Norway, Land of Waterfalls

We planned this trip kind of late in the game, about a month before we went, and decided on a simple trip--drive to Bergen, gateway to the famous Norwegian fjords, and back to Oslo, going on a southerly arc to Bergen and on a northerly arc to return to Oslo. It is a spectacularly beautiful route to drive (and speaking with people, the train is also quite beautiful, although holds the disadvantage that you cannot stop and enjoy a particular view or take a picture at your leisure, both of which options we exercised frequently on the drive.

There is quite a lot of water to be found everywhere--rivers, lakes, fjords, and best of all, waterfalls. They are everywhere, they are plentiful, they are gorgeous to the point of looking preternatural. I posted a reel on my social media page and someone thought it looked like AI. So if this holds appeal for you, Norway has it in exceptional measure.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

I loved this book. It is one of the short list for the Booker Prize, and having read the other 5 on that list, this is my choice for the winner. That said, while I have not read absolutely all of this author's books, I have read many of them and she is a really good fit for me. The books are emotionally on target, describing things that I relate to, both personally and as a mental health professional. She doesn't shy away from the hard stuff, and she does so in a very relatable way. The man whose head we get inside of is Artie--he is long married, has a son Rob, and is a beloved high school English teacher and seems to have a way with teens. So on the outside all looks good, but Artie is struggling with suicidal ideation and is at the point where he is thinking his way through to a plan. The story explores loneliness and existential trauma, love and meaningful connections with those around us. The book does not flinch away from some of the political challenges facing America right now, the threat to democracy and the loss of empathy that is on display for the world to see and how distressing that is for many people. This is one of the best--do not miss it.

Lisverket, Bergen, Norway

I loved this restaurant. First of all, it is in a museum, and the space is absolutely beautiful. We had a reservation that started the minute the restaurant opened, so it started off quiet, but over the course of our meal it filled up, and the sound scape was just as nice as the visual scape. On top of that they used Norwegian made glassware that was paper thin--it was so beautiful but I know we would break each and every one of them before we would get much if any use out of them. So sad and so gorgeous. But it is good to know your audience, especially when it is you. This is a Michelin one star restaurant, which is my personal sweet spot for a fancy meal, but I also read about it in one of the guide books I read while figuring what the heck to do on this trip, because the chef is a bit of a trend setter in Norwegian modern cuisine. It is run by chef/owner Christopher Haatuft and featured in New York Times 2017 as "redefining Nordic Cuisine", Lysverket presents a modern Norwegian cuisine with focus on local seafood, such as handpicked shells and dry-aged fish – but you will also find meat and seasonable vegetable dishes on the menu. The restaurant offers a 10-course tasting menu that can be combined with wine pairings, alcohol free pairings, or a bottle of wine from an extensive wine list--we opted for a more modestly priced (for Norway) cremant that the sommelier recommended, and we were very happy with it. The price of the wine pairings is double the cost of the meal. Christopher Haatuft also runs a company called MatTak together with a local gardener. Their goal is to spread knowledge about growing food and finding solutions for issues caused by climate change. The idea is to grow food on roofs throughout the city to manage the impacts of heavy rain, while at the same time provide locally sourced produce for restaurants and residents of Bergen. Lysverket uses vegetables grown locally by MatTak, which helps reduce the restaurant’s environmental impact. There were several memorable course, all featuring local proteins and seasonal vegetables, and all delicious, but the nasturtium salad was exceptionally delicious and the seafood spectacular--the oyseter underneath a pea granite was another standout. To top things off the beautiful Kode Bergen Art Museum was offering a weaving work shop that I would have loved to check out.

Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodwin

This book was long listed for the Booker Prize, and very nicely fits into the sort of book to glean that honor. It reads pretty tongue in cheek to me, and the characters are not named. Man is pretty typical of men who think they get what their privledge is but essentially are clueless. Despite his inducements to kindness, insight, fun and joy, Man is let go from his work as a university professor: his views are no longer compatible with the university’s. Later still, Wife, his spouse and also a professor at the university, leaves him. This might be because they met when he was her teacher and have since outgrown a dynamic where she is subordinate. Or because he speaks casually of hitting her during sex and of hitting her dog. Or simply because she is no longer as beautiful as she was when she was young (not that Man believes telling women they’re beautiful--not because it objectifies them but because it might go to their head). It’s difficult for him to say – all the same, he is depleted of self and purpose, and it’s clear a return to Nature is needed. This leads him to Helen and a house in the woods. While I can totally relate to this phenomena, having worked for 40 years in the workforce in general and as a university professor specifically, and this is dead on in so many ways, I just did not love it.

Roadside Public Bathrooms in Norway

I was a bit hesitant about renting an electric car in a sparsely populated country, but it was half the price of a car with gas, and lots of information on line intimated that it would not be a problem, so we went for it, and I would urge you to do the same. It was also a quarter the price of taking the train for the two of us, and we could stop whenever and whereever we wanted as an added bonus. The thing I did not think about and probably should of is the availability of public bathrooms in such a place. I have survived metastatic ovarian cancer, which entailed an extensive and lengthy abdominal surgery followed by 6 months of intrabdominal chemotherapy. Suffice it to say that I am very grateful to be a survivor over the last decade, but it did not leave me with what I would call predictable bathroom habits. At all. I do largely try to ignore it but it can be unexpectedly inconvenient and that was unfortunately the case on this trip. The truly amazing news is that public bathrooms on tiny Norwegian back roads are both surprisingly plentiful and quite modern, clean, and well equipped. It was a pleasure to use them, and every time I needed one, it was not far away to get to. As a health care worker, I know that while my reason for this is unusual, the problem is not at all, and so if you see a bit of yourself in this situation, rest assured that you can travel comfortably in Norway. Best public bathrooms in Europe. Maybe anywhere I have been.

This Land Is Your Land by Beverly Gage

The author was reflecting on 2026 being both America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence coinciding with the president of the United States and the GOP being openly disinterested in maintaining the republic and leaning hard into authoritarian leadership. She was guided by her perspective as a historian and fueled by her love of a good road trip, Gage sets out on a journey of epic proportions, visiting thirteen different destinations in pursuit of answering a question once posed by Benjamin Franklin, namely: Is the sun rising or setting over the republic? To that end, Gage — mostly alone, but occasionally with a travel companion in tow — traverses some of this country’s most storied places. Her objective is perhaps less to answer Franklin’s question, and more to explore why it remains one. Be aware--this is not attempting to represent a comprehensive history of the United States, nor does she deliver a one-to-one ratio of America’s best and worst. Instead, the author provides a thoughtfully curated exploration of some of America’s most poignant historic sites and a means of learning more of our past and, perhaps in the process, gaining a deeper understanding of our present and how we got here. It is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good news is that overall she emerged from this experience more hopeful than when she started. It is also a good read, more conversational than dry and academic. It is also a trip that would be a nice blueprint for a trip of your own once you are for whatever reason not tied to a job that requires you to show up on a regular basis.

Vågslidtun Hotel, Vågsli, Norway

When your vacation plan is to drive on a big circle route from Oslo to Bergen, and you want to do it in a leisurely fashion, you need to find a stopping point along the way. Norway has about 5.5 million people, and 1.1 million of them live in Oslo (so about 2 out of every 10 people)--the think is that Bergen, with a population of under 300,000 people, is the next largest town. So the other 80% of the Norwegian population is scattered across a country of 150,000 square miles. Meaning it is sparsely populated and the choices for accomodations and eating establishments are equally sparse. THe one thing you can find is a place to charge your electric car, which is a very good thing. So that is how we ended up here, at this rustic country hotel where we had the most basic room of the entire stay and balancing that out, the most spectacular view--and as my spouse pointed out, we were in the cheap seats--there were more luxurious chalets on the property with equal or better views. It is near to Hardangervidda National Park, so lots of natural beauty to be had. There is a restaurant on site, which had a good and attentive breakfast, but didn't serve dinner until 7PM, which was too late for us--but a nearby lodge served foor continuously and we got a little electricity for the car while we ate yet another simple meal for $50. They had some excellent cheese and crackers to go (another $25) that we enjoyed as well.

Switzy by Emma Cline

This was a difficult read, and that is at least partly due to the subject at hand. The main character, David, is a former business executive who was good at what he did, successful and it seems also trsuted, who has made a monumental business error, and one that he cannot quite remember the exact details of. He has what seems to be a rapidly progressing dementia, more like Lewy Body dementia that Alzheimers, and he has a care taker whose job is to keep him more or less out of trouble. It is not a 24/7/365 kind of situation, but when left to his own devices, David gets into trouble, and he cannot see his way out of it once he is there. David has elected to go to Switzerland to have euthanasia, which I know from reading Amy Bloom's memoir In Love that you have to be cognizant enough to be able to consent to the procedure. It is expensive but allows for death before all dignity is lost. David is on a farewell tour before his final act, where he first meets with his estranged daughter--she is unaware of his illness, and is encouraging to continue in work. They lack a connection, and it seems that the feelings are mutually distant. Then he meets briefly with a childhood friend who he wronged, or at least who he did not stand up for, and he wants to apologize to him, which he does. The friend has long ago forgiven him and is quite puzzled by his visit--as was I. Perhaps in the throes of forgetting the present we are haunted by past wrongs, but in any case this meet up ends with a wimper rather than a roar. The book is all told through David, so there is a fair amount of forgetting and confusion, a failure to read the social cues, and also a feeling that while he grasps what he is about to do, he is not altogether with it. The people around him back away from his confusion rather than correcting him. and it is also quite clear that this is a rich man's exit, one that is not available to most of us. It was long listed for the Booker prize, and is very much in keeping with what you might routinely find in books with that recognition. It is well written, off beat, and unusual.

Litt Kaos, Drammen, Norway

We arrived in Oslo in the early evening after a long travel day with a stop over in Franfurt. We wanted to stay outside the city, but not drive too too far that first night, and Drammen was perfect. This restaurant was a nice first meal--we had the fixed proce menu, which included a charcuterie board and five small dishes to share, and the food was well prepared and swiftly served, which suited us well. The restaurant was hopping on a Saturday night, with a couple of tables occupied when we arrived and while we ate the restaurant filled up. We each had a beer, which was pricy and also wise because the legal limit for alcohol in Norway is .02, one of the lowest in the world, and basically even one beer might be pushing it--we looked this up after we had made this choice, and decided that for the rest of the trip we would either drink or drive but not both. We stayed at a new Thon hotel, which was very nice if hard to find, with excellent parking, but it wasn't especially near the downtown area, and we were fortunate that for the rest of the trip we were mostly in a place where we did not have to drive after dinner. I would recommend this as both affordable (for Norway, where it is very challenging to eat out for less than $50 a person) and good.

Wide Sargasso Sea bu Jean Rhys

This is a Parnassus Book recommendation, and I felt slightly handicapped reading it, having not read the book which it spins off from. It is a retelling of Jane Eyre from the point of view of Mr Rochester’s first wife – the mad woman in the attic. This is an imagining of what happened to her, how she ended up with Mr. Rochester, and what went terribly wrong. The settung is Jamaica in the 1830’s, and it starts with the disturbing childhood of Antoinette (Bertha) Cosway. White descendants of slave owners, Antoinette’s family is initially impoverished after emancipation until her mother remarries. Her stepfather sets Antoinette up with a decent fortune to attract a young Englishman and the majority of the novel focusses on the deterioration of her marriage during their honeymoon--and then he puts it all in his son-in-law's hands "because I trust him". Her mother questioned the wisdom of that, leaving her daughter at her husband's command rather than retaining some control of her personal fortune, and that is the moral of the story as far as I am concerned. Never give up control of your purse strings, especially if it is not required. This is the book that revived Rhys' career, and it is an idea I would like to see pursued more often--it is common with Austen novels in every possible way, which I happen to love--and would like to see something similar with other classics.