Påskeferie in Norway and Germany (+ some cat photos)

Påskeferie, or the Easter Holiday, is a big deal in Norway. Most people get the whole week off of work, and Norwegians take to the mountains for one last long ski trip before spring arrives in earnest. We were visited over Påskeferie by our friends Jenn Howell and Claudia Lee. They spent a few days in Trondheim, and then Gavin and I traveled with them to Germany for the Easter weekend. After that, Jenn and Claudia traveled through southern Norway on their own for a week before passing back through Trondheim on their way home.

Jenn and Claudia are the visitors we’ve had this year that I’ve known the longest — I met Jenn in preschool and Claudia in Kindergarten. My parents were kind enough to dig through photo archives to find these childhood pictures of us:

Trondheim

In late March the temperatures began to creep above freezing, and the snow melt in the city was pretty dramatic. In the span of several days we went from a winter wonderland to a place where roads and sidewalks were mostly clear. While I was sad to see the snow go, it means the city is much less of a death trap. Here are some pictures of the early spring.

Jenn and Claudia are probably the last guests that we’ll be able to do winter sports with. Unfortunately, with the temperatures rising above freezing during the day and dropping below at night, the ski tracks were pretty much a sheet of ice. This was not optimal for beginners. They were great sports though.

Similarly, the inconsistent temperatures meant that the outdoor ice skating rinks weren’t in great condition either, and skating was pretty much impossible. At least that’s what Jenn can tell her friends and family if they ask. (Claudia and I fared better.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_yL49KnXj0]

So, we abandoned winter sports altogether and went to happy hour.

 

Germany

Despite the relative proximity, Germany has a very different feel than Scandinavia, at least in the major international cities that we visited — Munich and Berlin. It’s more diverse, it has a larger range of food options, there is less of a frontier feel, and at this time of year, it has much warmer weather. There is also far less English spoken there, at least that we encountered. (These are generalizations of course and we deeply appreciate the willingness of Norwegians to speak with us in English.)

To ease the culture shock, we arrived in Munich but set off on our first day to a place that would feel more like our Norwegian home – Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a town in the Bavarian Alps with ski jumps and a luge track. We hit the autobahn, and can confirm that pretty soon outside the city the speed limit was lifted, as indicated by the circular icon with three dashes below the speedometer.

It was rainy, but we still had an excellent hike through villages and pastures to get some spectacular views. The ladies took the cable car part way up, but since Gavin and I didn’t have any Euros, we walked the whole way.

Another problem with the lack of Euros: in Germany you have to pay to go to the bathroom. Or, you have to stalk a German and catch the door before it closes, and hold it slightly ajar as each of your friends takes turns using it. Not our most dignified.

 

One of the most delightful parts of the hike was seeing a fair number of Germans out in Lederhosen. I can’t imagine this is everyday attire, but maybe it was being worn because it was Easter Sunday. It seemed rude to take pictures, so we didn’t.

Munich has a great food scene, and after the hiking we took the opportunity to eat schnitzel and drink pilsner in a local beer hall.

With the hike finished, I was looking forward not wearing a full waterproof outer layer for the rest of the trip, which is standard issue for life in Norway. And luckily the weather was perfect for wandering through Munich neighborhoods and spending the afternoon in a beer garden.

We even got to watch some surfers. Due to an “accident of engineering,” the man-made Eisbrook river in Munich consistently has a wave that’s perfect for surfing. People have been surfing here since the 1970s, but it just became legal in 2010. Nevertheless, it looks difficult!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8A4wKrBnNc&w=560&h=315]

From Munich we took the bullet train north to Berlin. As the capital of Germany, we thought Berlin had a much more serious and pulled-together feel than laid-back Munich. This could be in part because we spent much of our time exploring WWII and cold war sites, such as Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and an excellent-but-chilling museum called “Topography of Terror.”

 

Checkpoint Charlie was the best-known crossing point between East and West Berlin during the cold war. These days, it’s fairly touristy; you can have your picture taken with “armed guards,” and prime real estate has been snatched up by KFC and McDonalds.

In looking back at the 1,002 pictures that we collectively have from this trip, I’m impressed by how many things we saw in Berlin. Here are a few more highlights.

Southern Norway

After Berlin, Gavin and I flew home to Trondheim, while Jenn and Claudia stopped in Oslo for another week of traveling through southern Norway. They took the stunningly beautiful train trip from Oslo to Bergen, and stopped in Flåm for a detour that included a fjord cruise. They also hiked Pulpit Rock, which is one of most famous view points in Norway. I wasn’t with them, but I have access to their pictures through Google Photos, so I’ll post some of the best ones here.

The shared album also contains 21 pictures of different cats, all taken by Jenn. I’m not sure why, but since she went to the effort, here you go:

Jenn and Claudia, it was so great to have you here. We really appreciate the time you too to come visit us. Thanks for your friendship and for all the laughs!