Whew, that was fun! Our trip to Norway went very well, despite my ridiculously disorganized last-minute planning. It is an insanely gorgeous country, full of more natural beauty than you can shake a stick at. We covered a whole lot of ground, sleeping in eight different beds (two of which were moving) in 10 days. We saw several adorable cities, multiple fjords, and about eleventy-billion islands. And a whole lot of blondes.
One of the biggest drawbacks of our trip to Norway was the sticker shock. This country is not cheap. Fun stuff like restaurant meals and alcohol were the most ridiculously priced items of all. And we were thinking in euros… I can’t even imagine how many heart attacks we would have had along the way if we had been converting prices to dollars in our heads. I mean, I’ve had drinks at some of the snootiest bars in NYC, but never in my life have I paid $18 for a small beer. It cost more to buy a can (yes, a can) of decent beer in a Norwegian supermarket than it does to order a delicious Weissbier at Munich’s finest restaurant. OK, I have no idea what Munich’s finest restaurant is, but I can’t imagine that they charge more than 4 euros for a beer there.
So despite enjoying a marvelous vacation, we are happy to be home again, curled up on the couch with a couple Augustiner Weissbiers. Now to go through the more than 1,000 photos we took in Norway…
That’s some crazy stuff! $18 for a beer? How do people afford to live in those places???
How do people afford to live in those places?
Oil.
Alcohol is definitely at the high end of the price differential – it is heavily taxed by the government in order to discourage its consumption. Despite the prices, alcoholism is still quite high – apparently there’s not much else to do during 6 weeks of darkness.
Just as an aside, the Norwegian word for beer is ‘Øl’, which sounds kind of like oil (but luckily doesn’t taste like it).
Wow, can’t wait to see some pictures. It sounds beautiful.
I’d love to go, but after hearing so much about the prices, not sure if I could ever swing it!
Guess where I had the most expensive Gin & Tonic in my life. But the company was blonde, so…
I loved Norway! The smell of the air was so crisp and fresh.
Hi Jul! Just getting caught up. I guess I can mark Norway off my list of places to visit. Dealing with the Euro is going to be tough enough!