White christmas

Norway is beautiful, cold, expensive and magical. The land of the Trolls. A place where you can eat ‘rudolph’, meet Father Christmas, dance around a Christmas tree, and sit by a roaring fire sipping ‘glog’ while a storyteller weave’s their tales to avid listeners who crowd around a roaring fire.

Our first holiday off the boat in a few years. We loved the place, the people, the culture and the skiing. It’s the coldest we’ve ever experienced. We landed on a snow driven runway and disembarked into a clear sunny morning of -16C. It’s a very different cold to the UK. The UK cold tends to be damp and chills to the bone. But the Norwegian climate is a lot drier. We found we could wear the same sort of clothing we would normally wear in the UK.

Hafjel (pronounced harv-yell) is about 15 minutes drive north of Lillehammer. It’s a lovely little skiing village sitting on the slopes of where the 1994 Winter Olympics were held - a point of national pride. On the facing mountain slope you’ll see the giant silhouette of the running torch bearer cut amongst the trees.

We would have loved to visit other areas of Norway, but we had planned a week skiing. And ski we did. Neither of us had skied for 15 years. But we were soon back in the groove, feeling a little less invincible that I last remembered when skiing. The easy slopes are some of the steepest I’ve seen - although compared to Australian slopes…

There are a lot less snow bunnies than in Oz. You’ll find skiers in Norway not particularly caring what they wear – they’re not concerned with the latest fashions on the snow – just good equipment that works well.

Skiing on powder is not everything it's cracked up to be - for one thing you don't want to fall over. It took me nearly 15 minutes to get back on my skis - my feet and hands kept sinking through the snow and I couldn't leaver myself back up. We also went toboganning - oh - so - much - fun!! We were dragged up one mother of a hill by a lift - similar to a T-bar. The circuit wound through trees and then at the end was one FANTASTIC hill that you go airborne over. We met an Aussie couple who have been working in London for a couple of years and spent the day with them.

We stayed in Hafjel Hotel and Apartments, which we would recommend to anyone. A friendly and very reasonably priced hotel. Small but warm and inviting. We had our very first White Christmas ever, which was very special. Norwegians celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. The Hotel put on a large Christmas feast, Saint Nicolas paid us a visit and passed out gifts to the children. Afterwards, men, women and children danced around the Christmas tree holding hands and singing carols. It was a completely different experience to our normal Christmas day back in Oz, sweating it out on the veranda, enjoying a BBQ and a drink with family and friends. But that’s what we love about travelling – experiencing the different cultures and customs.

We hope this Christmas won’t be our last White Christmas.

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Last modified: 04/23/09