A week with my favorites: Halli Cabin, Norway
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.
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.
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.