After a very very nice breakfast at the Sommerro Hotel, we posed for a group picture, with motorcycles, in front of the hotel to officially commemorate the start of the motorcycle part of this trip.
The feeling of starting a motorcycle trip on a new and unknown country is always a highlight for me. Being fully present is the only option. Everything is new ... the layout of the streets, the use of traffic signs, how buses, cars, bicycles, pedestrians, trams, trains, scooters, and dogs behave ... all while trying to navigate out of a busy city with a caravan of 5 motorcycles ... amazing indeed!
After a few miles on a proper "freeway" to get out of Oslo, we switched to a small 2 lane country road through beautiful and unspoiled forests. Out first stop was the Handel Stave Church built around the year 1300 ... a great first visit to a true Norwegian landmark.
On our way to Vradal, our destination for the night, we went through beautiful windy roads through the woods ... and some lakes ... and a few tunnels ... including one that was almost 10km long! ... and illuminated with some funky blue lights just to have some art after 5km underground : )
We reached our hotel and decided to ride to the south end of the lake for a nice local Norwegian lunch in the only restaurant around these parts. A nice buffet lunch with some mystery meats ... and cappuccinos!
We manage to avoid rain all morning but had some on the final stretch back from lunch to our hotel. This country is just plain incredibly beautiful, with or without rain ... it is like Epcot ... everything is perfect, the landscaping everywhere is perfect, no trash anywhere, the colors are beautiful, the flowers are perfect, the mountains are perfectly shaped and steep ... the rivers have the perfect amount of rocks to create beautiful runs and small cascades ... Disney was busy putting all of this together just for us : )
At the end of the day, we had a nice dinner with the entire group. Einar, Richard and Chris' Norwegian friend joined for dinner and to be with us on tomorrow's ride as well. Armando and Monica also caught up with us for dinner with their newly rented motorcycle. The entire group, finally, together and in one place!
Tomorrow, we head west to Sola on the shores of the North Sea.
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