Norway 1: The sleepy town of Røros

   I had a 7 AM flight for Norway, and after how slow Dublin Airport was, I again chose to wake up at 3.  I tried to go to sleep early, but I am pretty sure that I only fell asleep for a full hour or two.  I was 5th in line to check my bags in and effortlessly got to the terminal.  The flight was delayed fifteen minutes.

  Once in Norway, I picked up my rental car and had a four hour drive to reach my first destination.  The speed limits in Norway are slower than in every single other country I have visited.  Speeds mostly range from 50 kmh(31 mph) when you approach a town, 60 kmh(37 mph) on the outskirts of town, and 70 or 80(43 and 50 mph respectively on most other roads.  I only spent a short time on highways, but they ranged from 90kmh to 110 kmh.  This was extra bizarre because these roads are generally not mountain roads and were not particularly windy.

  There wasn't much noteworthy to see on this drive.  There were a few small towns, some lakes, and some small mountains.  I checked into my hotel and they directed me down the hallway to the elevator.  I discovered that it was not an elevator for people.  It was one specific for luggage.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  You call it to your floor, put your bags in, walk up to your floor, and then call it again to bring it up.

  I immediately laid down for a long nap.  When I eventually woke up, I decided to head into town, grab some coffee, and then go to the supermarket to pick up dinner.  On my walk back from the supermarket, I encountered a two person guitar playing band.  I sat down and ate my dinner while watching.  Two thirds of the songs were played in Norwegian, and the remainder were American songs in particular.  One that I looked up was Don't Stop Believin, by Journey.

  The next day was a gloomy day, with occasional rain.  I walked to the Røros church.  This is when I learned that Norway charges an entrance fee to go into churches outside of services. They charged $5 to go inside, which was a bit steep for the size and scope of the church.  Norway's church attendance is supposed to be at only around 2%.  Denmark, with its 3% attendance(both numbers from a quick Google search) do not change.

  I walked around town and admired the architecture.  With the weather the way it was, it ended up being a relatively short walk.

  The next day had beautiful weather, so I did the same route again, and this time I ascended the dirt/gravel piles in the northeast side of town.

  When I originally chose Røros, I knew that I would need time to recover from the early flight, but I had also expected to visit the local mine.  The more I read about the mine, the less interested I became, so Røros ended up being a bit boring overall.  I should have stayed a shorter amount of time.