To the land of the Vikings

After counting down for many, many days I am finally on holiday and in Norway. The journey to get here was long and tiring but completely worth it all. I flew via Johannesburg and was thrilled that my dear friends Jo and Diets came to spend some time with me while I waited for the connecting flight to Amsterdam. It certainly made the time pass quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go through immigration to go board the plane. The flight to Amsterdam was a little bumpy but not too bad and I managed to get a good 4 hours sleep before waking up to the passenger next to me, a large smelly man, encroaching on my small space. The remaining 7 hours were spent watching movies while pressed up against the side of the cabin avoiding him and his smelliness!

About 3 hours before landing in Amsterdam, a passenger sitting 4 rows in front of me went into some kind of health distress. A doctor was called for and fortunately there were 3 on board. the poor women was given oxygen and made as comfortable as possible for the remainder of the flight and the plane was met by paramedics on arrival who promptly took her off to hospital.

The view coming in to land in Amsterdam

I was in no hurry to get off the plane as I had a ten hour wait until the flight to Trondheim. When I originally booked the flights I thought that the ten hour wait would be easy but I was so very wrong. I was tired and bored after one hour there. I did manage to get in an hours broken napping on some uncomfortable chairs and then spent the rest of the time wandering around and then had a bite to eat. Eventually it was time to go through security and immigration again and go to the boarding gate for my final flight to Trondheim. I started getting really concerned when I saw the other passengers and all the thick heavy jackets they were carrying and decided that I may just be a little under-prepared for the cold.

The flight to Trondheim was very uneventful except for the on-board service which consisted of drinks, followed by a sandwich (which I didn't have), followed by more drinks, followed by a rubbish collection, followed by a cookie handout, followed by more drinks and finally, another rubbish collection. I managed to get another hour of sleep in which was great. The temperature on arrival in Trondheim was a mild zero degrees (!) and we were warned before getting off the plane to be very careful as it was very slippery outside. And so it was with ice everywhere. Baggage collection took an age but eventually I got my suitcase and was very happy to a) get my suitcase and b) that it was not dripping out red wine so the bottle had made the journey in one piece. I walked out to the arrivals hall and was very happy to find Charles there waiting for me.

The drive to Levanger did not take too long but I found it a little unnerving being in the car on the "wrong" side of the road. It was lovely seeing all the snow everywhere, a completely different landscape to home. By the time we were home I was so desperate for a shower - 30 hours in the same clothes just freaks me out. Charles' home is so nice and warm that my concerns about being cold were immediately dispelled.

I slept so soundly and woke this morning to seeing snow falling - a first for me. After breakfast we went for a drive around the town of Levanger. It is a quiet town with some lovely old buildings. Quite a few people were out walking their dogs and a few children were on their way to play in the snow.

A farmhouse on the edge of the Trondheim fjord.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is sunshine so hopefully a good day to take some photos. It will apparently be a balmy 1 degree (LOL) so a good day to roam around a bit more.