A Little Drama Never Hurts

Our trip had gone largely to plan, aside from the sticker shock of buying just about anything basic in Norway, and as of this morning we were feeling good. We woke up after a solid night's sleep in Trondheim, where we had basically spent the last two days just taking it easy. The most we got up to in Trondheim was a walk around town to window shop at stores that were mostly closed and managed to make it to an English pub to watch the Australia-Germany World Cup match, which turned out to be a drubbing. We also learned on that occasion that a couple rounds of beers and a plate of fish and chips will run you about $90 in Norway. That'll put some learnin' on ya.

But after a couple days puttering around and catching up on the BBC and the Prairie Home Companion Movie on Norwegian television (I kid you not...there's photographic evidence to prove it), we were ready to have a lazy morning and head to the quay for the next leg of the trip that we had been looking forward to for months. After a little research, I discovered a beautiful coastal ferry that runs up and down the Norwegian coast from Bergen (our desired destination) to Kierkenes, well above the Arctic Circle. Our plan was to take the ferry overnight from Trondheim to Bergen and see what all the fuss was about with the Norwegian coast.

By memory, I recalled that the ferry was to leave Trondheim at 2:30 PM and arrive in Bergen sometime late Wednesday morning. Mom and I planned a lazy morning before heading out to the quay around 1:30 to make sure we got there with plenty of time to spare. After take a few sips on our morning coffee at around 9:30 AM, we decided to get ourselves in order before starting the day. I asked my mother to pull out the ferry information from her file so we could be sure of our departure and arrival times. She handed me the slip of paper, which I quickly scanned and uttered a few words that a recent seminary graduate probably shouldn't let slip. It turned out that the ferry was scheduled to leave Trondheim at 10:00 AM sharp. At that moment, it was 9:32 AM.

Needless to say, we both entered a frantic state and threw everything we had into our bags in whatever way it would fit and called down to the front desk to call us a cab. Luckily for us, for being the 3rd largest city in Norway, Trondheim is pretty compact and the cab ride took a grand total of 5 minutes. We made it up the gangway at 9:53 with 7 minutes to spare. Mom and I looked at each other and heaved a heavy sigh of relief and gratitude that we made it. She turned to me and summed it up best, "Sometimes, you need a little drama in your life." I think that after a couple sleepy days in Trondheim, she pretty much hit the nail on the head.

So, that's the story of how we made it to the Hurtigruten coastal steamer. Stay tuned for the next post with details on our amazing trip down the Norwegian coast...and the midnight sun! I haven't forgotten!