A Weekend in Rondane

October 02, 2017

A Weekend in Rondane

There's a Norwegian word that, if you were to directly translate it to English, means cozy but really, it means so much more. The word is koselig and it just about perfectly describes my weekend. Friday evening, Anne and I packed the car and headed off on a four-hour drive into the heart of Norway. We were headed for a hytte (cabin) on the outskirts of Rondane National Park to spend the weekend with Anne's mom and her friend Bente who owns the cabin. Aside from the orientation when I first got here, I haven't really been out of Oslo so I was captivated by the landscape that was barely visible in the quickly-fading light. We drove alongside Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway, for a while and into the mountains, although it was dark by that point. We arrived at the cabin around 9:30 and were greeted with warm soup. I was tired after a week of school full of tests and assignments so I headed off to the small cabin next to the main cabin where I would be sleeping.

Saturday morning began nice and slowly with a yummy Norwegian breakfast where I was reunited with my favorite strawberry jam. The daylight gave me a chance to see the lake and mountains the cabin overlooks, although a thick layer of fog blocked the furthest mountains. We then headed off for a hike called Sukkertoppen (it's also a type of Norwegian candy but I'm not sure there's an American equivalent). A few hours of walking through fields of reinslav (reindeer lichen; the reindeer eat this in the winter and apparently Bente has seen reindeer twice in the area!) and tyttebær (lingonberries) and we made it to the top. We were above the tree line and the weather was quite windy and cold so it was something of an adventure trying to stay standing! Unfortunately the clouds made it impossible to see anything, let alone the mountain range but I felt as though I was on top of the world looking out over a solid gray wall. Saturday afternoon Anne and I took out one of Bente's rowboats and I took us around a little island on the lake. It was a different kind of rowing than I was used to but I figured out a rhythm after a little while:) That night we had a delicious dinner of lamb, carrots and celery root, potatoes, and homemade tyttebær jam we made from the berries we picked on our hike. It was topped off by eplekake (apple cake) and lovely conversation!

We began Sunday in the same relaxed way and took advantage of the rain holding off by going on another hike, this time to a waterfall. Although it was never really raining, we walked through the fog and got wet anyways. The hike was quite slippery and steep but it was completely worth it when we were able really close to the top of the waterfall and see it cut through a slot in the mountain. When we got back to the cabin we all relaxed and read for a while then went out to help split some wood. We also made pinnebrød which you make by wrapping a bread dough around a stick and roasting it over the fire like a marshmallow. We had another delicious meal and then headed to Bente's cousin's cabin which was right down the hill. We spent a few hours playing a really fun game called Rykter Går (Rumors Go) which was like a drawing version of the game Telephone. The game was made even funnier by translation issues! For example, Norwegians call onesies "onepieces" but when I was told to draw a onepiece, I drew a bathing suit :)

This morning we had our last breakfast at the cabin then Anne, Merethe (Anne's mom) and I packed the car again and headed back home. On the way, a moose ran across the street in front of the car in front of us! I couldn't think of a more Norwegian way to end the weekend, and now I'm looking forward to the rest of my høstferie!

Word of the Post:
et fjell = a mountain

And now for pictures because they're way better at explaining than I am!