A Day in the Life of...: Bah said the sheep

I think Aurland was one of my favorite places to stay- it was so country-like. There we were, in this little town, staying in a cottage on the edge of the fjords, surrounded by old little houses, a little church, and a hundred sheep farms. It was extremely quiet and relaxing, and simply breathtaking. Our first day was only about half the day since we did the Nutshell ride that morning, so we just explored the little town and had an extremely delicious rib-eye steak dinner at the ‘hotel’ restaurant. Mmmm. It was fun because they had a mini jukebox in there, and dad was trying to play “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, but 3 times, he pushed the wrong buttons and got “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. Every time. Bridget and I finally got it right. Needless to say, that is now the only Bon Jovi song any of us will listen to because it reminds us of that good time.

The dessert at the restaurant. SO good

Our cottage

Our first full day there was Sunday. We had breakfast at the ‘hotel’ place, and it was…different. There was fresh bread, crackers, slices of meat and cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes, a dish of cold halibut with vinegar and onions, and Norwegian brown cheese. It was an interesting combo for breakfast, definitely not what I’m used to or was expecting. Brown cheese was probably the weirdest thing I ate there: it’s thinly sliced and has kind of a caramel smell. It almost instantly dissolves in your mouth, but kind of sticks to your mouth like caramel or peanut butter. It’s really hard to describe, but that’s be best I got. Very different

Norwegian Brown Cheese

After breakfast, we had a family testimony meeting, where Dad blessed and administered the sacrament, and then we each bore our testimony. One of the greatest blessings of the Gospel is the restored priesthood power that can be obtained by any worthy male member. It allows one to have the power of God accessible to this male member so long as he exercises it properly and worthily, and it allows us to partake of the sacrament each week, no matter where we are. It was a touching and sweet experience to do that with my parents, and it’s something I won’t forget.

After our testimony meeting, we went for a walk up to the top of a mountain where they had a man-made ledge off the mountain that gave you a beautiful view of the fjords and the town. It was a 2.5 hour hike, one way! We passed a LOT of sheep farms, and I am proud to say that Bridget and I mastered the sheep call. Haha It felt like forever to reach the top, but this was the beautiful view from the ledge

Sheep farms are EVERYWHERE.

These two little sheep followed us until the end of their gate.

At the almost-half-way point

We made it!

View from the ledge

The next day was our last day there, and we were taking a boat out that afternoon. We walked around the town some more and went to some shops, including that of the original penny loafer! They were pretty sweet! All real leather, still handmade, and awesome. If you want to check out their website, go here.

That afternoon we got on a boat and took a ‘cruise’ tour through the fjords. After the fjords, we took a train to Bergen, where we would spend our next day and a half. Most of the fjords looked the same, but here’s some pictures from it. Beautiful.

In Bergen, we rented an old house from this elderly couple: the husband was actually born in that house in 1921? - it fits the perfect old European style: bright colors, tall and skinny, practically connected to the houses next to it, and on a cobblestone street only accessible through walking. It was so so cute. We got there late afternoon the first day so we just wandered the streets nearby with all the houses and looked at how cute they were.

Outside the front door of the house we rented

Do you see how little that yellow house is??

View from our window

We had one full day in Bergen. We went to historic Bryggen, their huge fish market, and to Rosenkrantz tower. There's a lot of history that goes with these places, but I could go off for a really long time about it- if you're interested either ask a question, write a comment, or I'm sure you can find the history on Wiki.

Dried fish jerky anyone?

Historic Bryggen

View from the top of the tower

I almost bought this hat. Not really, but it was fun

We also went to the home of the composer Edvard Grieg, and that was pretty cool. We saw his house, his composing hut, and his grave- he was buried in the hall of the mountain king (the mountain).