I visited Munich and Norway in September, 2024 to see my nephew at a 5 year (approximate) mark and attempt seeing the northern lights after. 2024 was predicted to be good for that.
Munich was just great. People were polite and friendly. At Oktoberfest, they were bold and friendly. Our first stop was city center for shopping. We spent the day there which is easy to do. The farmers market is a fun treat too.
We sun bathed in Feringasee lake the next day. It was quite relaxing.
I went to my first Oktoberfest, first day. This might be amateur night for the locals but very fun for tourists :). We found seating for just 2 without reservation. I would recommend getting a reservation for more. The large crowd was lively and orderly.
The beer was great but the ice cream in Germany is exceptional. I flew to Bergen, Norway after, wishing I’d spent more time in Munich.
I spent 4 nights in Bergen. 3 nights are enough. I took a day off to read at a coffee shop. It’s a 1000 or so year old city.
The first day, I took the Fløibanen funicular railway to the top of mount Fløyen. One can hike up but this is a fun, unique experience. In hindsight I should have taken the one way and walked down. There is a restaurant on top as well and some trails. I spent the evening shopping for gifts in Bryggen. The shops remind me of umm, Monopoly.
I spend day 2 at a coffee shop reading.
Aurlandsfjord and Næresfjord were beautiful even in the rain on day 3. The latter is a world UNESCO heritage site. The traditional dance at the Flam railway was majestic. A woman appeared on top of the mountains and danced to folk music. Must do. The safari was informative and the tour was quick. The gear they gave us kept us warm.
For me personally, Ålesund is a wonderfully scenic city. I stopped for the tour to Geirangersfjord. The 7 sisters waterfalls and the several abandoned Fjord farms would have made the trip to Norway worth it, even if I had missed the northern lights. I have hiked and driven miles for a fraction of the waterfalls there back to back. The rain and mist just add to the beauty. I tried to wrap my mind around farming here while my trip to the ferry deck to take pictures felt arduous.
Next, was Oslo. I appreciate the Fly to get trains straight to Oslo center. I spent a day settling in, doing laundry and visiting the Vigeland park. My back was wrecked from sitting in the ferry the whole day before. I suggest walking around the boat to help the back. I had to do my laundry by hand because the laundromat had closed down. I suggest booking a hotel that has this service.
The next day, I dressed up, visited the Munch museum and went to the opera. Edvard Munch liked having multiple versions of his art work, the most famous being, the scream. I suggest looking at all 3 versions of the scream, the drawing, painting, and print. Now, see it with a buzz. It doesn’t get old 🙂 The interpretation is how a situation could be maddening and induce panic for an individual and seem normal to another. What I really liked about his work is that he picked an emotion and depicted it unequivocally. He creatively used bright and solid colors for human forms while still retaining their humanity.
I noticed a 150 Norwegian Krone (approximately $15 ticket) to the opera and jumped the gun in spite of the website not translating all words. The one I missed was that it was a standing spot. So I stood for an hour and a half for the first half. The opera was entertaining and funny. I saw Rake’s progress which means a reckless course. I would recommend bending the rules a bit and picking a seat from the get go if there are a few.
Next, was Tromsø. I stayed at a small farm hotel outside of the city. I like to enjoy celestial events in darkness and quiet. So, this was a perfect pick. They had 3 hearty meals a day. You pay for lunch and dinner. I was lucky to see the northern lights with enthusiastic company the first night. We were outside from 9:00 pm to midnight local time. We pulled out the live stream and knew the sky was clear, when the arc would start, and, what the chances of seeing bright colors indicated by KP levels are. I was able to see pretty dramatic gashes in the sky. I made the scream face like I saw in the museum, earlier, out of excitement. I spent the rest 2 days reading and relaxing in their lounge and flew back to New York city.
I wanted to share some time/ money saving tips before I conclude:
Schengen Visa
It would have been wise to get a multiple entry visa. I wanted simple and sure and played it too safe here. I booked an appointment via BFS. I got the invitation letter, passport and proof of residence from my brother for the visitor Visa application. But unfortunately, the German embassy needs a formal letter of sponsorship stating exactly who is being sponsored. The one used for my parents wouldn’t work and we didn’t have 2 weeks to get that document. It needed an appointment that wasn’t available till November then. Remember to sort this out in advance for the German embassy. Also, the German embassy suggests applying at the consulate of the country you intend to spend most time in. The Norwegian embassy says if you will visit family and tour, visiting family is your primary purpose. Now, I was going to visit family in Germany but spend more time in Norway. So this decision was confusing to make. Ultimately, because I didn’t have that sponsorship document. I booked dummy stays and flights in Munich through for all days except my last flight to and stay in Tromsø. I booked fully a refundable stay, refundable till the time I expected to get my Visa and business class flight which would be fully refundable on late cancelation as well. I got the German Schengen tourist Visa through BFS in a week and canceled those bookings immediately after. Note, they need to see train tickets between stays as well. I noticed them asking other visitors.
Flights and baggage
My personal preference is to fly Airbus for long legs. So picked Lufthansa to fly in to Munich and Finnair to fly out of Tromsø, my last stop in Europe. Scandinavian airlines get a bad rap because of delayed flights. From what I understand, their weather is challenging. And because their flights are via that weather, they inevitably, have more delays. My flights, though expensive, had at most an hour or 2’s delays. I caught all my flights and made all my connections. My bag arrived with my flight every time. I needed to check in a bag for warm clothes, and hence, took the Economy as opposed to Economy light class flights. I am almost 40, and have back and alignment issues. So, I’d rather have good flights than travel on the cheap or more often. Lufthansa had a music selection to my liking. Finnair had movies to my liking. It worked out perfectly.
Packing
Note, I was there end of September, right before Northern light season. Some of the popular tours were not even operating then. Even then, the night was cold in spite of my layers of socks, snow coat, head band, gloves and thermal layers. Hiking boots ended up being the warmer than my fleece lines duck boots.
Stays
I dragged my feet to plan this time but still love new experiences. So, I booked the flights and stays and left the rest, tentative. This costed me a hundreds of Euros over the trip. But the trip was still worth it. I couldn’t find my first night’s booking at Ålesund in my email and booked another stay the first night. I learned to add my itinerary with timezones promptly after booking to my digital calendar after that.
Wait-time entertainment
The last 2 days at Tromsø were rainy. I am glad I brought multiple books. The hotel had some. But I am picky.
Getting around
Norway has local travel and cab apps. Best to download them on wifi before getting there. I didn’t need a car in Munich or most cities of Norway. Tromsø was another story. The guest I saw the northern lights with had a car as well and offered to drive away from the clouds if need be, the first night. This is an option if you have one. I have mixed feelings about renting a car there. The safe choice is to rent one and explore. Google had wrong information about an infrequent bus running from the airport to my hotel. The cab was expensive but I had no choice after waiting for hours. On the way back, I got confused with the display on their app and missed the bus going to the airport. In spite of some buffer, I took the safe choice of getting a cab again. It was very expensive. That having said, renting a car is expensive as well. So choose your poison.
Cash
I didn’t have to cough up cash anywhere on my trip including the farmers market. I suggest not wasting time trying to get Euros or Krone. I spent time walking to one and realizing the location was updated and then them telling me I need to go to the fish market in Bergen. Luckily I had another patron wanting to exchange their Krone for my Euros.
Tour bookings
The fjord safari at Aurland involved multiple train tickets and a safari in a raft. One of the train tickets was wrong. I luckily checked and got it fixed the day before. I was able to hop on an earlier one because I had the right day. I found out while trying to enter and export the bookings to the travel app. I booked all the tours within a week of. I delayed my bookings on purpose because I was unsure if the flights would land on time and what my energy was going to be like.
Food
We ate home cooked meals in Munich. If you are a breakfast person, there is no spread like the Norwegian. I switched between Norwegian and Indian food for lunch and dinner in Norway. The highly rated Norwegian restaurants were over 1000 Krone. Given my palette, I need a wine pairing for added flavor which adds to the cost even when I went to mid-range ones. I tried the local cuisine and enjoyed it. The Indian restaurants, though were A+ in terms of ambience, service and taste, and well within budget.
Shopping
I spent a fair amount of time trying to find unique gifts for friends. So I wanted to share ideas, although, I understand, its a personal preference. My circle is well traveled and continues to explore. We also live in minuscule spaces in New York city. I am tired of fridge magnets and wanted to get gifts I wouldn’t mind keeping if my friends didn’t like them. So, bookmarks from the Edvard Munch museum and just one magnet were my picks from there. I got lens cloths with Norwegian folk art from Bergen. I got dark chocolate marzipan singles from the Tromsø airport.
For myself, I bought purple and blue mascaras and hair ties from Munich, light lipstick, head band for cold weather from one of the Scandinavian airports, a rabbit fur neck warmer and mink winter hat from Bergen. I saw cute house shaped candles in Bergen but I wondered about their utility, for me, personally. I love the idea, nonetheless. There were tons of the usual chocolates, perfumes, and alcohol we can get locally. The wines might have been a good gift but tricky to transport. I also purchased sesame based nasal spray in Tromsø to prevent bleeding.
Conclusion
Munich, I know I’ll visit again. I love the relaxed vibe. My brother’s family seems to have adjusted well there and will likely stay put.
I would love to visit Ålesund to see the trolls that I missed, and more of northern Norway for the lights. Norway was expensive in the sense that cheaper options that I don’t personally opt for here were not available. I didn’t see street food for instance. The construction and infrastructure was upscale and robust. Hundreds of years old towns showed very little signs of wear. I covered a lot of ground and felt like I was gone for a month when I landed in New York. Growing up in the tropics, visiting my first Scandinavian country was a unique experience I feel fortunate to have enjoyed. My interactions except a few were transactional and less chatty than here in America. The locals I spoke with were polite, courteous, and mentioned they like the summer a lot better. So if northern lights is not your prime purpose, I would suggest visiting then.
Broad without borders 