The Preikestolen: Norway's Survival of the Fittest

Greetings from Norway! I am sitting on a ferry right now headed from Tau back to Stavanger. It is rather chilly. As we flew into Oslo we crossed over mountains, forests and lakes all covered with snow or ice. It actually reminded me of the movie Frozen! It occurred to me that perhaps I should have brought my skis! It is beautiful here. It is very much like the western part of Washington state. We got lost right out of the Airport but soon figured it out. It was about a six hour drive to Stavanger and once there we got majorly lost trying to find the home of Ivan and Laila who would take us to downtown Stavanger to a 100 year old house they renovated as a B&B. It is located in Old Stavanger where the streets are narrow and houses are 100-300 years old. It is also right on the harbor. Two things I have noticed, one... the Norwegians LOVE roundabouts. Forget stop signs and traffic lights. Second....apparently skj and ky are pronounced sh. So Skjold is pronounced Shold. And kylling which is chicken is pronounced shilling.

So today....today we hiked the Preikestolen which is a large flat rock that juts out into a fjord. It is about 2000 feet high. Legend says that when 7 sisters marry 7 brothers, the Preikestolen will break apart and fall into the sea causing the end of the world. The hike up to it is probably the most challenging I have ever experienced. To me, it is Norway's version of Darwin's survival of the fittest. It makes one wonder how the path up to it was discovered. I imagine it went something like this....two Norwegian guys are sitting at the base eating lutefiske and chatting. Then talk turns to the Preikestolen and a bout of machismo ensues which ends with one saying, "Here, Sven, hold my lutefiske and watch this." The path was incredibly rocky, then about halfway up the fog rolled in and then we encountered good amounts of ice on the trail. It got to the point where the only thing keeping us from going over the cliff was a chain and block of wood. Unfortunately the fog obscured what would have been a spectacular view. The hike was nonetheless an adventure and we made it down with a few scrapes and bruises and one cracked rib (the latter was dad).

Let's see what the next few days bring!

Cheers!

Elizabeth

A beautiful view on the way to Stavanger 

 At the top of the Preikestollen

Exhausted after the 4 hour hike!