Gratulerer med Dagen, Arnor!

Generally speaking, when traveling, I prefer to seek new experiences rather than repeating the same ones I’ve had before. But, of course, there are always exceptions to this rule, and we had the opportunity to retrace our steps today to a place my parents and I remember with particular fondness (and a few inside jokes) from our 2019 visit.

On the way there, though, we stopped to inspect the minnestein–memorial stone–that was erected in 1984 in a ceremony with King Olav V to honor the previously mentioned Battle of Fimreite. (We visited the site of the battle several days ago, but at that time we were on the opposite side of the fjord from where the stone stands.) My dad and I have wondered why the battle seems to receive so little local fanfare despite having been so historically significant, and our trek to the obelisk only deepened those questions: our crawl through knee-high poison ivy to reach the minnestein was clearly not a path well trodden. On the bright side, we left the scene confident that we had ventured well off the traditional tourist map.

I chronicled our visit to the Kviknes Hotel in “The Bartender from Balestrand” from my 2019 blog, and it is one that stands out even among the slew of incredible experiences we had over those five weeks. For the typical person, the reason might be laughable, but for this professional barista with a debilitating reliance on coffee, the sight of an espresso menu after weeks of black coffee was like an oasis in the desert. (Don’t get me wrong: I adore black coffee, but espresso holds a special place in my heart.) I also enjoyed one of my favorite meals of the trip–a crab salad on toast with avocado cream–from their lunch menu. I have craved it ever since.

As I raced eagerly to the bar inside the hotel, I was met with two disappointments: first, that the hero of our previous tale–bartender and barista extraordinaire, Filip–was nowhere in sight, and second, that the crab toast I so coveted was no longer on offer. But whatever misery I felt was quickly dispelled by the skill and service of current staff member Lukas and the Sognefjord Sandwich I procured from the latest menu. Not even the bratty Americans seated beside us, who gave a masterclass in the classically American experience of blaming service staff for one’s own mistakes, could dim the joy from the meal we were served today (though I came perilously close to intervening).

The journey to Balestrand from Sogndal is, in many ways, a perfect assortment of quintessential experiences that illustrate life in small town Norway: the trip passes through several mountain tunnels, winds along (sometimes shockingly) narrow countryside roads, obligates you to take a ferry across the fjord, and ultimately rewards you with landscape scenes like something out of a dream. To truly complete the package, we may return to the area on a future date to attempt Gaularfjellet, a scenic road over the mountains that departs from Balestrand and offers stunning views from altitude.

Back in Sogndal, we had an important day to commemorate. Arnor Foss, of Sognefjellet navigation fame, turns 83 today, and it was our privilege to help roll out the red carpet for him and wish him a heartfelt gratulerer med dagen! True to form, his wife Kari, daughter Mona, and daughter-in-law Marit filled the kitchen with a delicious dinner followed by the crowning glory: a spread of no fewer than four different, technically demanding cakes; local jams (including one not impossible but difficult to find in the U.S., cloudberry); and, of course, limitless coffee. On my last visit, I was unable to partake in Mona’s kvæfjordkake–also called verdens beste kake, “world’s best cake”–since I’d not yet had the medical visit that would eventually disprove my suspected nut allergy. This time, I happily indulged. (Dear reader: I now understand the cake’s name.)

Arnor really is, for lack of a better term, like a Norwegian grandfather to me (technically speaking, we are separated by only one generation, but our age difference causes it to feel more like two). He has embraced and welcomed me enthusiastically from the first moment I got here in 2019. I treasure his lighthearted encouragement at my (terrible) efforts to speak Norwegian and admire his and Kari’s genuine desire to spend time with us even in the face of a difficult–but very manageable–language barrier. He jested today in calling himself a “movie star,” but in my world, he truly is one. He deserves to have (and, with any luck, did have) a very fine birthday indeed.