A Texan goes to Norway...(or, "SCC Rocked!" - a trip report)

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Wow. It's already been over a year since I returned to Texas after having an incredible time touring Norway and attending the 2009 Scandavian Cal-look Classic (aka SCC). This is the first installment of long overdue trip report.

In short, this is THE best VW event that I've ever attended. Read on for the long version...

My friends in Finland were the ones who originally planted the idea of going to SCC in my head, and after making a second trip to Finland I knew I had to attend SCC. A plan was set in motion - spurred on by not only the thought of seeing all that was SCC, but also because my grandmother was Norwegian, and I looked forward to visiting the country of my ancestors.

I arrived in Oslo, Norway on Monday afternoon before the SCC weekend via London from Dallas/Fort Worth. While in the Oslo airport, I dined on what I was sure was traditional Norwegian food - granted it was at Pizza Hut, but where else in the World would they have pepperoni pizza with grapes on it??







A couple of hours later, I hopped on another flight. This one took me to the west coast, and Norway's second largest city, Bergen. Strangely, none of employees at the Bergen airport restaurants had any idea where I could get more of the "traditional" grape pizza...

Bergen resident, Regenstadt Zombie Racewerks member (http://www.regenstadt.com), and all-around cool guy Marius A picked me up the airport in his daily driver - a nice 1302, used when he's not driving his cool '58 Type 1, or the RZR '67 single cab. Marius and I then headed out to the Krankenhaus garage, to meet everyone and check the progress on prep work for their long ride to SCC.

Upon our arrival at Krankenhaus, we found the guys working to resolve a brake problem that was affecting a newly lettered RZR Type 2. Everyone gave me a warm welcome and showed me around the shop (I didn't even have to speak Norwegian - ha!).









We left the RZR garage at ~2:00am, and headed out to Marius' place, which he'd graciously offered the spare bedroom to me for my stay in Bergen. This was just the first taste of much Norwegian hospitality and friendliness which I experienced many more times in week that would follow. Thanks for everything, Marius!

Marius' apartment was very cool. I initially joked that it looked like IKEA inside, but it was obvious that Marius had taken great pride in the decor. It included some very cool features like a balcony with a beautiful view, and lighting provided by a Type 2 front end mounted on the wall. After a few beers and great conversation, I grabbed some much needed sleep at ~4:00am.











Next up: It's Tuesday and I took an awesome tour of Norway in the west...

[Georg/DFL]

Thanks for sharing and nice to see some Americans coming over to European shows and not only the other way round. 

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Tuesday morning - man the sun came up quick! I started my day off right with a hearty serving of brunost ("brown cheese") on fresh bread with butter. I subsequently ate brunost as often as I could find it, and even brought a couple of packages home with me.



This day was the one that I arranged to do a "Norway in a Nutshell" tour. This trip involved a ~12 hour "loop" from Bergen through the mountains and fjords of western Norway, by train, boat, and bus.



This was a long day, with a LOT of stuff packed into it, but I am so glad that it did it. If you're visiting Norway, I'd highly recommend setting at least a short time aside to take this tour.

Although I would have like to have stopped more than we did on the train and bus, this had just given me another reason to want to head back to Norway, in order to do it all again at my own pace over a few days.

Train station in Bergen, headed to Myrdal








Which way to Insanity/SCC??




Incredible views of mountain valleys!






One of the fairies of the Kjosfossen Waterfall


The Flåm Railway -- Myrdal -> Flåm


Amazing color and clarity






Baaaaah...


The town of Flåm




Vintage rail cars at the Flåm Railway Museum in Flåm




A view from above, in the hills of Flåm




Next up: The Norway in a Nutshell Tour continues - into the fjords by boat, and then through the mountains by bus...

[Nico86]

Great report !

[Sarge]

What Nico said!   More grape pizza, pleeeze

[speedwell]

Great report !

x3

[vwcab]

Great report !

x3

x4 

[Rick Meredith]

X5... hold the grape pizza 

[Diederick/DVK]

X6

grape pizza is sweet, i like this one

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

The next two parts of my Norway in a Nutshell tour consisted of a boat trip through two incredible fjords, followed by a bus ride which snaked along the Stalheimskleiven hair pin road and it's thirteen steep/narrow turns while enroute to a vista high above the Nærøy valley



Before boarding the ship, I had a few hours to explore the area around the docks of Flåm and the nearby hills. I wish I'd had more time here, as there are many walking/hiking trails, as well as opportunities to kayak in the fjords - maybe on my next trip!









Once on the boat, we started our trip into two branches of Norway's longest and deepest fjord, Sognefjord. The first branch is called Aurlandsfjord. It is quite wide, with lush greenery and incredible views.









The second branch is called Nærøyfjord. It is narrower than Aurlandsfjord, which makes it's walls with heights of 900-1400 meters (~2900-4600 feet) an awesome sight.





















We reach the end of Nærøyfjord, at the town of Gudvangen. From there it was a twisty, turny bus ride to the town of Voss, before a train ride back to Bergen.

At one of our photo stops, I joked with the bus driver, and told him that he'd done well for his first time down the Stalheimskleiven road. Obviously he'd had plenty of practice, as it was quite a feat to get a large bus down a small road with many turns.







The town of Voss is home to Voss Church (Vangskyrkja). It was built in 1271-77, has walls up to seven feet thick, and is still in use with services every Sunday.

















Next up: Tuesday PM - back in Bergen for the evening, a tour of the historic waterfront areas in the morning, and a departure south to Stavanger to meet up with the DKL crew...

[vwcab]

Awesome and beautiful  views and great pics Eric.I think,no.....I'm SURE you had a great time overthere.
Makes me wanna go  also.(have to talk to my wife I think  )
Can't wait to see the next pics.Thanks. 

[Nico86]

A Norway/Sweden/Finland trip is one of the greatest thing in the world !

[EspenX]

Great trip report Eric, looking forward to part III.

Hope to see you at SCC2011. We are (once again) planning on a road trip to West Norway the week before SCC2011, so if you come a week early, I can offer you a seat. We will be driving right through the area where your ancestors are from.

I can allmost guarantee that I can get you more "grape pizza" even, all though it is better known as pizza with green olives

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Brrr, it's chilly in Texas this morning (~40° F/4° C) - good thing I have a nice SCC "Holey Moley" sweatshirt to wear (thanks again, guys!)

I've had a few things come up and been out of town for work since writing the last portion of my trip report, but plan to get back on task this weekend.

Stay tuned...

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

On Tuesday night, I met up with Marius again, and we headed down to the historic waterfront area in Bergen. The architecture and contruction of the building there was very interesting. We had beer, bread, and traditional plukkfisk for dinner. Plukkfisk consists mostly of mashed potatoes, cod fish, butter, and milk - it's good stuff! (I got a recipe from Marius, but haven't gotten around to making it yet)











Another late night jaunt to the RZR garage found everyone still hard at work. As you can tell, they were moving very quickly while getting their 'Dubs ready for the road trip to SCC.





Once again, the sun seemed to rise awfully early on Wednesday AM. When I finally rose from my slumber, Marius and I headed back to the Bergen downtown waterfront, to check it out during the daylight hours. Of course, I had another helping of homemade bread and brown cheeze for breakfast...

Bergen Cathedral (Domkirken) was built in 1150, and has been a place of worship for over 900 years.



The well-known cannon ball in the west wall, has been sitting there since the battle on the bay of Bergen in 1665.









Amazing architecture and pipe organ







The old world woodwork, construction and joinery techniques used in the historic buildings were very cool.



Working craftsman were "on display" while doing some restoration







Hmmm, what's on this sign, and who is the mystery/friendly guy in the background?







A few short hours later, I was back at the airport courtesy of Henning. Marius had an afternoon appointment at the beauty shop which he couldn't miss , so he arranged for Henning to take me to the airport. I had a great conversation with Henning, as well as a nice ride in his Judson equipped '62. Thanks for the (VW taxi) ride, Henning!









Next up: It's Wednesday afternoon, I arrive in Stavanger to meet up with the DKL guys, prior to heading east towards Oslo via Kristiansand...

[Nico86]

Great !

[Sarge]

Nice pics and very cool report!!

[Rick Meredith]

Really enjoying the travelogue Eric. Thanks for sharing it.