A week with my favorites: Halli Cabin, Norway
When I found out that I was going to be in Oslo in order to get home from Sweden, I immediately contacted my friends the Paulsens to see if they were going to be in Norway during that time...and they were! Erik, Karolina, and Kai Paulsen are the husband and children of my nanny from childhood, Lori. I have known Erik since I was 10 years old, Karolina came as a baby to drop me off at university with her mom and my parents, and I remember vividly the day that Kai was born! They are family to me and we have had many trips, Thanksgivings, and Christmases together over the years. Erik invited me to go to their family cabin, Halli, which has been in his family since the 1850s!
Ever since I was a kid, I have heard stories about Erik's family cabin in Norway. Mostly, they were horror stories from Lori, my nanny, about the lack of running water or electricity, but I knew that the place was very special to Erik as he treks there every summer from Colorado with the kids.
I was overjoyed that our dates lined up and I was finally going to be able to experience the cabin for myself. After picking me up in Oslo, we headed up to the cabin which is outside the town of Aurdal, Norway. Don't get this confused with Arendal, which is where Anna and Elsa live! Once you leave the main road, you first drive up a windy paved road, then a windy dirt road, then a windy gravel path, and then finally, a long, muddy long-grass driveway. From the time you leave the main road until you are in the front yard is about 35 minutes and by the time you get up there, you can see no other houses, cars, or people and it was SILENT.
I was overjoyed that our dates lined up and I was finally going to be able to experience the cabin for myself. After picking me up in Oslo, we headed up to the cabin which is outside the town of Aurdal, Norway. Don't get this confused with Arendal, which is where Anna and Elsa live! Once you leave the main road, you first drive up a windy paved road, then a windy dirt road, then a windy gravel path, and then finally, a long, muddy long-grass driveway. From the time you leave the main road until you are in the front yard is about 35 minutes and by the time you get up there, you can see no other houses, cars, or people and it was SILENT.
Halli Cabin, as I mentioned before, has been in Erik's family since the mid-1800s but the cabin itself has been there since some time in the 1700s as a summer farm house. It has two main buildings, an outhouse, and A-MAZING views. I cannot imagine how hard it would have been to reach it before modern transportation!
In Norway, it is possible to drink out of the streams and lakes, and therefore, the water for the cabin comes from a stream running through the property. It is necessary to haul buckets a few times per day for drinking, dishes, and showers. Showers? Yep! Erik installed a real shower with a foot pump so once you carry in the water, heat it on the stove, pour it into the shower tank mixed with more buckets of cold water, you can take a shower. I didn't bother! This is the cleanest "camping" I've ever done. It wasn't sunny so we didn't get dirty from sun screen, the bugs aren't bad so no need more much bug spray, there is no dirt because everything has moss growing on it, and it wasn't hot so we didn't sweat. Who needs a shower? I was expecting like super-wilderness and it was like staying in a nice house with a bit of effort for water! The dirtiness factor was NOTHING like the river trips I used to take in Utah back in the day when you were literally covered in dirt and sunscreen 1 hour into a 4 day trip and then just proceeded to rub said items straight into your skin several times per day!
Each day we went for a walk, read books, and then went into town for provisions. As it was quite a long drive, this took up a lot of our day. The Norwegian supermarkets, even out in the boonies, were better than any German ones I have been to. After our first night's dinner of reindeer meatballs, we moved on to more "traditional" Norwegian meals like Thai curry or Indian curry. Again, hard to say we are roughing it when we are able to make curry and find a supply of cilantro- which in Germany is always tricky to find. Not enough can be said for the delicious soft-serve ice cream available in Norway. They put chocolate powder on the top and after two days of it, I had to temporarily cut myself off because it was so rich and utterly delicious.
Having long, boozy dinners followed by cards was one of the big highlights of the trip. On the cruise I hadn't gotten to really "be" in Norway since all of our meals were on the ship. One of the joys of being with Norwegians was getting to indulge in some traditional Norwegian things, like Aquavit. Aquavit is basically caraway flavored vodka and it is consumed ice cold, in a shot glass next to your other drinks. Each time anyone took a sip, we all had to cheers (by saying SKÅL! which is pronounced like "skole") and then everyone drinks together....and then refills together. You can see how the dinners turned long and boozy.
After dinner each night, we played Uno or Bullsh!t and laughed our faces off. We learned that Erik lied every time even if he had the cards to play and that made us all laugh even harder! It was still somewhat light outside at midnight when we would head to bed but inside we had a fire going and sat in the old cabin rocking chairs, laughing our heads off. Kai is taking German in school and every time he would get a bad hand of cards, he would yell "Puppenhausen!" because it sounded like a curse...though it really means dollhouses, so that would make us laugh even harder.
After dinner each night, we played Uno or Bullsh!t and laughed our faces off. We learned that Erik lied every time even if he had the cards to play and that made us all laugh even harder! It was still somewhat light outside at midnight when we would head to bed but inside we had a fire going and sat in the old cabin rocking chairs, laughing our heads off. Kai is taking German in school and every time he would get a bad hand of cards, he would yell "Puppenhausen!" because it sounded like a curse...though it really means dollhouses, so that would make us laugh even harder.
It was really a special week. Firstly, it was wonderful to spend time with Karolina, Kai, and Erik. I had not seen them since last Christmas and I love them. Secondly, having heard about Halli Cabin for such a long time and finally getting to see what a truly special place it is was really exciting.
I have never experienced such silence at night. There are no bird sounds, bug sounds, water sounds, people sounds, or animal sounds. It was just silent. I've lived in a downtown city area for the last 5 years and it is never totally quiet (or totally dark, for that matter) on my street. Seriously. During allergy season, I could literally even hear all of my neighbors sneezing! (Gesundheit!) I feel like spending some time in total silence might need to become part of my summer routine as it was really rejuvenating.
After this summer, Norway is definitely high up on my list for places I wouldn't mind living. I didn't realize how much I had missed mountains and nature living in the city all of this time. In Colorado it is easy to get away from people and be in nature quite easily- but I live in one of the most high-density places in Europe and it is super flat! I loved that in Norway we only had to drive for 35 minutes and we were 100% away from other people. Even in Colorado, it would be quite a trek to not see anyone and not hear any noise from other people.
Thank you, Paulsens, for including me in your special place. I truly enjoyed it and hope to go back someday.
I have never experienced such silence at night. There are no bird sounds, bug sounds, water sounds, people sounds, or animal sounds. It was just silent. I've lived in a downtown city area for the last 5 years and it is never totally quiet (or totally dark, for that matter) on my street. Seriously. During allergy season, I could literally even hear all of my neighbors sneezing! (Gesundheit!) I feel like spending some time in total silence might need to become part of my summer routine as it was really rejuvenating.
After this summer, Norway is definitely high up on my list for places I wouldn't mind living. I didn't realize how much I had missed mountains and nature living in the city all of this time. In Colorado it is easy to get away from people and be in nature quite easily- but I live in one of the most high-density places in Europe and it is super flat! I loved that in Norway we only had to drive for 35 minutes and we were 100% away from other people. Even in Colorado, it would be quite a trek to not see anyone and not hear any noise from other people.
Thank you, Paulsens, for including me in your special place. I truly enjoyed it and hope to go back someday.