Ingrid is dressed in work clothes: grey denim pants that look like un-strapped overalls hanging down from her waist and a white t-shirt with a black cartoon panda bear on it that says “P.S. I LOVE YOU”. She welcomes me into her glassblowing studio with warehouse-height ceilings and a specifically lit “store” of her work, while further inside is a workshop with a steel oven and many tools. She lives in a loft space up a set of stairs in the back and behind a closed door.  

Her black cat named Peder strolls nonchalantly on the nearby table, unaware of the handmade glass art he skirts around and bumps. Ingrid laughs, “Oh, don’t worry, he doesn’t knock things over as much anymore!” She says she pays 100,000 NOK per month in rent for her live/work studio space – approximately $16,700 CDN – with her original plates, for example, selling for 10,000 NOK (about $1,600 CDN) each.

I’ve made my way on a Eurail train pass from Oslo in southern Norway to the coastal city of Ålesund on the western shore further north. I’m sure the fiords that Norway is known for are spectacular, but the modest people and innovative cities are what interest me most. 

I begin my jaunt through Norway on a ferry from Copenhagen. This 16.5 hour overnight route hugs a western outcrop of Sweden before hitting the open water north to Oslo. The ferry is more like a cruise ship, with two well-used outdoor pools, cocktail bars on the decks, a cinema, children’s playground, a nightclub and discothèque, and proper cabins to sleep in. Flowing from the taps is Norwegian spring water.

Drifting into Oslo, colourfully painted houses are scattered over the land (and some tiny islands) on both sides of the ferry, each building surrounded by verdant trees; straight ahead is the stainless steel and glass sculpture called “She Lies” that looks like a glacier from afar, and the massive white stone roof of the new opera house. Not only can you take a gentle hike up the sloping roof, but this is also where solar panels are located to help power the building. The waterfront neighbourhood is in a constant state of construction, expected to be finished by 2020.

I have been given instructions from a friend that while I am in Oslo, I have to make the effort to see the Vigelandsparken (Vigeland Sculpture Park) outside of the city centre. This is the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist. More than an 850 metre long path of over 200 life-sized sculptures, the park is sculpture Gustav Vigeland's lifelong work that now sees bronze, granite and wrought iron sculptures like the Wheel of Life sum up the intention of the park: the life of human beings is expressed with a wreath of people holding onto each other, their facial expressions symbolizing the obstacles and hopes that one must struggle with over their lifetime. 

Equally moving is a visit to the Nobel Peace Centre, one that started out as a quick walk through and ended hours later. The feature exhibit at the time, after Barack Obama’s peace prize win, was aptly titled, “A Call to Action,” using Obama’s own words from his 2009 acceptance speech. 

The Nobel Field takes up a permanent space in the centre, a garden of all the past winners perched on stems with 1,000 blinking fibre-optic lights. Digital screens show a photo of the laureate with a short description of the work that led them to win the award. With the room lit only by the “stems” and screens, walking in is a sobering reminder (or an introduction to) some of the most extraordinary people in history. For creative and handmade gifts in the same pioneering spirit, the shop is impossible to leave empty handed.

Packing up my Nobel Peace Centre goodies, it is time to hop on Norway’s train system to explore more of the country. Staying away from the fantastic fiords, I choose to travel inland instead to the famous 1994 Olympic city of Lillehammer. 

Appropriately, it’s Snorre Pedersen who is in charge of showing me the ropes at Lillehammer’s Hafjell bike park (and alpine centre in the winter). Not an average guide, Snorre competed in the Olympic skeleton race from 1997 to 2005, finishing 14th in the men’s skeleton in 2002. His wife is Maya Bieri Pedersen, another skeleton racer who competed in the 2002 Olympics and the World Cup for her home country of Switzerland. I wonder what their young daughter will be when she grows up?

We hop on a gondola with happy mountain bikers on their way up for another run down the mountain. Snorre explains that there are trails for all levels here, some having vertical drops of 830 metres. (I find out later that he constructed these trails starting in 2003, pioneering the development of the mountain.) In the winter, the mountain converts itself into a downhill ski slope, with 31 trails spanning green beginner to black advanced slopes.

With a gleam in his eye, he then asks if I’m ready to be an Olympian for under two minutes. “Uh, yeah, sure” I say before he gives me directions to the nearby Olympic Park where I will be trying out the luge track on a wheel bob – the summer equivalent of a bobsled, but with wheels. Off I go to the bobsleigh and luge track a 15 minute drive away.

Soon after I arrive, I’m given a helmet and the instructions to keep my body and head upright and centred in the wheel bob to avoid bouncing around when we get up to 100 km per hour. A young woman on staff accompanies me and two others as we take our places in the bob, her taking the front position so she can steer. Once everyone is settled and gripping onto the handlebars beside our outer thighs, she signals to a co-worker that we are ready to go. “Don’t worry,” she smiles casually, “I do this all day.”

The wheels rumble along the track as we pick up speed and start to take the curves. I can’t stop my head from rattling against the side of the wheel bob, which is fully caged, as we hit full speed. I’m fairly certain we are going to fly right off the track and I’m not sure if the screaming from behind me is from pleasure or fear. Apart from the terror, we manage to cross the finish line, faces windswept and laughing, feeling like Olympic champs.

I finish off the Olympic theme by walking to the ski jumping arena, a practice place for athletes in the summer to use. Although I don’t try my hand at it, I do get to watch a Swedish skiier take two practice jumps to a flurry of applause from the photo-snapping onlookers. 

From Lillehammer, the train ride northeast chugs along what is called the Rauma Railway route, one of the most bragged about in Norway. Descending just over 650 metres during the ride, the train passes Trollveggen (The Troll Wall), Europe’s highest vertical rock face; Romsdalshorn (a 1,554 metre high mountain); many waterfalls like Vermafossen Falls that thunders down 381 metres; and tunnels and bridges, the most astounding being Stavem Horseshoe Tunnel, where the train turns 180 degrees inside the mountain.

A connecting bus from the end of the route in Åndalsnes then takes me to Ålesund, home to Ingrid and her glassblowing studio. This absurdly pretty seaside town burnt to the ground in 1904 and was re-built all at once in the Art Nouveau style of the day. Strolling through the town centre, it’s common to fantasize about dropping everything and setting up a home here at the edge of the Norwegian Sea. 

Flights from eastern Norway back to North America depart from the main city of Bergen, south of Ålesund along thousands of kilometres of road. Another way of getting there is on the midnight departure of the Hurtigruten voyage, a simple vessel that locals use to travel along the western coast of the country, but visitors can also use it as a way to explore 34 different ports of call. During the summer, the sun barely sets in this part of the world, so the views of the coast scarcely go dark before arriving in Bergen the next afternoon.

The second largest of Norway’s cities after Oslo, Bergen is more of a relic. The UNESCO World Heritage Site Bryggen is the star standout, the 17th century buildings constructed on top of the original buildings from the 12th century and lined up along the inner harbour. Painted various colours, each is occupied by something different: a local clothing boutique, the Hanseatic Museum, classic restaurants like The Unicorn, and jewellery shops.

The nearby fish market, also along the inner harbour, is where you can try smoked whale (my taste tester friend said it was “meaty, like roast beef, but underneath a layer of blubber”) and buy produce, crafts and souvenirs. 

Although I caught glimpses of the fiords Norway is known for aboard the ferry and Hurtigruten ship, it was the spectacular train rides through the middle of the country and the small cities that really impressed me. Although it can be challenging to travel through Norway on a tight budget, it really is worth every dollar.

IF YOU GO 
Eurail Group (rail passes)
Visit Norway 
Visit Oslo 
Visit Lillehammer  
Visit Alesund 
Visit Bergen