Two days in Oslo

We arrived in Oslo early Wednesday afternoon to clear skies and sunshine. We walked through downtown to our guesthouse ("pensjonat"), which is definitely the way to go when looking for accommodation in Europe. After a quick lunch from the grocery store - reindeer salami, cheese, and potato salad - we wandered the city for a few hours. Our first stop was City Hall. Not expecting to see much, we were pleasantly surprised by the art in and outside of the building, much of which was created before and after WWII. It was also a good way to learn more about Norwegian history and mythology.

Oslo happened to be hosting many big festivals this weekend, such as Gay Pride, Oslo Live, and a summer "cross-country skiing" event. The sounds from the crowd and bands led us down to the pier, where we were able to observe much of the festivities. We think we were even on live tv during the race! Because it had been a long day, we cooked dinner back at our hotel and relaxed while watching a little Jersey Shore (after 3 weeks without tv, you would watch it too).

Thursday meant more sightseeing in Oslo, so we started the day off by taking a ferry to the Fram Museum. This museum houses the Norwegian Ship, the Fram, and showed its successful history. This ship sailed further north than any other ship and later brought Roald Amundsen to Antarctica, where he was the first man to ski to the South Pole. It was interesting to read all about polar expeditions from a century ago.

The rain that set in cancelled our plans to walk to a nearby sculpture park, so we took the ferry back to downtown Oslo and stopped in a cafe for some lunch. We had a rich Norwegian meal of meatballs, potato dumplings, and lamb. Afternoon meant more museums as we went to the Norwegian Architecture Museum next. This relatively new museum showcased a variety of structures including private dwellings, commercial buildings and public spaces. Finally, we headed to the National Gallery to see the history of Norwegian art. The highlight was easily the Edvard Munch collection, including the very first version of The Scream (see pic - colors enhanced by Instagram). Three museums in one day is probably a record for us, so we came back and packed up for our journey home.

After three long weeks of trekking around Scandinavia via every possible mode of transportation, we are ready to head back to the U.S. to spend a little time relaxing and seeing family and friends...oh, and getting a Chicago apartment as well. We hope you've enjoyed reading and look for updates from the next trip.

København - Day 2

The second day of Copenhagen started off with much nicer weather and even a bit of sunshine. We took the bus into the city and walked the streets looking for another place to have coffee and pastries for breakfast. In Denmark, this was an easy task as we found pastry shops at every corner (but no Starbucks, which is both weird and great).

The first stop of the day led us to Christiansborg, an island which houses the national parliament and government offices, as well as some royal buildings. We wandered around the grounds for a bit before heading off to another part of the city.

We walked toward the west side of Copenhagen called Vesterbrogade. We were on our way to a restaurant that our guide book told us was a "carnivore's dream." We were excited to sample some of Denmark's tasty meat dishes, such as Flæskesteg and Hakkebøf. To get there, we strolled down a street that was a unique blend of fancy hotels, adult stores, hair salons, and ethnic food shops. After walking for a good 30 minutes, we couldn't find the restaurant, and eventually found out it had closed, "many years ago," according to the florist next door. We ended up finding an artsy British cafe with an amazing Croque Monsieur and a Danish egg smørrebrød.

Next stop was a visit to the famous Ølbutikken bottle beer shop. Its stock had been cleared out due to the recent Copenhagen Beer Festival, but we still found some goodies to load up in our packs to bring back to the U.S. Right around the corner was the Mikkeller Bar (see attached pic - an example of Danish interior design). Mikkeller is a gypsy brewer with no facilities, so the bar is his showcase. This bar easily had a world-class bottle list, featuring some of the best from Northern Europe, as well as others. We stuck to the Mikkeller beers and had a Bourbon Aged Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (made with kopi lowak coffee - beans digested by a civet, then harvested) and others. However, the highlight was Mikkeller Black aged in a cognac barrel, which is definitely a world class stout on par with the cognac Stormaktsporter.

After spending the afternoon at the bar, we sought out "Denmark's greatest hot dogs." Sadly, this shop had moved, so we headed into Tivoli Gardens for some dinner to accompany our recreation. Luckily, we found a Danish restaurant and tried hakkebøf for dinner. This was basically a hamburger with onions, but it hit the spot. Relaxation was the theme for the rest of the night while we wandered around Tivoli, people-watching and just enjoying our last night in Copenhagen.

Mikkeller

København - Day 1

We arrived in Copenhagen late Sunday night and saw a "dark" sky for the first time in two weeks. We set up our tent at a campground less than 3 miles from the city center. This campground exists temporarily each summer in a giant park, for tourists we assume. Regardless of why it exists, it's perfect for us, especially with our last-minute decision to visit Copenhagen.

It poured rain all night (loud enough to keep us up at times) but we woke up to a dry, gray sky and hopped on a bus to the center of Copenhagen. Kicking it off in true Danish style, we stopped at a bakery for coffee and pastries. We spent the entire day walking and covered almost ten miles, only seeing half of the city. This walk included a visit to Christiana, which is like an eclectic 70s commune with people even selling hash on the street at 10am. Throughout the day, our walk took us to numerous other sites like The Little Mermaid, Kastellet (a fortress), Rosenborg Castle and the Royal Gardens.

We were amazed at how much there is to see and do here and pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of people and quick paced atmosphere. There is definitely a mix between new Scandinavian and old European architecture, which is something that has captivated us already. Bicyclists rule the streets and there is never a shortage of cruisers parked along the sidewalk.

Lunch consisted of a platter of traditional smørrebrød, which are basically gourmet open faced sandwiches (see pic in other post). Later, after seven hours of walking, we decided to rest our feet and have a beer. We stopped by a local brewpub, Nørrebro Bryghus, and had their sampler of eight different styles. On our way back to the bus, we decided to hop into another good beer bar for a half-glass each, while sitting outside across from a park. We made our way back to the campsite to cook a late dinner before resting up for another big day in Copenhagen.

Smørrebrød

The Town of Kvanndal on Hardangerfjord

Two hours into our ride, the bus dropped us off at the ferry dock, across the street from the entire town of Kvanndal, which consisted of no more than 20 buildings total, including houses. We set up camp at the campsite in town, right across from the ferry. We made dinner and planned the hike for Saturday.

Walking around in the Bergen rain must've worn us out, since we both slept like rocks until late morning. After an energizing breakfast we hit the trail in full rain gear, since the rain from Friday had not let up. With low clouds, we knew there was a slim chance of a gorgeous vista of Harsangerfjord, but we started climbing anyway. We ascended about 1500 feet in a few miles over steep, wet and rocky terrain and were rewarded with exactly the view we expected: clouds. However, the hike was gorgeous as we walked through a dense canopy along the cliffs and even crossed under multiple waterfalls. Moreover, upon our return, the rain let up and the clouds lifted just long enough to get a couple snapshots, including the attached pic. All-in-all, the four hour hike was well worth it, especially since we managed to stay dry.

The rest of the time in Kvanndal consisted of eating, sleeping, relaxing and doing more crossword puzzles until the bus came on Sunday. This took us back to Bergen, where we are now at the airport, anxiously awaiting our flight to Copenhagen. Hopefully our luggage will join us this time.

Bergen, Day 2

After 13 days of sunshine, we got our first glimpse of wet weather. The city of Bergen gets 260 days of rain each year and we saw it firsthand. This was no Seattle drizzle, but rather a solid shower for endless hours. But, we were leaving town that day, so we had our waterproof gear on while we spent the afternoon around the town.

We walked past the fish market again, tempted by the smoked fish, caviar and sausages, but we refrained from purchasing any "souvenirs." Next was the Brygga, which is a row of more than fifty 18th century buildings still standing. These are probably the only buildings in Scandinavia this old that have never burnt down. Seriously, look up the history of any city we've been to and you'll see that each city has burnt down at least once. This makes the Brygga that much more impressive.

Just down the street lies the old Bergen military fortress. The parts of the fortress that weren't destroyed in WWII were pretty cool, and we could tell that the fortress would've been quite imposing in its entirety.

The other attractions in Bergen consisted of a leprosy museum and numerous art galleries, which are not really our thing, so we wandered around in the rain for a while. We saw some old houses, statues and the lake and fountain (see pic) before catching the bus to Kvanndal for the weekend to see a fjord.

From Lofoten to Bergen: Gateway to the Fjords

We've had a lot going on in the last 48 hours, so here's a little rundown.

Wednesday afternoon was spent wandering around the town of Å, most of which is designated as part of an outdoor museum, explaining the history of the town. There were thirty buildings in all, including the founder's mansion and gardens, a boathouse and a cod-liver oil factory, which was simply disgusting, though in an entertaining way. We watched a super cheesy video about making cod liver oil, even though it was in Norwegian. Free tastes of the oil were offered, but one whiff of the stuff drove us both straight out of the building.

After finishing up in Å, we walked back north to the town of Sørvågen (see pic) for a traditional Lofoten dinner, which was appreciated after days of dehydrated backpacking meals. We had sei (fish) and a whale steak, and were happily educated on the politics of whale hunting by the server. If you have any questions, we'll tell you all about it. Regardless, the whale was a unique opportunity that we couldn't pass up, and it just so happened to be delicious.

Next was the final walk back to Møskenes to catch the overnight ferry to Bodø. From there, we flew to Bergen, though our luggage arrived about 10 hours later than us. We spent the afternoon walking around the Bergen, as well as planning our next moves. Unfortunately, the snowpack in Jotunheimen is still too deep and the public transportation is not conducive to us through-hiking at this time of year. So we audibled and now are planning on visiting a fjord near Kvanndal for a couple days before flying to Copenhagen. We plan to see more of Bergen tomorrow, then heading to the fjord and we'll try to update from there before our trek to Denmark. Not exactly as much backcountry backpacking as we planned, but this is why we call it adventure traveling.

Walking to Å, the End of Lofoten

From Møskenes, we loaded up our packs and hit the road, heading south. This stretch took us past the fishing villages of Sørvågen and Tind, before we walked into Å. This walk wore us out and we were happy to have lunch and enjoy the view from our seaside hostel room.

We wandered around the tiny village a bit, which consists of a restaurant, a number of rorbuer (seaside fisherman's huts), and a couple museums, which we plan to check out tomorrow. The entire village smells like stockfish, which we will tell you more about in another post.

Since it stays light out late, we headed out at 7pm for an evening hike around Lake Ågvatnet. The meandering trail took us through marshes, over a couple small creek crossings, as well as up some chain-assisted rock climbs. The views all around the lake were stunning (see pic) and the 5-miler was enough to stir up an appetite before a late dinner back at the hostel. That should bring us up to the present and we'll update again when we can.

Ramberg til Møskenes

We finally caught the bus to Ramberg on Monday morning (whew!). The hour drive along the lakes and sea were breathtaking. The weather changed dramatically from hot and sunny to cold and windy. Once in Ramberg, we walked to the beach and made lunch. It wasn't going to be a swim in the ocean and lay out kind of day that we had expected, but nonetheless the beach was beautiful (see pic). After eating and relaxing on the beach, we decided to ditch our packs and attempt the climb up "Nubben." We climbed up about 500 feet to get views of the village, which were well worth the effort (see pic in other post).

Afterward, we stopped by the tourist office to chat with a local, who happened to love Chicago. Aside from that, there wasn't much going on, so we headed back to the beach to make dinner. Finally, the last bus out of Ramberg left at about 9:30 pm and we took that to Møskenes. Arriving at almost 11pm (still daylight, remember?), we set up camp and called it a night.

The View of Ramberg from Nubben

Kabelvåg: An Unexpected Detour

Sunday morning started out great. Got up, had breakfast, broke down camp and walked to the bus station to make our way to Ramberg. An hour later, while still at the bus stop, we realized that Ramberg might not be in the cards for the day. We got a local to translate the fine print in the bus schedule, only to find out that Sunday was a national holiday and no busses would be running that day...anywhere. Time for plan C: Kabelvåg.

We started walking down the main island road to figure out where we'd be spending the night. After a two hour walk, we found Kabelvåg, a motor home mecca. Luckily, we managed to squeeze our tent in by the beach and had a fantastic view (see pic). The day was unusually hot, and with our slightly sunburnt faces, we decided to relax at camp and not explore the town. We called it a night and decided to get up the next morning and try the bus for Ramberg again.

Lofoten Islands - Svolvær

Friday is what we like to call a "travel day." Starting the morning in Stockholm, we bussed to the airport, flew to Oslo, then to Evenes Airport. Missing the last bus to Svolvær, we headed east to Narvik, where we wandered around the city to multiple hotels before finally finding one that was both open and staffed. Oh, and staffed it was. Words can't even begin to describe how much of a character the old man was.

After a good night's sleep under the midnight sun, we headed downstairs for a traditional Norwegian breakfast, complete with smoked salmon and herring, pickled herring, eggs and meatballs. Next it was back to the bus, heading southwest to Svolvær. For the entire 4 hour bus ride, it was nothing but beautiful seascapes and mountains jutting straight out of the water. We arrived in Svolvær at 1:40 and rushed to the tourist office before they closed at 2. From there, we rushed to three different sporting goods stores for fuel, maps, and a replacement waterproof shell, which Chris accidentally left in Narvik. But we won't talk about that anymore.

With gear in hand, we started the hot (yes, that's right, hot) walk to the campsite. While we are in the Arctic Circle and there is snow on most of the peaks around us, it was nearly 80 F today! We are pretty sure this is unusual, but who knows?

Within seconds, the tent was set up and the stove had water boiling for a quick lunch of pad Thai (yeah, we eat well while camping). We spent some time planning the rest of our days in Lofoten, then headed out for a dinner hike. A short ascending trail led us to the perfect spot to set down our packs and make lasagna for dinner. Our view was spectacular (see blog pic).

Tomorrow we head to Ramberg to check out the white sandy beaches and dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean.

Stockholm Day 2

After a hard night's sleep, we woke up Thursday morning excited to explore Stockholm. We had breakfast on the hotel balcony and chatted with some tourists from Vancouver. The weather for the day was unusually perfect, at least according to the locals. The hotel manager suggested we visit the Vasa Museum, and so we set off to see what it was all about.

The Vasa Museum depicts the famous Vasa Viking ship that sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1628 just minutes into its maiden voyage. The ship was retrieved from the sea floor in the 1960s and went through several decades of restoration before being put on display for the public to see in 1990. For one museum being dedicated solely to a war ship that never even fought, it was fascinating to learn its history (see pic below).

After nearly 2 hours at the museum, we were ready for lunch. Just down the street we were able to get an outside table and sample some traditional Swedish dishes. Fried herring and Swedish meatballs...and not the ones you get from IKEA (see pic below).

Since we were able to see most of the sites by foot, we decided to end our day in the city by taking a touristy boat tour through the 14 islands that make up Stockholm. The two hour cruise offered unique views of many of the city sights, while giving our legs a rest before backpacking.

After ice cream in the park, we headed back to our hotel to make dinner and get ready for the Arctic Circle. And now for some quick stats pertaining to our trip so far...

# of modes of transportation: 9 (car, airplane, bus, subway, train, ferry, feet, bike, boat)

# of cities visited: 3

# of nights camped: 2

# of crossword puzzles completed: 33 and counting...

# of other Americans encountered: 0

# estimated miles walked: 25

Because our next destination takes us to a remote location, we do not know when we will be able to send updates again, but expect our next update to talk about our time spent on the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway.

Swedish Meatballs

Vasa Museum

Akkurat, the Best Beer Bar in Stockholm

To finish our night off, we went to Akkurat, arguably one of the best beer bars in the world. Their vintage list was expansive and they have beers brewed or blended specially for them, as well as other bar exclusives, which is why we were there. We started off with a nice sour, Cantillon Loerik, to wake up the taste buds from their post-dinner snooze. This gueuze was brewed in 1996 and is known to produce a number of flat bottles, but ours was carbonated perfectly. After sipping this for a while, we moved on to an Akkurat exclusive: Narke Stormaktsporter Cognac (see picture). Like the Kaggen! we had in Helsinki, this imperial stout was barrel aged, though this version was a cognac barrel. Brewed in 2010 for Akkurat's anniversary, the beer was fantastic and the only possible complaint may be that it's still a bit young and needs time. To finish up the night, the bartender fed us samples of some nice, light Swedish pale ales, which would easily stand up to any American version. A great end to the first day in Stockholm, but now it's time to rest up for the busy day tomorrow.

Day 1 in Stockholm

Our ferry arrived in Stockholm at about 3:30 and much of the afternoon was spent wandering Stockholm on the way to our hotel, which is basically a 9-room B&B in the city. After dropping our things off, we headed to southern Stockholm to Sodermalm for dinner. We went to Kvarnen, which is a classic Swedish beer hall, per the recommendation of a friend. Though the meatballs were tempting we ultimately went with Salmon and pytta i panna, which is like roast beef hash for dinner. Next, we walked off dinner while taking some photos around Sodermalm on our way to our post-dinner drinks at Akkurat, which we'll mention in the next post. We packed in a lot today, but tomorrow should be even more adventurous.

The Aland Islands

Managing to wake up in time for our 5:45 train to Turku on Monday, we headed to the west coast of Helsinki to catch a "short" ferry to the Aland islands. Six hours later, we arrived in Mariehamn. After setting up our tent near the beach, we took a stroll through "downtown" and grabbed a reindeer burger as a late lunch. We picked up food at the market for dinner and then walked through the woods back to our campsite. A quick pasta dinner and we were asleep by 8:30 pm.

Ten hours later, we awoke to a quick but vicious thunderstorm. After the rain cleared up and the sun came out, we decided to rent bikes and ride around the island. We planned a picnic lunch and rode through the countryside before stopping to eat on the beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon on our bikes, stopping only to read the map and get some ice cream. We went back to camp and put on our "Sunday best." We rode back to town for dinner at Niska's Pizzeria where we had dinner on the waterfront, which would've been perfect for sunset except that the sun was still high above at 8pm. To cap off the evening, we went to a high lookout point before returning to camp. Because it was still light out, we played cards until about 1am before calling it a night (er, day?). This morning, we woke up, packed up, hiked to the port and hopped on a ferry to Stockholm.

Helsinki - Olutravintola Pikkulintu

Later Sunday was the first time on this trip that we got to geek out on beer. After a short metro ride to outer Helsinki, we stopped at arguably the best "strip mall" bar in the world: Olutravintola Pikkulintu. We started with the Cantillon Pikkulintu Viskilambic, a lambic aged in a bourbon barrel of which Cantillon blended only 192 bottles especially for this bar. This was exceptional, unique, and worth flying to Helsinki for. Next up was a triple IPA brewed for Pikkulintu by Shaun Hill of Grassroots, the same Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead fame. Finally, we were lucky enough to try a bottle of 2005 Narke Kaggen! stormaktsporter. This little bottle had subtle, perfect hints of oxidization and we're glad we got to try it at this age. The bartender was fantastic and we would've stayed all night if the budget and time allowed, but dinner beckoned.

We headed back on the metro to just north of city center, to an area where most of the Finns hang out. Based on a recommendation from the city tourist office, we found a little hole-in-the-wall Ukrainian restaurant. The stroganoff was great and their specialty, meat-stuffed dumplings with currants, was exceptional. Overall, a fantastic day for our taste buds.

Next up are the Aland Islands and not sure when we'll be able to post again, but expect an update some time Wednesday.

Helsinki in 24 Hours

After making it an early night on Saturday after 17 hours of traveling and a quick stroll around the city, we settled into our unique hotel room not far from the city center. It is a front-desk/key/maid-less chain of hotels. Each room has an electronic key pad and our passcode was emailed to us prior to arrival. The room looks like something out of an IKEA catalog, and is roomy and comfortable.

We decided to sleep in on Sunday to sleep off the jet lag, but still got a fairly early start to the day around 11am. We strolled down to the City Tourist office to book our train and ferry tickets to Aland (more to come on that in a later post). We walked through the open air market near the port of Helsinki, visited the Helsinki City Museum, and captured photos of various cathedrals. Just standing and looking around, one can tell that the city is fairly new and has a lot of Russian influences.

After taking in much of the city center, we headed over to the well-known Hakaniemi Market. There were an abundance of vendors selling clothes, jewelry, furs, and food, including reindeer meatballs (which Chris ate for lunch, and I must admit, are quite tasty).

It has been very easy to speak with Finns thus far. We anticipated not being able to communicate easily with the Finns, but everyone has been very nice and helpful, and speaks English very well. We still try our best though, even if we have to stand looking through our travel book to figure out what to order or how to ask for something.

The next taste of Helsinki included a beer bar and a Ukranian meal... more of that to come next!

Scandinavia Itinerary

(click on the pic to see the map more easily)

Friday we head out to Scandinavia and hopefully this map gives an idea of our itinerary. Here's a quick run-down.

1. Helsinki: museums and beer

2. Åland Islands: beaches

3. Stockholm: touristy stuff and beer at Akkurat

4. Lofoten Islands (Evenes, Harstad, Svolvær): backpacking and sleeping under the midnight sun

5. Lofoten Islands (Moskenes, Å): backpacking

6. Bødo: ferry here just to fly to Bergen

7. Bergen: taking in Norway's second city

8. Jotunheimen: through-hiking Norway's most famous national park during summer solstice

9. Oslo: recuperating and enjoying the Norwegian sun

We'll try to update as much as we can! Hope you enjoy!

Resurrection!

Hey everyone, Chris here again. It's been a short, but busy couple of years in Philly. Just wanted to update on what's been happening before Sarah and I start our summer travels.

During my time in Philly while working on my MBA, I was lucky enough to go on a couple Wharton Leadership Ventures. First, I went to Ecuador to attempt to summit Cotopaxi (failed due to weather). Pictures can be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.prochak/2010Cotapaxi#

After that, Sarah and I had a nice weekend backpacking in Shenandoah where we had our first bear encounter. It figures; we've been to something like 15 national parks and Shenandoah was the first time we saw a bear. What they say is true: the bear was more scared of us than we were of it.

During the 2010-2011 school year, I was a Venture Fellow for the Leadership Venture Program and was lucky enough to co-lead a group of MBAs to Antarctica. This was an incredible trip and you can read about the venture here: http://wharton.expenews.com/en/expeditions/144/dispatches?id=2060. We had a little difficulty getting to King George Island, but once there, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You can find my pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.prochak/20102011WhartonAntarcticaVenture#

Unfortunately, that's the extent of our backpacking/trekking in Philly. The Poconos just don't quite offer what the west coast has.

Since this blog is about beers and backpacking, I thought I'd mention something beer related. We've been homebrewing for about 18 months now and can't wait to get a bigger place in Chicago to do more. In addition, I've been able to geek out on a lot of beer over the last couple years living in Philly. Philly beer Week 2010 was a highlight for me for sure, but I also went to a couple Captain Lawrence Releases, including an epic tasting of seven different FiftyFifty Eclipse versions (see this: https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.prochak/BeerReleasesAndTastings#5596641054419326514). Also, while figuring out what I wanted to do with my career, I did some strategy work for a large regional east coast brewery as well as shadowed the founders of a west coast regional craft brewer and a northwest microbrewery. Great experiences, but the beer industry is not for me (at least not yet...).

That pretty much brings us to today. Starting in August, Sarah will be taking her turn earning her master's degree and I'll be starting work in Chicago in September. But until then, we've decided to have a little fun, which is why we're resurrecting this blog. From June 3 to June 24, we'll be backpacking through Finland, Sweden and Norway (including the Arctic Circle). If time allows, we plan on making a couple stops at special beer bars in Helsinki and Stockholm to get our beer fix. The rest of the trip will be pure backpacking! I can't promise how often we'll be able to update, but look for a few posts over the next few weeks.

Beyond that, we plan on continuing our road trip tradition of beers and backpacking, this time hitting up the northeastern U.S. (and maybe Canada). I don't know how many parks or breweries we'll hit this time, but it'll be another great adventure.

Until next time,

Chris