Well, it took us one car ride, three airplane rides, one boat ride, and three bus rides (for a total of about 27 hours!) but we FINALLY arrived at our hotel in Tyssedal, Norway. The town isn’t the most exciting, but there’s a fjord and mountain views every way you look so that makes it wonderful in my books! The hotel is nice too (which is good since it’s the only one around). Our room was spacious with a huge jetted tub and incredible view. When we got there we pretty much collapsed on the bed and fell asleep instantly.

In the morning we got up early feeling surprisingly refreshed and went downstairs to find the best free breakfast spread I have ever seen. They had eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, different breads with different spreads, cereals, yogurts, some weird medleys in bowls that I’m not quite sure what they were, and just everything wonderful you could ever dream of! So we feasted in anticipation of the long hike ahead of us and because we hadn’t had a real meal in 3 days. After the amazing breakfast, we packed our hiking bags and asked the receptionist (who was also the waitress), Aija, how to get to the start of the hike. We didn’t have a car so we made the 8 km trip by foot up a one lane road weaving up the mountain. The walk wasn’t bad besides seeming to be never ending. We finally arrived in Skjeggedal where there are bathrooms and parking at the base (this is the last bathroom you’ll see for the entirety of the hike so be sure to use it!).

We headed to the base of the trail where there are two options for going up the first part of the hike. You can take a trail which weaves back and forth the whole way up the mountain…or you can take the “stairs.” Now when I say stairs, what I really mean is somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 wooden boards on the outer edge of an old funicular that goes straight up the mountain with no railing. I feel like most people we know would have taken one look at that and said “no way!” but we said “bring it on!” and so began our hike. (***Side note***The funicular was torn down a few months after our trip in 2014. I am not sure if they are replacing it or if you will only have one option to get up there now.)

Now I would like to consider both Josh and I to be in pretty good shape. We eat healthy (most of the time) and work out or run on an almost daily basis. Despite that, after the first 500 stairs or so, we were already dripping sweat. Around 1,000 stairs we were starting to regret the 4 mile walk we did to get to Skjeggedal. After that, it was forcing myself to count to 200 steps before taking a quick break and starting again. Also, stopping for breaks to turn around and look down at the blue water surrounded by mountain was a pretty awesome view. Anyway, eventually we made it to the top of the stairs and the hardest part of the hike was over. Even with the mostly uphill rocky terrain, none of it was as rough as those “stairs.” The trail is well marked and the view gets even more gorgeous with every km of the hike. One of the coolest things about the hike is that you can fill your water bottle up in the fresh mountain streams along the way. Maybe it’s all in my head but that was definitely the purest water I have ever tasted. So anyway, the hike was awesome with the ever changing terrain, the beautiful views along the way, the good company, and the lack of too many tourists.

After about 4 hours of hiking we finally reached our destination of Trolltunga. The view was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It is such an awesome rock formation with the water underneath weaving between the mountains. Josh and I took some individual pictures which looked incredible, then I asked a stranger to take some of both of us out on the “Troll’s Tongue” together.

While we were waiting our turn to go out on the rock, Josh is standing next to me and tells me he loves me. He said “You know I would hike a thousand Trolltungas with you right?” I’m all pumped up responding with “I love you too! And heck yeah this is awesome!” It’s our turn so I go running out on the rock. I turn around and he is slowly walking toward me. He pulled me to him and held me close and started saying sweet nothings into my ear. I remember a few key lines in particular such as “forever” and “the rest of my life” and my mind and heart are racing and stopped at the same time. I saw him pulling a jewelry box out of his pocket and getting down on one knee. The words that came out of my mouth were “oh my god” and my hands went up to my mouth. He was still talking….”with you…” “rest of my life….” “marry me???” were about the only things that registered in my mind as I stood there crying and laughing, shocked and ecstatic at the same time. It was honestly the best moment of my life so far, and the most perfect proposal I could have ever dreamed of. I still can’t believe it was real life. Eventually as I realize he’s still on his knee, I remember that I have to respond. I can’t speak so I nod and he gets up, hugs and kisses me and slips a perfect ring onto my swollen finger. I’ve dreamt of this moment forever and it was more perfect than I could have EVER imagined (and the man with my camera got some AWESOME pictures).

We took a few more pictures out on the rock together then had lunch on a boulder overlooking the fjord and just hung out enjoying the view and the blissful feeling I wanted to bottle up and hold on to forever. Eventually we started the trek back down so we wouldn’t get caught hiking in the dark (though I would have LOVED to watch the sunset from Trolltunga!) The hike down was enjoyable as well but not as exciting as the way up. I definitely recommend taking clothes for all temperatures. Throughout the hike I wore short, tank top, pants, long sleeve under armor shirt, and a sweatshirt in every combination possible because I went from sweating to freezing to comfortable to freezing to sweating over and over again. Also, going down the steep stairs was even worse than going up there. We didn’t stop for breaks but my legs were shaking well before we got to the bottom.

We decided we would rather not walk the 4 miles back to the hotel so we hitched a ride with some nice gentlemen on holiday from England which we were very grateful for. We rinsed the sweat off in the shower before heading downstairs for a celebratory dinner in the hotel restaurant because there are no other places to eat in Tyssedal, but the food was great anyway. Pumpkin soup for an appetizer, salmon with pasta and veggies, bread, then apple cake with ice cream and wine. It was a delicious meal. We headed back upstairs for bed. Josh fell asleep instantly while I just lay there in shock and awe that I’M FREAKING ENGAGED!!!!!!