After a really nice flight with Norwegian on their new Boeing 787 Dreamliner I landed in Oslo, Norway on Sunday 11th May and the difference hit me in the face with a POW. First up I was still wearing shorts, and it was freezing cold when I landed. Secondly, going from one of the cheapest places in the world e.g. £0.70 for a beer, to one of the most expensive places in the world e.g. £10.00 for a beer, made me cry.

My seat had a really cool Android tablet which offered a wide variety of movies and more importantly, let me press buttons to order booze. The windows also had a magic electronic coating, rather than a blind, and at the push of a button the would dim to a dark blue colour blocking out all the light!

Bergen {#h-bergen.wp-block-heading}

The railway from Oslo to Bergen is one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world, and Bergen is the home of Black Metal, so I simply had to pay the place a visit. The trip to Bergen was pretty amusing. There was an avalanche and the line was blocked, so we had a replacement boat service take us some of the way followed by a replacement bus service and then another train for the last mile. It was quite the adventure.

Unfortunately I arrived during a National Holiday so there wasn’t much to do. I was hoping to catch a true kvlt black metal band in a cellar somewhere, but mostly I just walked about and drank beer.

Fantoft Stave Church {#h-fantoft-stave-church.wp-block-heading}

Fantoft Stave Church in Bergen was originally built around the year 1150 and looked totally badass. Then it was burned down in 1992 by Varg Vikernes of the one-man band Burzum as retaliation against Christianity for building a church on sacred, pagan grounds. It was then rebuilt in 1997 and now Black Metal fans all across the world come to visit. Unfortunately I visited 2 days out of season, so it was closed.. my timing on this trip was rubbish! It still looked awesome from the outside though.

National Day Of Liberation {#h-national-day-of-liberation.wp-block-heading}

The 8th May is Norway’s National Day of Liberation where everyone dresses up in their best suits, has a champagne breakfast, watches some parades, then get drunk. This meant I had to do some clothes shopping as all I had was shorts and muscle tops.

Food {#h-food.wp-block-heading}

I was hoping to finally do some cooking, but my mate’s kitchen was still being built so we ate out for every meal, with style. I have to say a huge thank you to Andreas and all the other wonderful people I met for showing me around and getting me drunk a lot 🙂