Norge: Round I, Part I

I've spent a lot of time in Norway recently- almost two weeks out of the past month to be exact. And I've determined that I really like it there. What it lacks in affordable anything it more than makes up for in stunning scenery and very nice people. And it has been wonderful to get out of the city. As much as I love Copenhagen, there's something about living in a city that really gets me down. Sometimes I just need to recharge with trees and mountains and fresh air.
I will now attempt to recap my travels, beginning at the beginning. At the start of September, my wonderful parents came to visit. We explored Copenhagen, and I got to do all the touristy things I've wanted to do, but would have felt stupid doing alone. I will write about that later. We also toured around southern and central Norway, and it was excellent. 

Here is the fearless pair. Sorry guys, you had to make an appearance.

Our week-long jaunt began in Oslo. It's not the most scenic or exciting city, but there are some cool museums. And as I wrote many years ago, the opera house is a great building. We went to the Viking ship museum, because, well, how could we not? We also checked out the Fram museum, which is about polar exploration- very interesting. The harbor ferry to these museums was quite scenic. And we checked out the opera house at night, which was very nice to see. I enjoyed the lighting.

Not bad.

The opera house by night.

Bright and early the next day, we headed north to the tiny fjord-side town of Lofthus. On the way, we saw a stave church in Torpo. I think stave churches are amazing, so I was very excited. They're really cool buildings.

Stave churches are very tall and narrow.

And have very detailed carvings.

Even the door hardware is kind of ornate.

Our drive also took us over one of Norway's high plateaus. They are beautiful landscapes, and very unusual looking. I was jealous of all the people who own cabins scattered across it. It seems like a gorgeous, if somewhat lonely place to live.

There are lots of lakes up there.

And building rock piles is apparently the thing to do.

So I built one.

My first fjord!

Lofthus is located on an arm of the Hardanger fjord, almost on a parallel with Bergen. Apparently a lot of fruit is grown in this area, particularly apples, so we got to sample some local apple juice. Very delicious. Unfortunately it seems cider isn't really a thing in Europe, so we didn't get any Norwegian cider. Bummer.

The view from the pool. I could get used to this lifestyle...

It also needs to be noted that the toilet in our room had a massaging seat, and multiple
settings.  It made me nervous.