Tuesday Day10

Today is a big day. Today Anne Marit and Kjell and Kjetil and I are going to take the trip called “ Norway in a Nutshell” which is a journey through Western Norway .

The trip involves taking the train from Bergen to Myrdal and then another train from Myrdal to Flaam and then ferry from Flam to Gudvangen and then a bus to Voss which stops at Stalheim on the way.

The first train ride was nice. I can’t remember much of it. I was sleeping since we got little sleep the night before. We had to leave at 8:00 a.m. from home so I had gotten up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready etc.

But I was up soon and the second train ride was amazing. This train runs up and down the wild Flaamsdalen valley and one enjoys roughly one hour of fantastic views snowcapped mountains and beautiful waterfalls.

The 20 km stretch starts at Myrdal (altitude 866 m) and descends to Flam (2 m above sea level).

The train stopped at a waterfall. It was spectacular. Grand is another word that comes to mind. It was actually a waterfall. I have never seen anything like that before.

There were lots of waterfalls on the way.

When we reached Gudvangen we had some food at a café and then bought souvenirs.

Soon, it was time for the ferry. It was very nice. The boat travels through fjords which is a stretch of ocean through high mountains. This boat went through two narrow fjords encircled by towering snow capped mountains up to 1,800 m in height. We passed many small farms some with as little as 20 people living on them. Why on earth they live there is beyond me. The boat stopped at one place to pick up one person from a little farm. When people want the ferry to stop they leave a red light on. Anne Marit and I bought coffee. Soon we were at Gudvangen and then we took the bus. It went to Stalheim hotel which sits at the top of the famous Stalheimkleiva, one of Northern Europe ’s steepest stretches of roads. It was built from 1840 to 1848. On the road up we saw huge waterfalls on both sides. At the top we stopped for 15-20 min. Then we took the same bus back to Voss where caught the train to Bergen .

It was a wonderful trip and when our friends visit us I will recommend that they take it.

When we got home we went to visit Kjetil’s cousin Arne. He was at work but we knew that his girlfriend Mari was visiting him and we wanted to meet her. She lives in Oslo .

I also met Sissel there who is Kjetil’s friend Kenneth’s girlfriend. They all started speaking Norwegian and I felt left out and I told Kjetil to speak in English and then it was ok. They were both very nice and assured me that they will be my friends and that I should not worry or get nervous at all.

Then we came heim (home). I drove for the first time in Norway that night. It is very scary for me to drive here I think because the roads are very very narrow and the speed limit is 50 miles an hour and less. That is nothing. I am so used to driving fast that it seems that we are crawling. But I felt quite good after I drove and it boosted my confidence a little.