This morning’s view from my bedroom window.
Scenes from the train
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Upload issues
I find it bitterly ironic that I am in the most glorious setting on the planet with an iPhone brimming over with postcard-worthy pictures - and our friend Google has lost the ‘marriage’ licence between importing and pasting photos into the blog. My BFF CHAT and I spent a few hours trying various workarounds, all to no avail, and it was finally revealed that this is an issue that Google is trying to fix. Believe me, there are thousands of furious bloggers like me checking every two minutes on the functionality, so I hope soon I’ll be able to share some of the astounding beauty of this country.
Yesterday’s train trip was over all too quickly, despite the 7 hours that it took to arrive at Bergen station, and from there, to another little regional train that deposited us 15 minutes later at Trengereid. And, a daunting hill to climb to get to our lodgings. Mental reminder: The next time a host offers to pick us up, just say YES. It wasn’t a lengthy haul but it was sure steep and my lungs were on fire by the time we arrived and were greeted by our host, a Hawaiian lady (I’m not kidding! Where else would you find a Hawaiian lady but in a tiny Norwegian village?), who gave us a little tour and welcomed us with freshly pressed apple juice and Norwegian chocolate bars.
Without the cacophony of Dublin or the wet-laundry mildew of Oslo, I slept deeply. The air here is so fresh and invigorating and the view of our fjord is simply stunning. And it was a good thing I felt restored, as today held the mission of training back to Bergen, catching a different train out to the airport and picking up our Toyota Yaris, our faithful steed for the next 8 days. Google maps then got us to an excellent grocery store, and Dave unloaded about a billion kroners to fill the pantry to the brim. Fully loaded, we made it back to Trengereid without a hitch thanks to clearly marked roads and the constant advice from my iPhone. We are in the mountains here and therefore, many, many tunnels to drive through but all brightly lit and relatively quiet as far as the traffic goes. This is a breathtakingly beautiful country, with waterfalls around every corner and deep fjords and sparkling lakes everywhere.
I just wish I could share some pictures! Mañana, maybe. C’mon Google!
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Oslo
Our little apartment is just footsteps from Frogner Park, and by noon the sun was shining. I spent a few hours in complete immersion in the amazing sculptures of Gustav Vigeland.
There are 212 sculptures in the installation, and Vigeland deliberately removed almost every cultural reference from his figures, knowing that in doing so they could transcend time. They have no costumes, no obvious nationality, no particular era to anchor them. And because of that, they become exquisite representations of relationships — statues depicting everything from birth to death, love to angst, anger to frustration, conversation to camaraderie.
They are spellbinding.
The artistic display is cradled in the most perfect and natural landscape, one that pulls the eye and effortlessly leads from its beginnings, through the astounding Monolith, and finally to the Wheel of Life. Approaching each section is a gentle sweep of stairs, flanked by masses of roses, cosmos, delicate ferns and fountains. The sculpture installation itself occupies about 80 acres, and is heavily embraced by trees such as birch and poplars, their leaves just beginning to show the hues of fall. In every corner and niche there seems to be a calm, meditative place to sit on a polished bench and simply absorb it all. It is as if the land itself is part of the reverent sculpture.
I felt saturated and almost unable to absorb more. After a few hours, we finally turned our feet toward the harbour.
There, amid the luxurious yachts, we stopped dockside for a beer and a platter of cheese, meat and breads. We were flanked on one side by the ancient walls of Akershus Fortress and, nearby, the royal yacht, here in Oslo as the city prepares for King Harald’s funeral tomorrow. The comparison did not fail to move me, as I sat squarely in the middle of a thousand years of history. Between those ancient walls, the royal yacht and Vigeland’s timeless figures, I was seeing legacy across all the centuries - what is built, what endures, and what is left behind. Life.
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