Around the World- Norway, the reviews

Overall I liked Norway. The people were nice, the food was good, and everything was clean.

I did not like the beds. Every hotel had these awful thin mattresses, and mattress is a generous word for what was more like a pad on top of box springs. They don’t know what a true and proper two-person bed really is, pushing two twin beds together is not the same, it’s hard to cuddle when you sleep if you’re worried about the beds splitting apart and you come crashing down to the floor. Rooms at hotels were European small, but clean and mostly comfortable. The bathrooms tiny, the showers usually had these doors that folded in to allow more room to stand at the sink, but even then the space was tiny.  They could use a lesson in fabric softener, but at least after each shower when I toweled off, I got a good exfoliation.

It is a beautiful place. Rolling hills and mountains and running water everywhere. It was very rainy. That’s part of what causes the beauty I’m sure, how do you fill all those rivers, streams, lakes and waterfalls if not with rain and snow?

The driving was good, the roads all in great shape. BUT, in such a beautiful place, you really need more places to pull over the car to look around and take pictures. The driver really misses out seeing things because there are so few places to stop. Take a lesson from the south island of New Zealand, they do this well.

I will start the hotel reviews by saying that though I couldn’t see myself staying at any of these hotels for more than a couple of days, I would totally go back to any of them and would totally recommend them for anyone else to stay.

Here’s the rundown of the specific hotels we stayed at:

Saga Hotel Oslo
Eilert Sundts Gate 39, Oslo, 0259 Norway

This was a quiet little neighborhood hotel. Was within the center ring of the city, but far from metropolitan. We were able to find street parking for free and walk to many things, most importantly to find food! The breakfast was included and it included real American-like bacon. Any international traveler can tell you that the meal that is most different across the world is breakfast. It was nice to have a small piece of comfort food. The bathroom was one of the small kind with the inward folding shower doors to create room to use the rest of the space. But here, like the others, the tile was very absorbent and didn’t cause a hazard when wet, it quickly dried and never had sitting water.

Flamsbrygga Hotell
Flåmsbrygga, PB 44, 5742 Flåm, Noreg

This was a small, rustic place. It’s placed at the base of some mountainsides, there’s the end of a fjord on one side, waterfalls on the other. The room was small-ish, but had a great balcony and free coffee! The people were super friendly, the front desk had little cakes for an evening treat, complete with sprinkles on the icing.

Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret
Slottsgaten 1, Bergen

This was the only hotel we stayed at that had any kind of affiliation with a name brand that we recognized, Clarion. But it felt like a one-of-a-kind-er. The building was old and full of character. It is placed in a great location on the water. A couple of Viking ships park outside at night. The dining room had free food for most of the day, including the make your own bacon and eggs station.

Scandic Oslo Airport
Ravinevegen 15, Oslo

This hotel served its purpose, clean bed and near the airport. We had a yummy dinner, but left too early for breakfast. The staff was