A variety of activities are in store for us today in a program called “Norway in a Nutshell”. This program gives one the opportunity to get a little taste of what Norway has to offer. One gets to ride a train through the mountains, sail through the fjords on an electric boat, bus to a scenic overlook, and arrive at the historic west coast city of Bergen – all with luggage in tow!!
From Myrdal to Flam is the famous Flam Railway where we go through tunnels and see magnificent waterfalls along 21 hairpin turns.
We could see a little bit of snow on top of the mountains. The waterfalls and resulting rivers were crystal clear and running fast.
Flam Railway is hot and sweaty. We were able to sit with a couple from Spokane, WA, and were debating which side of the train had the best views. Research Rob said the left side, and new friend Research Tao said the left side. Both used search engines!! I was glad that his wife’s name was Denise which is easier to say than the name that her mom gave her. Since we were all tourists headed for Bergen, we thought that we might see each other again. That happens a lot to tourists because we are all interested in seeing the same things!
Next is the water portion of the trip. We cruised the Nærøyfjord on an electric boat. Norway, despite being a large producer of the world’s oil, is requiring all vehicles today to be electric. In fact, petrol-based cars are no longer sold in Norway.
Most everyone went outside on the boat but I wanted to make sure that we had a place to sit during the two-hour cruise. I was sitting near a window and had placed Rob’s hat on the chair beside me in the center. On the aisle seat was a Filipino woman. She looked me up and down and said “What’s with you?”
I was shocked at this comment. Was I making her feel uncomfortable? Did she think that I didn’t want her to sit here?
Then I realized that she meant “Who’s with you?” I told her “my husband”, and she smiled and nodded.
There were many Asians on the ship who spent a great deal of time on photo shoots complete with wardrobe changes and hand gestures. It was s fun to watch.
Now the whole bunch of us “Nuts” disembarked and waited in the hot sun to get on four full-size buses en route to Voss. The buses had air conditioning which was a real treat. No more hot and sweaty!!
We stopped along the way and all ran off the bus to snap a picture at Stalheim Hotel. Then the “Nuts” got back on, hopefully getting on the correct bus carrying our luggage. I guess that it didn’t really matter since all of the “Nuts” were going to Voss to get on a train.
had time to do.
I told him to bring me something that I might like. An ice cream bar hit the spot since it was very hot once again in the train station.
Our train ride from Voss to Bergen was uneventful.
We arrived in Bergen at 9:00pm, and the sun hadn’t even thought about setting. Rob said that our Airbnb is up a ways (literally) and we need to access the house by funicular. That’s “Nuts”!
Our posts are often lengthy because we can pack a lot of activities into the day when there is almost 18 hours of daylight. But today was “Nuts”.
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