Trip Day 7

Monday August 14

Time to leave Lærdal. Luggage was supposed to be outside our rooms at 8 am. The bus was leaving at 9:15 am. Ha-ha, a very civilized time. At the bus we noticed electric car charging stations in front of these hotel rooms. Wow!

3 of the worlds's 10 longest road tunnels are situated in Norway. Being 25 im long the Lærdal Tunnel i Norway is the world's longest road tunnel. It takes about 20 minutes to pass through the tunnel. Brightly colored lights placed every six kilometers help drivers stay alert. Stephen our guide and Stig our driver told us about it. Experts had determent that drivers could get hymnotized otherwise by the monotony of it.

At those special lights stations drivers can pull over which Stig did at one of them and we could have a look. There even was an emergency car on the other side.

It was a pretty drive and at 9:50 am we were already in Flåm. Our scenic train journey across the mountains was going to start at 10:45 so we had some time to explore. 

A Costa cruise ship was in the harbor so James and I opted for a little hike up the hill.

Stephen and his troll stories! At one point he had told us that some female trolls were called Huldra, they look like humans but have tails. Trolls sometimes turn to stone. Well, here we are. I probably should have cropped the photo. I am pointing to the tail though.

It was a nice walk but at this point we decided that we can't risk missing the train and turned around.

This little flower with the bee looked so pretty. I managed to focus the lens just a split second before the bee flew off. I am kind of proud of it.

We already would have had more time to go further because we were the first back at the appointed spot. A lot of people were congregating now though but we had reserved seat tickets so it would not be a problem anyway. And off we went just 3 minutes late.

It really was a very nice and scenic trip. We did wonder though why people would live so remote. And how do they manage when the weather is ugly and even snow. I would not want to drive those incredible steep and narrow roads.

Halfway is a spot were a second track was laid so one train can wait for another train to pass from the opposite direction.

And further is a spot were the train stops and we all can get out for a few minutes. This waterfall is quite a site to be seen. Music is playing and where you see ruins a mystical figure (a Huldra ?) was dancing a mystical dance. I had not expected it or I would have taken a video. 

It went quickly and then we were back in our places in the train.

The landscape changed as higher we got. 

At the top we got out of the historic train and changed into a new one. 

This one brought us to Voss were we got out.

We walked a little bit into the town of Voss. It looks wet but it didn't rain.

We walked passed the church to a cafe where we had reservations for lunch.

Some kind of gulasch with mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Each table had a little bowl with lingonberries on it from which we could take what we liked. Everything was very tasty.

At almost 2 we left the cafe and walked slowly to the bus Stig had driven to pick us up again. We tried to have a look at the church but it was closed.

Opposite the church was the parking spot with the bus and we could walk a little further to have a look at the lake. It was as smooth as a mirror.

We probably reached Bergen between 4 and 5 pm and checked into our rooms. Stephen had warned us that they might be slow getting our suitcases to our rooms so we just took ours with us. After all, they have wheels.

There was no program for the rest of the day and dinner was on our own. That gives you a chance to explore. James and I tried to find something like a pub or so and tried side streets.

It was all very interesting but somehow we were not lucky. Somehow we ended up at the fjord again.

And there was even the fish market. OMG, that was a site to see. And in there were plenty of different fish restaurants. It looked too touristy to us. And first we wanted to find a beer anyway.

Finally we found a place in this historic area ...

... but it was fully booked and they were not very friendly.

Close to the hotel back near the fjord/harbor we saw Trish and Laura sitting in the outside part of "Egon". They waved us over and invited us to sit with them. James got our beers from the bar and we finally could toast. Yes, this was Wade's birthday and we had texted him that we would rase glasses to him after 5 o'clock. Here is to Wade.

James had something like bruschetta and I had a fish soup. I wasn't very hungry and was very happy with my soup. We had a wonderful lively conversation with our two fellow travelers and it was a very nice evening.

Later we walked back to the hotel which is very nicely located and soon fall into bed. Night, night.