Norway 2014 – Part 1: Kiel – Oslo

In Kiel/Germany I went on board the Color Fantasy of Color Line. It was the first time for me on such a huge ferry ship. The boarding went flawless when my car rolled into the huge back gate. I felt like in a parking garage, not a moving ship. After I was ordered to stop at my small parking spot with cars all around, I took luggage for one night with me as the car decks are closed down until arrival. Luckily (maybe perfectly planned by the staff) the elevator nearby also took me near my small room.

In the elevator I made the short aquaintance of some gentlemen who would be met again. I booked the cheapest acommodation possible, still got a nice room but without a window – for that the TV had a channel showing the current bridge view. But why stay in the room when a big ship waits to be discovered? I tried to memorize the cabin location and went on for a stroll around. The shops and venues were not open yet so I went outside to see that the ship crew hoisted the anchor(possibly by pushing a button) and slowly started to head northwards.

Later on at deck the aforementioned group of four vacationeers were met again and we had quite some good talks and beers. They told me that it was not their first trip and some of them have been to Scandinavia for years. This time they wanted to go fishing at Geiranger Fjord and highly recommended a visit. I was able to harvest some tips about my trip to Norway which I’m thankful for – also one reason why Geiranger Fjord has later been part of my trip (quite a bit after the group was back in Germany).

For quite some time we saw the Øresund Bridge, first a small line on the horizon, later a distinct huge structure running 8 kilometres between Sweden and Denmark. Almost everybody was on deck to make pictures when it was underpassed by our ferry.

Later, we went back in the belly of the ship for a short relax, only to meet at the theater where a big show was going on and we had some more beers. Tired and with quite a few new impressions I went to bed.

The next morning the ferry passed the entry to Oslo and finally stopped at the ferry harbour west of the city center. Many cars were spilled out and I was wondering if this concludes to traffic jams everytime a ferry drops by. As I already booked a small and comparably cheap hotel in the city center, I drove there and stopped almost right in front of it. After checkin and putting some luggage to the room, I went off to park my car in a proper garage and was set to go for a field trip around Oslo.

The ferry trip was a great experience and I was happy to arrive at Oslo fresh and open for new excitement.

Leave a Reply