I were beyond excited for this concert. We had looked up both of these artists months before and fell in love with them. We had been listening to them on Spotify a lot.  Bernhoft is a Norwegian artist (sings in English) that is his own full band. He is amazing. He will record himself during the performance--so there are voice and music overs the entire time to create the songs.  It is so cool to watch. He is really really talented. I suggest that everyone check him out. Bernhoft's music I feel is similar to a Gavin DeGraw sound (so of course I love). Jamie Cullum was another artist, who is from England. We loooooved him too. His voice kind of has a Michael Buble sound to him and he also knows how to rock it out. It was highly entertaining. Both are worth checking out.

Skragata mat og vinhus

Reindeer Carpaccio with Rocket Salad 

Norwegian Beef fillet served in pepper sauce with potatoes and vegetable

Bernhoft :)

Bernhoft videos below:

One of our Favorite Songs-"C'mon Talk"

"Stay With Me"----Love this song

Jamie Cullum :)

Jamie Cullum Videos Below--he did do a few covers of some other peoples songs. He played the piano amazing, along with some other instruments.

Singing a little JT

Saturday-- This was a beautiful day--we enjoyed the day walking around the festival and catching some free concerts. They actually did had a band called the "Swinging New Orleans Dixieband"--so we enjoyed "When the Saints go  Marching In" and some good instruments. Then we got in line early to prepare for Stevie Wonder. We were just beyond excited. We ended up getting pretty close to the front of the line, and we were able to get in the front for the concert. Mind you I think there were over 10,000 tickets sold.  This may seem "cliche," but it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. He was so talented, humble, funny, and beyond wonderful. He had me awe-struck most of the time. The guy standing next to me, actually admitted to crying during it.  He was so gracious and I just fell more in love with him.  The cool thing about the concerts we went to is that it seemed that those attending the concert (I'm assuming a majority are Norwegians) left just enough space between you and themselves and whoever else was around them.  There was tons of people but it never felt "crowded" like when you go to concerts where it is all standing and you feel you can't breath--like you are just packed like sardines in a designated space. Here, you could always find your way to the front, and you always had breathing room. Even when we were at the front for the Stevie Wonder Concert--we had plenty of room. His opening act was a Norwegian named Knut Anders Sørum, who I actually met earlier in the week when I showed him where the bathroom was while I was working. ha. I had no idea. He sang in Norwegian, and did an awesome version of the John Legend song "Stay With Me". It was all around a great day! We hung out with friends afterwards, and had a good time :) We would see Stevie Wonder again if we ever have another chance in this lifetime.

One of the outside concerts

"When the Saints Go Marching In."-By The Singing New Orleans Dixieband

Waiting for Stevie Wonder to Come on Stage :)

The Crowd

Stevie Wonder :)

Some Stevie Video :)

Knut Anders Sørum- His Norwegian Version of "Stay with Me" by John Legend