Has Autumn Fallen? August 27, 2006
The gentle pattering of rain on our window woke Holly and me from our deep kayaking induced sleep. A rainy Sunday morning and nothing to do and we were OK with that. We had the standard Norwegian breakfast of a hearty (read this as tree bark) musli cereal topped by cultured milk (read this as milk that looks as though it has been in the carton too long) followed by cold cuts, a few salad ingredients, toast, coffee and a sugary liquid they call juice. That behind us we proceeded with our day.
We are trying to finalize our Oslo through Copenhagen accommodations which will take us through the next week or so. We have internet access in the public areas of the Voss Vandrerhjem Hostel and we had sent several emails to different hotels but had only received one reply and that one was “no room in the inn”. Since we came to southern Norway it has been difficult to find lodging as it seems that vacation time is still in full swing added to what seems to be a general return to work and travel by the Scandinavians themselves. We spent hours on the internet today and finally booked a room in Oslo but we had to shorten our stay there by one night.
Hostels are homier than your average hotel with temporary citizens spending a lot of time in the spacious public areas. The Vandrerhjem has a general lobby area as well as a large TV area (there are no TVs in the rooms) with lots of seating and tables for eating, writing etc. A concert band was also staying here today and practice started around 9AM and was still in full swing when we left for lunch. I believe they were in the basement but it felt as though we had front row seats at a high school program.
We wandered to town in the rain around lunch time to stretch our legs and get away from the computer for awhile. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from the hostel to the center of this town of 5500 and on Sunday there are just 3-4 small cafes and a couple of convenience stores open. Voss is precariously situated between a lake and a mountain which makes for a pleasant scene even on a rainy day. Both Holly and I commented that it certainly felt like Fall and when we asked a young lady when they would expect Autumn to begin she looked out and said "maybe now". We had lunch at a small café with Holly ordering the special and getting three man-sized pork chops smothered in KFC gravy along with potatoes, sour kraut, carrots and cranberry sauce. I had nachos….and one of Holly’s chops. It was actually very good and at US$35 about the best deal we have had on food in a while.
Back to the hostel and the computer where we continued our search for what comes next. We are hoping that accommodations will be more readily available as we move into the UK, Europe and autumn.
We are trying to finalize our Oslo through Copenhagen accommodations which will take us through the next week or so. We have internet access in the public areas of the Voss Vandrerhjem Hostel and we had sent several emails to different hotels but had only received one reply and that one was “no room in the inn”. Since we came to southern Norway it has been difficult to find lodging as it seems that vacation time is still in full swing added to what seems to be a general return to work and travel by the Scandinavians themselves. We spent hours on the internet today and finally booked a room in Oslo but we had to shorten our stay there by one night.
Hostels are homier than your average hotel with temporary citizens spending a lot of time in the spacious public areas. The Vandrerhjem has a general lobby area as well as a large TV area (there are no TVs in the rooms) with lots of seating and tables for eating, writing etc. A concert band was also staying here today and practice started around 9AM and was still in full swing when we left for lunch. I believe they were in the basement but it felt as though we had front row seats at a high school program.
We wandered to town in the rain around lunch time to stretch our legs and get away from the computer for awhile. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from the hostel to the center of this town of 5500 and on Sunday there are just 3-4 small cafes and a couple of convenience stores open. Voss is precariously situated between a lake and a mountain which makes for a pleasant scene even on a rainy day. Both Holly and I commented that it certainly felt like Fall and when we asked a young lady when they would expect Autumn to begin she looked out and said "maybe now". We had lunch at a small café with Holly ordering the special and getting three man-sized pork chops smothered in KFC gravy along with potatoes, sour kraut, carrots and cranberry sauce. I had nachos….and one of Holly’s chops. It was actually very good and at US$35 about the best deal we have had on food in a while.
Back to the hostel and the computer where we continued our search for what comes next. We are hoping that accommodations will be more readily available as we move into the UK, Europe and autumn.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 1:58 PM
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